About Poker
Poker, as a game, very old, though, in its present form, it’s somewhat of a more recent phenomenon. Nobody can be 100% sure of where the game of skill and chance was conceived, however researchers have identified some likely scenarios which may have led to the appearance of poker as we know it today. Poker seems to have a lot in common with the Persian game of As Nas, a game played with 5 suited cards and a deck of twenty five cards. When Europeans first adopted some version of As Nas, they named it after a game that they had had themselves, and which had been based on a similar bluffing system as poker.
The Germans game Pochspiel, in which players were supposed to signal by knocking on the table whether they were in on a hand or not. According to some, the French word “poque” has also had an influence on the eventual name of the game.
It has been said that Persian seafarers taught the game to French settlers in the USA. The move is well documented by Jonathan Green is his 1843 book ‘An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling’. In the 1840’s, poker was played with a deck of twenty cards, and it became known as an unscrupulous means of money extortion used by the cheats (also known as card-sharps) against the ever unsuspecting public, untrained in the arts of cheating and card-manipulation.
Originally there was a mere one round of betting in poker - however it wasn’t as profitable as it could be.. The multiple betting round system was introduced by professional poker players in order to enhance the amount of money which could be won in a hand.
The Gold Rush in California pushed poker into the west of America, and the game became very popular among crowds of optimistic gold-diggers which the west attracted. Soon after this, the modern fifty two card deck appeared and the flush was introduced into the game. During the American Civil War different varieties of Poker began to emerge. The spread and popularity of the game of poker in to Aia is largely attributed to the American Army and Navy. Wherever they went, soldiers took one of their favorite games with them, and taught it to anyone who would play.
Compared to the real-life game itself, its most recent evolution (online poker) has lot less history to look back upon. Rich betting and gambling companies were the first to roll out online poker platforms online, eventually leading to real-money play and million dollar prizepools which we see every weekend on the major poker sites today. The systems early poker rooms are still being used by the majority of online poker rooms today. The first online poker room Planet Poker was closely followed by Paradise Poker in 1999, and Poker Spot, the first ever poker website to offer online poker tournaments.
The emergence of e-cash processing companies (like paypal and Neteller) has made it a trivial task for rooms to collect money and redistribute it, thus making their operation a lot easier and more profitable, and making depositing online an easy and safe procedure for the player.
Online poker - by its nature - is an altogether different type of ballgame compared to real life face-to-face, Brick and Mortar poker. There are no physical “tells” oozing from the player - your opponent can’t see you sweat or shake when you have the nuts. Players of live Bricks and Mortar poker can now play as many concurrent games as they can handle online, boosting their potential revenues per hour, as well as the amount of money they can make from Rakeback.
With a Poker Rakeback deal, breakeven players who play for 40 hours a week can make a MASSIVE profit if they play a few tables at once.
The biggest adrenaline injection for the poker economy came in 2004, when a virtual nobody, (Chris Moneymaker) managed to win a satellite tournament for the biggest game in poker, the World Series of Poker. Moneymaker went on to win the WSOP Main event and walk away a multi-millionaire. This was exactly the type of success story that would encourage many millions of people to take up poker online due to the convenience of not having to leave the house, as well as physical availability of poker rooms in their locale.
Upon hitting an online poker room, one will imediately notice that there is are more than one type of poker on offer. Poker has evolved into many games over the decades, however the basic hand-rankings and rules are very similar. The most popular game at the moment is No Limit Texas Hold’em.
These Different poker Varieties can be categorized, after the basic setup of play they follow, into:
1) Draw Poker - in games of this type, players will receive a full hand initially, and they have the opportunity to exchange certain cards at given times during a game to try to improve their hand.
2) Stud poker - in Stud poker games players are dealt their cards one at a time during the course of the game. Players may not exchange any cards.
3) Community card poker - Games in this category are games that have a certain number of community cards (available to all players to help them make up their final-hand) on the table for everyone to share. Players are supposed to make their final hands using these community cards in combination with their personal cards (which are not shared or shown to opponents) - the pocket cards.
Where to play?
You should play on the site that gives you the best deal in the long-term. Factors to consider are Rakeback, deposit bonus, promotions and any occasional bonuses.
All of the sites on BPR have spotless reputations, excllent rakeback and bonuses, and great support.
