History of Poker

Poker, a game that is played all over the world. The first mention of the game, similar to Poker, refers to the year 1526. In that early poker hand was dealt three cards, and the game was called "Primero" in Spain and Italy and "La Prime" - in France. The game included the announcement of bets, and the evaluated combinations were: 3 identical cards, pairs, as well as 3 cards of the same suit, called flush.
In 1700, the emerging bluffing merged with the announcement of bets and the handing in not of three but five cards, and games began to be called Brag (brag) in England, Pochen (pochen) in Germany and Poque (poque) in France. In these predecessors of the game of Poker, bluffing, or high-betting, with bad cards on hand, to get other players out of the bank, was an important element. It is likely that the French name "pok" is a cast from the German, and the name "Poker" comes from the French.
In the games, Bragg, Pohen and Pook had just one round of betting. Disclosure of cards - showing all players on the cards available cards to detect the winner - occurred immediately after the end of this round. The seniority of the hands was determined by the following sequence: 4 identical (high); Full house - (full house - 3 identical and a couple of others); 3 are the same; two pairs; One pair and no pair (high card - the highest ranking card is taken into account).
The game of poker was brought to America by the French colonists who first settled the territory of Louisiana, settled further up the Missouri River and across the country.
Poker in the modern version was first mentioned in 1829 in the memoirs of the traveled American actor Joe Cowell. In 1834, Poker began to play a deck of 52 cards. At one time, Poker was the national card game of the United States. He is still the most common game in the US among card games.
The return of Poker from the States to Europe began after the US ambassador to Britain, Colonel Jacob Schenk in 1870. Presented this game at the court of Queen Victoria. In fact, Schenck made a code of rules for the queen, who expressed her interest in this game. However, in those years the game did not spread all over Europe. It spread there only during the First World War by soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force.