The earliest records of a game similar to poker date back to about ten centuries ago. The game had various features found in modern games like bluffing and ranked cards.

The earliest records of a game similar to poker date back to about ten centuries ago. The game had various features found in modern games like bluffing and ranked cards.

According to the Chinese, the game of poker was invented in China in 969 AD. It was played by the royals. The Chinese emperor at that time is said to have played a game similar to poker. It was the first and a simple form of poker.

The Egyptians also used to play a game similar to poker in the 12th century. The game, called Ganjifa, had 96 cards which were made of slices of wood. Another game with 25 cards was popular among the Persians too.

The Spanish are also said to have played a game primero which had some features similar to the modern day poker. This game later spread among the French and the Germans. Primero and its French version had the bluffing feature in them.

The French took the game to Canada in the 18th century. The game spread to whole of Canada. Jonathan Green has talked about poker in his book on gambling. In the book, we find information about how the game was played at that time. The Europeans spread the game to various countries where they traveled.

Poker got popular in the United States also. Poker tables were established in nearly every town as more and more people began to like it. Its popularity shot up during the civil war and the European influence to the game ended when the joker card was introduced in 1875.

There has a huge increase in popularity of poker in the last few decades. Many different versions of the game have been developed. Not only is this played in casinos but it is also played online by hundreds of thousands of people every month.