Casino King David

Poker: from the Cheater's Game to Glitz & Glam

For anyone playing Poker in a Las Vegas casino, it would be very hard to imagine that it was once regarded as a game fit for lowlifes and hustlers, but that was how it began. Its transformation has been nothing short of phenomenal.

The origins of Poker history are vague, but it probably began in Europe in the 15th century and was carried over to the New World by the colonists. Whatever the case when the game arrived in America, it became the favorite of professional gamblers, who saw the game as a means to make quick and easy money.

Because most people were unfamiliar with Poker rules, several people fell prey to the cheaters, earning the game such notoriety that the historian Jonathan Greene simply referred to it as "the cheating game".

Even with the innovations and changes the game went through in the late 1800s, its reputation hardly improved. When the game was declared illegal in the early 1900s, it went underground and remained there for decades. It's no secret that during the period from the late 50s to early 70s, Poker thrived underground, but operated under shady circumstances.

The great Doyle Brunson often recalled how he was forced to play in one sided games operated by syndicates, and several pros have had the experience of having guns pointed at them for winning.

It was sometime in the 1980s that Poker began to improve its status, thanks to the growing popularity of tournaments like the WSOP and the WPT. As books about Poker were published, the game began to attract the masses, and would result in casinos including it in their roster of games.

With the improved security in casinos, the growing number of legitimate tournaments, and the coverage given to it, the prizes grew, and there no longer was any reason to go underground or play in illegal games.

Today Poker is recognized not just as another casino game, but a sport. Events like the WSOP and WPT are covered by sports networks in the same manner they do other sporting attractions, and Poker players have attained celebrity status, with product endorsements, books, DVDs, websites etc.

Gone are the days when players had to go to seedy clubs managed by mobsters to try their luck; now, anyone with Internet access can qualify for the biggest tourneys in the world. With more people getting into online gambling, expect this trend to continue.