History of Poker is a mystery shrouded in exotic tales of ancient sailors on shore leave in New Orleans to gallant southern gentlemen on Mississippi steam ships to gun toting cowboys in a Wild West saloon. A card game using a standard deck of cards with clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades is thought to have originated with early French settlers who played a similar game called Poque which involved betting and bluffing. Poker became popular in late 1800 early 1900 and spread north on the Mississippi steam boats where gambling was a popular pastime. A poker table was soon a fixture in many a wild west saloon. Poker has evolved over the years into many popular variants such as draw, stud, high low. Many books have been written on the skill factor of poker and how to maximize odds in ones favor.Poker enjoys widespread appeal as a fast paced exciting home game that can be played for small stakes amongst friends or serious gambling in Casinos and anything in between.The introduction of online poker has made the game accessible to millions of people who can now turn use a PC to play from the comfort and convenience of their living rooms. Online poker gives the casual player a much easier entry into the game than a traditional brick and mortar establishment. The games are anonymous, the software handles many of the tedious tasks like dealing, pot management and winning hand recognition.. Small stakes games much lower than what is normally available at a casino can be had online. And the biggest convenience is that of being able to play real poker games anytime by simply turning on a PC rather than driving to a Casino many miles away Poker is as American as Apple pie. A testament to the depth with which poker is entrenched into American culture is the many poker phrases that have been adopted into common everyday English language. ex. ace in the hole, beats me, blue chip, call a bluff, cash in, up the ante, when the chips are down, wild card, and others are used in everyday conversation even by those unaware of their origins at the poker table.
