While poker originated hundreds of years ago and has grown into a popular pastime activity, the history of poker is not as clear or widely known to the general public.
Poker was considered almost an outlaw activity at the beginning and now is a famous game that is enjoyed throughout the world.
To give you an idea of how poker history developed over the years, we created this infographic, which will help you see how it grew to what it is today.
While this will surely help you see the big picture, we also wrote a detailed description of each period in poker history, so make sure to check the whole article if you are interested to learn why people always enjoyed playing some poker hands in the mix.
The Roots Of Poker History
Many people are still questioning where poker originates from, and while there are many speculations that it evolved from the Persian game of As-Nas or Brag from Britain, these versions have recently been dismissed.
It is believed that a popular card game from France named Poque is the godfather of poker.
Poque originated from France in the 1400s, and this game was played with 52 cards deck just as we play poker today. On top of that, it has a similar name, which is believed to be “Americanized” when French colonists brought Poque to North America to English-speaking settlers in the region, and poker history began to develop.
18th Century – Early Days of Poker History in the USA
After it settled in America, poker began to gain more and more traction when the game developed and became famous as riverboat gambling on the Mississippi and nearby areas in the 1700s. A lot of poker plays like betting, bluffing, and the actual gameplay is unique and believed to be born in the 18th century in the Mississippi Delta.
Poker, as we know it today, was born over there, and as Britannica suggests, it started spreading to other countries around 1872, when Colonel Jacob Schenck wrote the rules of poker and sent it over to England.
19th Century – Poker Expansion Throughout America
Mississippi River trips and Goldrush in California helped poker spread through America in the 19th century, and it became a popular game in saloons. It gave people a chance to gamble and face their opponents without firing bullets. Well, at least not at the beginning of the game.
It is believed that even the Civil War played a part in expanding the games reach since soldiers used to play poker during their time in the camp, and almost everyone learned the rules at that time.
Unlike some other games, poker was played for money from the beginning.
It is also one of the reasons it was able to grow in popularity year after year while offering a lot of excitement for anyone looking to gamble. With the widespread use, it even became a part of the western culture that we can see in a number of poker movies today, and developed into the most popular card game in the US.
20th Century – The Turning Point in the History of Poker
With the game being more and more familiar to the general public, new variations were slowly introduced in the mix, and even women started to play poker, which was considered strictly a man's game before.
Slowly but steadily, poker moved away from being an outlaw game into saloons to mainstream pastime activity that it is today.
Without a doubt, the introduction of the Texas Hold'em game and strategies around it had a vast impact on poker history and helped it grow even further.
Without any surprises, it originates from Texas state a small town called Robstown, and was very fast to spread all over Texas and later far beyond it.
This community card game offered a lot of action and was very fast-paced, so it created even more interest with the general population and helped poker go mainstream.
After that, one of the most significant breaking points was in 1970 when the first World Series of Poker championship took place in Las Vegas. While it was a different format and invitational only event, it built the foundations for the massive series that takes place these days.
The first actual poker boom began a few years later when Texas Hold'em was legalized in 1980 in California. New poker rooms started popping up and offering games to anyone interested to try, so there was no turning back after that.
1973 – First Televised Poker Event
World Series of Poker in 1973 was very special since it became the first-ever televised poker event. With nationwide translation from Las Vegas, the interest in this game only grew stronger and broader, making the game known not only among players but to the general public as well.
That kick-started a new segment of the industry, and new poker shows and televised events started popping all over the place, with some of it being watched to this day. Newer series like Poker After Dark or High Stakes Poker have millions of views and inspired players to learn and try poker.
1998 – The First Online Poker Room in History is Launched
After seeing rapid growth in interest, people soon realized that poker could be played online, and 1998 will forever be written in poker history since the first-ever online poker room was launched.
One of the creators of “Planet Poker” was a legendary player and famous poker book author, Mike Caro. This project changed the poker landscape forever. While Planet Poker was only able to offer one cash game table running over the night in their second month of operations, it was a significant milestone nonetheless.
