Primero, Pochen, Brag & Poque
The most likely direct ancestor of poker dates from the sixteenth century and was a game played in Western Europe. This game was known in Spain as Primera, and in England as Primero. With a lot of differences to today's game, the history of poker is said to begin with this game as hands of cards were wagered upon with various combinations worth different values. Hands such a pair and 3-of-a-kind are know from this game. Equally, there was a hand called a flux, which was 3 cards of one suit. Whilst these similarities call one to think that this is the very beginning of the history of poker, it can only actually be called an ancestor or poker, as only three cards were used in this game.
By the time the eighteenth century rolled around, players in England were playing a game called brag which basically followed the principles of Primero, but was played with 5 cards – the French equivalent Poque, and the German Pochen were equally as popular, and by this stage bluffing, strategic wagering, and psychological tactics were a normal part of play.
From Europe to America
As popular as these pre-runners were, and as important as they are in the history of poker, it was only once the game found its way across the Atlantic that it really became the game that we know today.
When the French colonists bought Poque with them to America it was only a question of time before it would develop into a new truly American game. From 1829 we have enlightening records that show a 20-card game played on the riverboats. In 1843 Jonathan H. Green describes in his book "An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling", a game using a 52-card deck that was divided into Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, and 10s i.e. no number cards. Green refers to this gambling game as the "cheating game".
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By the time of the American Civil War the 52-card deck we know today was introduced, as was the flush. It was in fact during those years that poker really became poker as we know it; it was only during the American civil war that stud poker and draw poker began to emerge as games.
Poker as Poker
From the beginning of the 20th century, poker was more or less how we know it today, although it was only in the mid 1920's the community card games began to emerge. Having earned a reputation in the days of the Wild West as a gritty romantic saloon game, in the twentieth century the history of poker took a new turn – east. In the eastern port cities of the USA like New York and Boston, modern poker took on like wildfire, making it no longer a game of the cowboys. The history of poker had taken it from Europe to the New World, to the Wild West, back to the east, and from there it would find it's way to Vegas, and to the internet, and that as they say is history, – the history of poker, that is. |
