The history behind poker
There are many different theories as to where the game of Poker actually has it’s roots, some claim that the word is of German origin from the word “pochspiel”, while others say that it originates from the French word “poque”. So there was an established game of chance in France in the early era, called “poque”, which contained bets and known bluffs just as Poker.
New Orleans is an American city that constantly shows up when talking about casino and gambling, however, it should be taken with a grain of salt as nothing physical proofs that Poker originated there. New Orleans has probably gotten its reputation as the place where pleasure and entertainment were born due to its strategic location. Since the city was a place for all kinds of people at the beginning of the 17th century, such as riverboat workers, sailors and settlers, it’s pretty easy to imagine that Poker was born in New Orleans. This was also the place where the first American casino opened up, which because of its mixed range of games, pleasure, drinks and women pretty soon was spoken of.
As poker was played frequently in New Orleans entertainment areas and among riverboat travellers, the game spread fast along the Mississippi. In conjunction with the known “gold rush” on the American west coast in the middle of the 17th-century playing poker quickly reached new places such as San Fransisco. Poker was also very beneficial when all kinds of games directly towards the bank were forbidden in 1860 and the fact is that poker even survived when all gambling was forbidden in 1885 since there was no need for a great organisation to keep the game going.
When Las Vegas took over as the Mecca of casino games in the 30’s poker became a classic in the casino supply, and it still keeps the throne. Today it’s all about modern online casinos and even if the player is facing a screen there are amazing gaming experiences through impressive live sections where you’ll play against a real dealer.
Game and rules
In a game of poker two to six players participate with a European card deck of 52 cards as their only tool. Before the cards are dealt every player has to bet an amount that’ll become the winning pot. Every player will totally get shared five cards before the game starts and the general-purpose with all kinds of “genuine poker games” (today there are plenty of options) is to get the best possible combination of cards/hand.
The card values are standard where the ace can count as both low and high value. You aren’t allowed to show your cards to any of your competitors and no kind of team play is allowed in Poker. From the beginning, every player has been assigned chips with different values that equal the same amount in money.
A so-called “game” is the name for several played rounds in which the players don’t always have to participate and you have the right to stop playing during a game (and new players can jump in). Ahead of every round, you use your chips to bet and the bets are simply based on speculations about the different card combinations and their total value. If you’re certain that you won’t win a deal you can “fold” immediately which means that you don’t have to put more money in the pot, and at the same time you’ll have no share in it. However, if you believe that you can win the round then you’ll try to make the total pot bigger by making the other players bet more. You can make it happen by raising your bet, which makes it “more expensive” for the other competitors to continue playing.
It’s however important to remember that you won’t automatically know how to play all kinds of poker just by knowing the basic rules of the game. Some types actually take more skill and practice than others, even if it’s always the best cards that are sought for as mentioned earlier.
Popular poker games
Today the most popular kind of poker is Texas Hold’em . It’s the most common type of poker online and almost certainly the version you’ve seen if you’ve watched poker tours on TV. There are also different kinds of Texas Hold’em, such as Pot Limit, Limit and No Limit.