Back in the days with slow internet, many connection problems, and technical issues, the experience was far from ideal compared to what we can find today.
The online poker room naturally struggled to grow as fast as they wanted, and even though Planet Poker did not reach a lot of glory in the online poker world, it opened the doors for the multi-billion-dollar industry that is standing strong till this day.
This made poker available to everyone throughout the world. Even those who had no access to local poker rooms or casinos, could now launch an online game and enjoy it without even leaving the house. A nice proposition, to say the least.
2003 – Chris Moneymaker wins WSOP Main Event and changes the history of poker
While poker was becoming more and more known worldwide, it would not be as it is today if not for Chris Moneymaker. An accountant from Georgia was able to qualify to WSOP main event by winning a $86 dollar satellite on PokerStars, and then won the biggest tournament of the year with 839 entries to take home an astonishing $2.500.000 first-place prize.
An unknown player who qualified from an online satellite was able to beat professional players and win the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003.
While he had to face Sammy Farha, who was considered a huge favorite over an amateur player in a heads-up battle, Chris Moneymaker stood tall and, against all odds, took it down.
Image from SHR
The poker dream was born that day. Chris Moneymaker was the first player ever to win the WSOP main event after qualifying online, and it created a chain reaction where people around the world saw themselves in Chris's place and started playing poker. From that day, online poker experienced rapid growth since everyone started chasing the dream, and that led to ever-growing fields, and prizes are live and online tournaments that we see today.
2009 – the year of Isildur1
Following the rapid expansion, professional poker players became superstars. Fans compared them to famous musicians or movie stars. The industry hit new heights every single year.
Televised events featured big names like Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Hellmuth. However, no one created more interest than Isildur1. High-stakes online action was booming. Full Tilt Poker hosted the biggest games in the world. The platform attracted elite players competing for millions.
Suddenly, a new name emerged from nowhere. The Isildur1 legend began. No one knew his real identity. Yet, Isildur1 looked completely fearless. He gladly played anyone who accepted his challenge. He actually beat Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and Patrik Antonius.
No one knew who he was at the time, but Isildur1 looked fearless and was willing to play anyone who accepted the challenge.
Everyone eventually learned his identity in 2010. Isildur1 was a young Swedish player named Viktor Blom. However, his anonymous run cemented his place in poker history. No one else has ever generated so much global excitement.
2011 – the Black Friday on April 15th
One of the worst days in the history of poker happened on April 15th, 2011 and is known as Black Friday to the poker community all over the world. If you were playing online poker back then, I bet you remember what happened.
The USA Department of Justice seized the domains of Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, and Ultimate Bet, which were leading the industry at the moment, and forbidden all of the access to the player both to their accounts and funds. It looked just like in movies when you could see “This domain name has been seized by the FBI” when trying to access these websites.
This hit was devastating for many poker players who held vast sums of money in their poker bankrolls with no way to access it. While PokerStars was quick to help players and let them withdraw money in a couple of weeks, other rooms did not rise to this challenge, leaving players in limbo for years.
Following the massive Full Tilt Poker scandal, a landmark deal was eventually reached where PokerStars acquired Full Tilt’s assets and provided the funding required for the U.S. government to reimburse the affected players. This massive undertaking played a vital role in restoring the community's faith and ensured that most victims were eventually made whole. All of this caused enormous damage to the online poker industry, but this resolution helped mitigate the total loss for the global poker community.
2013 – 225.000 players in single tournaments set a new world record
Even with enormous implications from Black Friday, PokerStars was able to arrange a record-setting online poker tournament in 2013.
The fact that US players were absent from this event makes it even more impressive.
The tournament on June 16th of 2013 will be known in poker history as the one who attracted the most participants totaling 225.000 players in a single event.
This tournament featured a buy-in of $1, so it was available to anyone looking to play and had a guaranteed prize pool of $300.000, which means that Poker Stars had to add $75k of their own cash. The winner of this tournament took home $25.000 and cemented his place in the history of poker by turning his $1 investment into the astonishing prize.
