Poker basics
Poker is a family of card games that have betting rules and usually hand rankings. The origin of the word Poker is very debatable. Some say it derived from the Irish word poca or French word poque while others say it could have come from the Hindi word Pukka. It could also have come from the slang word ‘poke’, a term used by pickpockets. As the name, even the game evolved from a number of games. There was a Spanish game ‘Primero’ which had bluffing, betting as an integral part of the game. From it evolved a French game ‘Poque’ and German game ‘Pochen’. Even before that, there was a game called ‘As Nas’ played by Persians, which had 25 cards and had betting rounds. So the history of Poker is quite vague as it is not known to have evolved from one single game. The French introduced the game in Canada when they reached there in the 18th century. It was called as ‘cheating game’ initially. It was around 1834, that Jonathan Greene mentioned it in his book and wrote about it. The game described by him was played with 20 cards with only aces, jacks, kings, queens and tens. In US, a saloon with a poker table became a common sight and it became popular thereafter. After 20 cards, the game started using 32 cards and in the modern day it uses 52 cards. Joker was introduced as a wild card in 1875. Now, poker game is played in casinos and card rooms. It is regulated by gambling laws. It is a very popular game today and competitions and tournaments are held regularly.