The exact origin of poker is not known. However, there are a number of beliefs based on the origin of poker. The most popular belief is that poker originated from the Chinese. They say it originated from china at around the year 900 A.D. and that it was derived from Chinese dominoes. Other historical beliefs say that poker originated from the French. Frenchmen who settled in Louisiana at around 1480 played the card game called Poque, which is believed to have been similar to poker. Like poker, it involves bluffing and betting. Historians believe that it is in this game that the deck that included spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts was first used.
Other historical studies show that remnants of card playing have been traced to Egypt. It’s been said that poker begun in Egypt between the 12th and 13th century. It is also believed that Poker originated from an Indian card game called Ganjifa. Another historical story on the origin of poker is that it originated from a Persian game called Nas in the 17th century. Nas was a 5 player game. It required a deck of cards that was specialized. There had to be 25 cards with 5 suits. A German game called pochspiel is another alluded origin of poker. Like poker, this card game had bluffing. The players indicated that they wanted to open the game or pass a card by rubbing a card on the table then saying the words, “Ich Poche”
In the modern world, the earliest written poker reference was done in 1834 by Jonathan H. Green. He describes rules alluding to a cheating game which was played on the Mississippi riverboats then. People recognized that his writing was the first reference to such a card game and since the American Hoyle did not use it, he chose to call the game Poker. Green’s rules indicated that the game of poker is to be played using 20 cards. Q’s, K’s, A’s, and 10”s were used in that deck of cards. 2 to 4 people played that game and 5 cards were dealt to each person. After green’s reference, poker became the number one cheating game played on the Mississippi riverboats. There was already another three card game called Monte at that time but poker was preferred as it was a 20 card game and it seemed more legitimate.
One if the most interesting stories we found on PokerRoster.com that is told to back up this modern origin of poker is based in Mississippi. In 1982, four men were playing the game on a steamboat, three of them were sharks and one of them who was from Natchez, did not know how to play. The three professionals rigged the game so that the man from Natchez lost. When he lost all the money he had, he wanted to commit suicide but he was stopped by a man named James Bowit. James then went and played poker with those three sharks and he got the cash back for the man from Natchez.