History of Poker

No matter where in the world you are located, it is likely that you have heard of or even played a game, whose name is poker.

It is such an ancient recreational activity also with modern aura. It records what happened in past with the illustrators on pokers, it represents the wisdom of ancient peoples with the rules of different types of poker games; it witnesses what people experienced throughout the time, with its gradual evolution.

There are many different theories as to where poker got started. One theory is that Poker started sometime in 900 AD in China, but there were no cards back in Ancient China. It is written in 960 AD that Emperor Mu Tsung introduced “Domino Cards” to his wife. China is not the only possible starting place.

In Egypt explorers have found fragments of cards dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries. Although the exact nature of the original Egyptian game has not been discovered, the fragments can be linked to cards that were used for the eastern derivation “Ganjifa” (Treasure Cards) in the early 16th century.

It was the Tarot with the suited minor Arcana cards that inspired the now popular 52 card deck. Spain and Italy were first inspired to play using variations of the Tarot deck, which much like playing cards used today also included 4 unique “suits”.

As card playing spread throughout Europe, other countries, got into the game each using a different style of “Suits”, Switzerland used a combination of Shields, Flowers, Bells and Acorns, while Germany was using Hearts and leaves and adopting the Bells and Acorns from the Swiss…

Up to now, there are so many types of poker games, such as Texas Hold ‘em, Stud Card, Omaha and so on, which are popular and prevalent in the world. No matter where poker games started, they would be more and more flourished and prosperous in the New Era.