The
first ever reference to playing cards at all was by the Chinese.
They have been given credit for inventing playing cards during
900 A.D., since before that their games were
played with tiles. On the New Year's Eve of 969 the Emperor of
China, Mu-tsung, was reported to have played "dominos" with his
wife. Chinese domino game pieces were made into paper so they
would take up much less space, be easier to carry, and more could
be carried at a time. From here more and more games were derived
and 'Card' playing rather than 'tile' playing started spreading
all over the world. Italy and Spain were struck through Egypt's
trade routes in the later 14th century. Many
early decks had just 20 cards until the 'Tarot' deck came about
adding 22 trump cards for a 42-card deck.
The
French who settled in New Orleans through riverboats and railroads
learned a game called 'As-Nas', pronounced like sauce without
the 's', then like nozzle without the 'le'. (auce-naz). They learned
this from Persian sailors (Auce
means Ace in Persian)
going up the Mississippi. This Persian game was played with 5
players, 5 suits, and 25 cards. The Frenchmen altered it and called
it Poque, a card game involving bluffing and betting and the first
EVER game with the four suites we have now, Spades, Hearts, Diamonds,
and Clubs.
You
could say that this was the arrival of poker to the United States
but it wasn't actually called poker yet, didn't have 52 cards,
and you had three cards not 5. However. . . betting,
checking, calling, and especially,
RAISING had
begun.
By
the 1830s,
the 52-card deck was born and standard poker rules were being
written. The Old West took to the game the fastest, making it
the saloon favorite. It blended perfect with the cowboy tough
guy look as players' money, egos, and images were used to push
people around and scare people just as they wanted to when they
weren't playing. As some players realized the details of the game
and the fact that they were much better than others Poker personalities
came about. Now there was a way to win a lot of money quickly,
all in cash, and at many locations. So the game became serious.
Alice Ivers, a famous lady gambler and saloonkeeper, shot and
killed a man who said that her husband cheated at cards. Two of
the most feared men, Doc Holliday and Wild Bill Hickok would always
moving house from town to town after shooting their opponents
over card games and taking the money. Almost every card player
knows the famous story, which occurred on Aug. 2, 1876
in a Saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota. Wild Bill had his back
to the door during a poker game when a man named Jack McCall opened
the door slowly and walked in behind Hickok's chair shooting him
in the back! Wild Bill's last hand was 2-pair, two black 8's and
2 black Aces . . .forever
being know as
