Texas Hold'em is one of the most popular card games in the world and is clearly the most widely played poker format today. It is played live or online by millions of people every year, and these numbers are growing year on year. The history of poker is as interesting as the game itself, although there are disputes about where, when and how it was invented. Today, we're going back in time together to uncover the story of a game that has spread from Persia and the military tents and trenches of the world.

The first versions of poker
 

Throughout history, people all over the world have played games of chance. In China, as early as the 10th century, bone dice known as dominoes were the most popular way to play the game and probably inspired the first playing cards. Playing cards first appeared in Persia in the 16th century when people used them to play a game known as 'as nas'. The rules bear a striking resemblance to modern poker, in which players bet on having the highest-value cards.

Playing cards as nas (Source - Mohafezekaar / Wikipedia)

Over time, as nas spread across Europe, inspiring games like "brag" in England, "pochen" in Germany, and "poque" in France. The specific rules of these games varied, but all were characterized by the same concept, namely to beat your opponent with higher-value cards. French settlers in New Orleans probably helped popularize poque among the locals in the 18th century, where it soon became known as poker. There were many different versions, including stud and straight poker, but the interesting thing is that it could only ever be played by two players and a deck of 20 cards was used for the game.

The emergence and popularity of Texas Hold'em
 

Poker continued to spread in the Mississippi River area, and gradually different rules and ways of playing developed in different regions. Poker became most widespread during the American Civil War, when the game became popular among soldiers. When Texas Hold'em was invented is difficult to pinpoint, but records show that it was probably developed by players in the 19th century. The official birthplace of Texas Hold'em was the small town of Robstown, where, in 1925, player Blondie Forbes wrote down the game's unambiguous rules.

A likeness of T. Blondie Forbes on a $5 chip from the Horseshoe Casino (source - eBay)

There are hundreds of poker formats, which begs the question of why Texas Hold'em has become the most popular. Unlike other versions such as draw or stud poker, this game uses community cards on the board, plus compared to draw variants, the game features four betting rounds instead of two. These two elements offer the player many more options and make the game dynamic and exciting. Despite these reasons, it took Hold'em many decades to spread from Texas to the rest of the world.

Viva Las Vegas
 

The real hold'em boom took off in Las Vegas, where it began to appear on casino menus in the 1960s. More notable in history than Blondie Forbes was Felton "Corky" McCorquodale, who introduced NLH at the California Club Casino. This pivotal move kicked off the meteoric rise of NLH, which quickly became popular with players and began to spread across the Strip. The game was known as Hold'em, but since the four-card underhand variant had the same name, it was necessary to differentiate the two. And so they were named after the place of their origin - the world came to know Texas Hold'em and Omaha.

In 1969, a poker tournament was held at the Gambling Fraternity Convention, and one of the games was Texas Hold'em. Benny and Jack Binion, casino magnates, bought the organization a year later, turned it into the World Series of Poker, and the NLH became the main competition at the event. At that point, it was virtually a foregone conclusion that the NLH would become the most widely played format around the world.

Hold'em in the media
 

As the popularity grew, the first poker strategy books began to appear on the market to introduce the game to the general public. Perhaps the most famous of all was written in 1979 by WSOP legend Doyle Brunson. His book "Super/System" is arguably the most influential book on poker ever written and is considered by many to be the poker bible. Books may have helped people learn how to play poker and different game strategies, but they weren't the only type of media that helped push Texas Hold'em to the public.

So television stepped up to the plate, and poker's popularity didn't go unnoticed in Hollywood. No poker fan needs to be introduced to the movie "Rounders", which showed the public a somewhat "romanticized" version of poker, which helped open the game up to many new fans. Public and sports television have also not missed poker's growing popularity, and have regularly featured reports and interviews from the most famous tournaments, led by the WSOP.

The real poker boom didn't really take off until the late 1990s, when cameras appeared on the scene to capture player cards. The cameras made it much easier to follow the action, offering viewers a more interesting spectacle. Suddenly everyone could see inside the heads of the best players, and when the WSOP teamed up with ESPN, poker was well on its way to becoming a worldwide phenomenon. And then Chris Moneymaker put the finishing touches on it all in 2003 with his win, but that's another story altogether....

Sources - reddit.com, YouTube, Wikipedia, history.com, poker.org, parlettgames, poker.betmgm