The Origins of Poker. Discuss here.

[jtd001234]

Hello, I am posting this to discuss the origins of poker, since there seems to be a debate about it. This post is mostly to dismantle the some of the theories of poker's origins. See if you agree.

Where does poker originate from? The game is most likely descendent from the German game Pochen, which moved to France and played a version called poque in the late Middle Ages, 1480. The concepts of bluffing, raising, and folding, are first found in these games. None of these 3 concepts can be found in any earlier games.

I have seen some assert in another forum that the game originates from As Nas, a persian game. The only evidence supporting this theory is that the game resembles modern poker. There are problems with this theory. First, even though the alleged origins of As Nas are in the 17th century, the earliest documentation of As Nas is in the 1890s. In other words, it is more probable that As Mas is more recent then modern poker! Even if we assume that As Nas originated in the 17th century, Poque and Pochen were around at least 120 years earlier. In addition, there is no contemporty evidence whatsoever of the Persian link in Louisiana (where modern poker comes from). Most likely, the French sailors implented their own version of poque, not As Mas. This link is much more realistic. Plus, linguists say that As is not Persian in origin, but French, meaning ace. What does this mean, that the evidence shows that As Mas derived from the French game poque, and not the other way around.

A Chinese journalist (not a historian mind you)also asserted that poker originates from China and India, because that is where the earliest cards come from. While this is probably the origin of playing cards, saying it is the origin of poker is a complete failure in logic. First, the Chinese game of cards at the time had more resemblence to dominos then poker(actually, there was no resemblence to poker), and rules of the Indian card game before Poque and Pochen are lost. There is no reason to believe the game even remotely resembled poker.

So why do some still believe As Nas is the originator of poker, even though most evidence points against it? Well, most historians don't, it was debunked years ago. http://www.pagat.com/vying/pokerhistory.html The myth lives on through poker journalists in various websites, who aren't historians and don't give clear sources. God knows why the myth ever existed, the link between the French game poque and Louisiana is much more obvious. After all, Louisiana was settled by the French, not the Persians. Of course, the myth came about due to the popular trend to believe that if a Western game bears resemblence to a game outside of the West, it must have originated outside the West. The myth also countinues to exist because many cultures want to lay claim to the origin due to the recent popularity of poker. The truth is, the origins of As Nas, and poker in general, are most likely German in origin.