Enjoyed by millions worldwide, Poker is one of the most popular card games today. Still few poker fans know how exactly their favourite game has evolved into what it is today.

The origins of Poker is debated. Some elements of the game appear to have originated from many earlier games. The actual cardplay could have been derived from any number of previously existing popular card games.

One of the earliest card games wehere players would betand bluff was the German Pochspiel game, played in the 15th century. This game also featured hand rankings although these were obviously different from today's well known poker hand ranks.

Another possible ancestor of poker is the Persian game called As Nas. A French game very similar to Poker, called Poque, was played around the region where poker is thought to have originated from.

Poker also shares ancestry with the Renaissance game of Primero and the French Brelan and it's English descendant called Brag. These games were incorporating bluffing. The concept of bluff was known in other games by that time as well. Some say that all of these earlier games influenced the development of poker as it exists now.

Source:  poker777 Staff

Friday, 03 July 2009