Texas Holdem Poker

Texas Holdem Poker has become the most popular poker game across North America and Europe. It slowly gained popularity in the the 19th century, during the Civil War, but its popularity surged in recent years due to the large amount of exposure on TV, the internet, and in literature. The largest surge in popularity came in 2003 when an amateur poker player by the name of Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker (W.S.O.P.) main event for a total of $2.5 million. This victory revealed the public that anybody can win, inspiring them to try their luck in poker. Everybody knows how to play Texas hold ‘em but not many people know the origins of the favored card game.

Texas hold ‘em is a game that has a long history that has had variations throughout history to the modern form people are familiar wit.
The history of Texas Holdem poker originated around the middle of the tenth century in China. The emperor of China, Mu-tsung, liked the game of Antoine domino cards. This that farthest in history that any form of Texas hold ‘em can be traced back. The history of Texas hold ‘em continued to spread and evolve throughout the world. Playing cards found in Egypt, dating back to about the thirteenth century, appeared to be similar to the playing cards used today. Also many believe that Texas hold ‘em originated from “Ganjifa” (meaning playing card),a very popular card game in India. “Ganjifa” consists of 12 subjects on colored backgrounds with the cards ranging from 1 to 10 with two court cards of a minister or counselor, and a king.
The spread of these variations stayed in Asia. A game called “As Nas” created by the Persians is a game that uses five cards to make a hand but only 25 cards were used. It is believed that the Iranians instructed the Guns in a game similar to “As Nas” called “Pochen” which the Guns spread to the French. The French named this game “Poque”, the word poker derives from.
The French then brought “Poque” to the United States to the town of New Orleans. This game then spread throughout the United States via the Mississippi River. The people who learned the game that lived around the Mississippi River spread it throughout other colonies and towns along the railroads. This card game became extremely popular with cowboys in the Old West.

One of the most important additions made in the history of Texas holdem was during the American Civil war. During this time the Americans used the traditional English set of cards, 52.
Although not many people are sure where Texas hold’em, as we know it today, came from, it is clear that Texas is the state of origin. The state of Texas recognizes the town of Robstown as the origin of Texas hold ‘em which occurred in the early 1900s. This game then passed through Texas reaching the town of Dallas in 1925.
Texas hold ‘em was introduced to Las Vegas in 1967 by a group of Texan gamblers including Crandell, Addington, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim. Tom Moor added the first ever poker tournament in 1979 which featured several games including Texas hold ‘em.
The Texas holdem gained popularity throughout the country in 1970 when the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino was opened in Las Vegas by Benny Binion.Binion took over a small invitational poker tournament from Riverside Casino’s Tom Morehead, renamed the World Series of Poker. The main even of this tournament was none other then Texas hold ‘em. In 1972, 8 players took part in the first ever World Series of Poker. Now that number has increased to thousands of entrants. The tournament is the most highly regarded in the world.