Video Poker History

Video Poker Today > Video Poker History

Without the game of poker, the video poker machine would never have been invented. So lets first look into the history if this favorite card game. As with most card games, poker is a game that dates back many years. The exact origins have never really been traced and like almost every game we play today, it is thought that the game evolved from other games with similar objectives.

It was Jonathan Green who gave the game it’s name. In the 1830’s Green wrote about a game that was played on a the Mississippi Riverboats. He outlined the rules and basic strategy about the game that he referred to as a “Cheating Game”. And since up to this point, he was supposedly the first to make reference to the game he was free to name it whatever he wanted and he named it Poker.

Like the history of the game itself, where Green got the name poker from is often debated. Some believe that was derived from a Hindu word “pukka”, others say it comes from the French card game called “poque” or the German card game called “pochspiel” and the list goes on. Others believe that the name poker came to be because the game was often hosted by con men on the riverboats who enjoyed relieving their wealthy victims of their “poke” (another term for cash). In the years to come, especially during the days of the “wild west” it would be hard to find a saloon that didn’t feature at least one poker table.

The game of video poker also must pay tribute to Charles Fey, the inventor of the first slot machine. Fey’s invention was the first stepping stone to the modern slot machine, cousin of the video poker machine, we see today. The video poker machine has many of the same qualities of the slot machine and in the early 1970’s when the computer chip was developed these types of games were vastly improved and therefore increased heavily in popularity. Over the next years the combination of the slot machine and the on a standard five card draw poker game, the video poker machine, has evolved into one of the most fun and exciting casino games out there (including all over the world wide web).