2015 – The Rise of The Machines & Bots
For many years until 2015, the topic of poker bots was not escalated too much among the players. While they had some presence, it was never seen as a threat, nor they had any meaningful results to counter human players. It was not until 2015 that a poker bot named “Cepheus” was introduced to the general public.
The creators of “Cepheus” claimed that they solved Limit Holdem Heads-Up games, where no human can actually win against it over any meaningful hands sample.
After 2015 many researchers began investing in poker bot technologies and AI algorithms, so it was obvious that we will soon face another challenge.
Not long after, “Claudico” was introduced and challenged no-limit heads-up professionals, but luckily, humans came as winners again.
Later poker bots like Libratus and Pluribus were able to beat real players in no-limit games. While it still requires a lot of resources to run such software, the progress is evident, and it makes us question the future of online poker.
One thing that helps them play exceptionally well is proper preflop hand selection, and you can grab your poker cheat sheet here to see how unexploitable ranges look in practice!
The Late 2010s – HUDs, Solvers, and the GTO Revolution
As online poker evolved, so did the tools players used to gain an edge. The history of poker shifted drastically from an era of “gut feelings” and live reads to an era dominated by mathematics and Game Theory Optimal (GTO) play.
First came the widespread use of HUDs (Heads-Up Displays). Software like PokerTracker and Hold'em Manager allowed online grinders to track every single hand played by their opponents, displaying real-time statistics directly on the poker tables. Players could instantly see if an opponent was bluffing too much or folding too often.
However, the true revolution arrived with the invention of Poker Solvers (like PioSolver). These complex programs allowed players to input specific poker scenarios, and the software would calculate the exact, mathematically unexploitable strategy (GTO) for that situation. Suddenly, top professionals weren't just playing cards; they were executing complex, computer-calculated frequencies.
Today, understanding Game Theory Optimal strategy is essential if you want to crush the tables. You don't need a supercomputer to run complex solvers anymore. GTO Wizard offers instant access to millions of pre-solved poker situations, interactive practice modes, and advanced hand analysis directly in your browser. Elevate your game and study like the modern pros.
2020 – COVID-19 Changes Poker Landscape
While online poker was keeping a steady interest from the players, live games were rapidly growing year after year, and 2019 was not an exception. Many tournaments were smashing the records, and the World Series of Poker had 8100+ players joining the Main Event, which was also the all-time best.
Then, 2020 and COVID-19 came into our lives. Poker, like everything else in the world, was severely hit by the worldwide spread since all casinos and poker rooms were forced to close. However, it turned out that players were not ready to leave the game. We saw a massive spike in online poker interest during this time, with many new players entering the scene, effectively creating a “mini-boom” for the online poker landscape.
The Future of Poker
Poker history is very colorful and deserves to be recognized as it is. While it is hard to say what the long-term future will bring us, poker has always been able to evolve to meet demand over the years.
Following the end of the global lockdowns, the live poker scene didn't just recover; it exploded. The pent-up demand resulted in the World Series of Poker consistently breaking its own all-time attendance records in the 2020s, proving that the magic of sitting face-to-face at the green felt is irreplicable.
Simultaneously, a massive paradigm shift occurred in the online realm. For nearly two decades, PokerStars was the undisputed king of online poker following the Black Friday fallout. However, the 2020s saw a monumental changing of the guard. Through aggressive software innovation, massive guaranteed prize pools, and official partnerships with the WSOP, GGPoker rapidly ascended the ranks. They officially overtook PokerStars to become the largest online poker room globally, a position they are widely expected to hold and expand upon well into the future.
With the seamless integration of modern software, GTO strategy, and the enduring popularity of massive live events, poker's ecosystem has never been more sophisticated. Use your time wisely, study the math behind the game, utilize the best poker training tools available, and cement your own place in the ongoing history of poker!
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