Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the GambleFAQ blog! Here our team of experts with many years of experience in the gambling industry speaks plainly about gambling, shares their experience and gives worthwhile tips on playing casino games.
We dedicate this blog post to poker – the legendary skill based casino game that has been around for about 500 years. Whether you know how to play poker well or just starting to learn – it does not matter, this blog post can be of interest to both experienced and novice players. Here we will not talk about rules or strategies, but about interesting facts about this game that you probably have never heard of. Well, let’s not stretch this post with a long introduction and jump straight to the first fact!
Origin of the word “Poker”
Have you ever wondered why poker has such a name? There is no exact answer to this question, but there are several serious guesses.
The French say with confidence that this casino game was born in their country. It was called “Poque”. Interestingly, the rules of this game were different from modern poker.
The Germans do not agree with this origin of the legendary casino game. In Germany, it is believed that poker comes from the German word “pochen” which means “knocking” in English.
Where did poker chips come from?
Did you know that before the 1800s, poker did not use chips for betting? Instead, players used gold coins and other valuables. A little later, they began to make chips from ivory and wood, and in size they were slightly larger than modern poker chips.
Where did poker kings come from?
Historians have confirmed that the 4 King cards depict great figures of the past. The King of Hearts is similar to Charles the First, the King of Spades is the world-famous King David, the King of Diamonds represents Julius Caesar, and the King of Clubs represents the commander Alexander the Great.
First Texas Hold’em
History marks the first game of Texas Hold’em according to the rules familiar to modern players. The first batch was held in Texas. A small group of Texas players brought the first rules of poker to the state. Interestingly, the group included Doyle Brunson and Crandell Addington – these 2 people are the legendary champions of poker today. Texas Hold’em was first played in the early 20th century.
Today you can play Texas Hold’em online at the best licensed online casinos including:
Most of these casino websites also offer live poker with live dealers and opponents.
Election of the mayor with the help of… a poker game!
It’s not a joke! It happens that people choose the mayor with the help of poker. New Mexico has a law that if there is a tie, the winner is determined by a game. We know of a case in the US (in 1998) where a poker game decided which candidate would take the post in the city. 2 candidates got 68 votes each. The 1st candidate (Farrington) chose to play poker to determine the winner and the 2nd candidate (Carlson) wanted to roll the dice. To select a game, a coin was tossed and the coin decided that poker should be chosen.
Do you want to know the end of this funny story? Farrington won and became the mayor of the city!
Poker is really popular as a sport
The next interesting fact about poker is that on TV this game is ranked 3rd in terms of TV audience attention. Football is in 1st place, and rally is in 2nd place.
Young and successful
Fedor Holtz is a young and successful poker player. At the time of this writing, he is 29 years old and has poker winnings in excess of $3.5 million. Holz was the best player among youth (under 25). He has won numerous poker tournaments and continues to be an active poker player today.
Biggest poker win ever!
Remember the Daniel Negreanu name as he is a legendary player. The fact is that this lucky guy managed to win the most money in poker. In total, his prize money from tournaments is $33,887,949 – crazy!
