Poker is a popular American card game played in many different parts of the world, it is believed to have originated in the early 19th century and is an evolution of a Persian game called As-Nas. It was played with only a twenty card pack while modern-day poker is played with a deck of 52 cards. Poker in America first appeared around Ohio and then spread across the country and slowly became a popular pastime amongst the American population. In the beginning, the 5 card stud was the first variation of poker played by the American population, later the 7 card stud gained popularity, then evolved the Texas hold’em but even then the 7 card stud remains the most popular form of poker to be played by the people.
Many different variations of how to play poker online are there, the most famous one being stud poker which again has a couple of variations like the 5 card and 7 cards and also in stud poker the place cannot exchange or replace any cards. Another form of poker is draw poker in which players can replace their cards a few times. One more form of poker is community card poker which is played with community cards and this again has a few variations like Texas hold ‘em and Omaha hold’em which usually have 2 or 4 cards.
World Series of Poker
A popular series of poker tournaments called The World Series of Poker was started in the year 1970 and Johnny Moss became the first World champion of Poker. Since then the world series of poker is held annually in Las Vegas, USA. This made the game even more popular and poker became a part of the American lifestyle. From the early 2000s, The World Series of poker expanded to other parts of the world and started holding competitions in other countries. In 2007 they held their first series in Europe and later went on to conduct the tournament in Africa, Asia pacific, etc.
Online Poker
Poker is being played online since the 1990s and it has contributed to its popularity in modern times. The first online poker game was planet poker in which you could bet actual money. Many countries have banned online poker, this includes mostly the Islamic countries as gambling is a sin in the religion, apart from them it is banned in Singapore, Japan, North Korea to name a few. As for India, online poker is not legal in a few states like Gujarat, Assam, etc. The Supreme Court has classified it as a game of skill and of chance so is not considered gambling.
Conclusion
Poker has made its way to the modern world and is here to stay. The younger generation has accepted it and liked it as we can understand by the popularity of online poker in the present day. This American game which was popularized by the American Army is now played by civilians in many parts of the globe and will continue being popular over time in years to come.
