We do not know where exactly poker comes from, but most game historians think that the game has elements of many other games. The name ‘Poker’ may come from an 18th-century French game called Poque.  However, some historians believe that the name may come from a German betting game, Pochspiel, with an element of bluffing. In pochspiel, players showed whether they wanted to pass or open by hitting the table by the hand and saying, “Ich Poche!” There are also another theories which show how complicated the nature of poker’s history is. One theory says that Poker’s name may come from the Hindu word, pukka. The other that it may have come from a version of a slang word, “poke,” a word used by pickpockets. Those who cheated in cards organized card games to take poke (money and valuable things) out of unaware players. Those cheaters may have used the word among themselves and added an r to make it “poker.” Finally, there are also people who believe that “poke” comes from “hocus-pocus,” a word popular with magicians.

        As concerning the game itself, it may also come from many different games. First, one of similar games that existed before poker and thus poker may have come from was the Persian game of ‘As Nas.’ This game was played by 5 players with 25 cards in a deck. There were also 5 suits of cards. Second, the other game similar to today poker was Primero. It was very popular in Europe in the 16th century. Then, we may also say that the French name of Brelan (the English version of that game was Brag or Bragg) may be the parent of poker, because there also was an element of bluffing. But that cannot be the most important clue as players bluffed in many other games as well.  The first author who write anything about a game called Poker was an English actor Joseph Cromwell, who wrote about a card game which was played in New Orleans in 1829. Also, Jonathan H. Green in his book, An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling (1843) wrote about Poker rules and called Poker the “cheating game,” which was being played on Mississippi riverboats at that times. Some experts say that it was Green who called Poker the “cheating game” for the first time.

       These works say that four players played with a deck of 20 cards and bet on which player’s cards are the best. As the game became more popular in America and came to California with the Gold Rush, players started to play with the full 52-card English deck. During the American Civil War players added many things like the flush, draw poker, stud poker (played with 5 cards), and the straight. The next additions were: the wild card or joker (around 1875), two or more pots (around 1900), and board card poker games(around 1925). Poker became known and popular in other countries, especially in Asia, mainly because of the U.S. army.
Before the 1970s, poker was not very popular in casinos because it was difficult to control cheating. In the 1980s and 90s it was normal to close down poker rooms to open blackjack and roulette casinos instead. Luckily, poker has become popular again because of better security, great promotion and tournaments. Today’s tournament play has become popular in American casinos after 1970 when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) started. The first WSOP was promoted by Benny Binion, a Las Vegas casino owner and poker player, and took place at his Horseshoe casino. Interestingly, there were only seven players. Nowadays, Harrah’s Entertainment group has organized poker tournaments in America and the biggest of them is the World Series of Poker. The number of players in the WSOP has been greater every year, and with it the money to win has been greater too, which is attractive to even more players. In the 2005 WSOP, there were more than 5,600 players, winners got $52 million altogether, and the winner got the biggest ($7.5 million) prize in history. We can say that poker has become popular thanks to WSOP and tournaments being shown on ESPN and the Travel Channel. Also, poker has been popular because of more and more online poker rooms. There has been more poker tournaments and more money to win, that is why, more players have been attracted to the hot world of Poker.