The Development of Poker

Poker is a kind of game that has been played all over the world. It is the name, not for a single card game, but rather, for card games that have some similar features, which are betting rules and hand rankings. Another thing that poker games share is that it is possible for a person to win the pot simply by bluffing.

There is a lot of argument about what game served as poker's ancestral root, but it can be certain that poker first developed in the United States of America, during its frontier era. It is said that poker has its beginnings in the Mississippi river, and that it spread westward during the California gold rush, and northwards through the Mississippi river boats. During the American Civil War, poker saw several developments, such as the different variants or families of variants that we no know today as straight poker, stud poker, and draw poker.

At this time, a number of new features developed and were incorporated into the game. Examples of these features would be the wild card, which was introduced in around 1875, split pot poker and lowball, introduced around 1900, and community card poker, which became popular around 1925.

Poker -while mostly American in origin- has spread throughout the world. Poker's international renown is believed to be attributed to the American military. This is particularly so for Asian countries, where the U.S. fought the Pacific War and had several territories, such as Guam and the Philippines. Even though poker, as it is played today, is a relatively young family of card games, poker jargon has incorporated itself into into the English language. Idioms and clichés such as "calling one's bluff," "upping the ante," "wild card" and "passing the buck" are all poker-related terms.

A wild card, for example, is a card -sometimes a set of cards- that has been specially designated as wild. There are two kinds of wild cards; fully wild cards, and bugs. With a fully wild card, a hand with a pair and one wild card will automatically have a three of a kind. With the wild card, it is also possible for someone to get five of a kind.

For a wild card played as a bug, the card is considered an ace unless it can be designated as a different card to complete a flush, straight, or straight flush. A wild card, therefore, is a card that can be any suit or face, so long as it completes a hand. The idiomatic term "wild card," can refer to any element in a game or situation that is not completely defined, but can be used to complete something.