10 cool facts about poker

10 cool facts about poker

Nixon Poker Face... :)

Everybody knows a flush beats a straight and a four-of-a-kind beats a full house, but how many of you know all these interesting facts about poker and its origins?

1. The first recorded instances of poker in the United States came around 1820, in New Orleans. The game spread to the rest of country by riverboat – where gambling was the top on-ship activity.



2. The first poker played in the U.S. featured a 20-card deck. The now-standard 52-card English deck was incorporated just before the Civil War.



3. During World War II, Richard Nixon won $6,000 playing poker when he was in the U.S. Navy. He used the money to fund his first run for Congress.



4. In 1937, a fifth suit was added to the game of poker, but it was quickly abandoned because people were forced to buy new decks of cards



5. “The Dead Man’s Hand” (2 pair, Aces and Eights) refers to the hand Wild Bill Hickock was holding when he was shot and killed during a poker game.



6. Being dealt a ten and a two is referred to as a “Doyle Brunson” in reference to the hand the great player was dealt when he won each of his back-to-back World Series of Poker titles.



7. 70 million decks of playing cards are sold every year, and most of them are used for poker!



8. Warren Harding, the 29th President of the United States, loved the game so much that he played twice a week during his term in office.



9. Despite signing the bill that prohibited electronic gambling transactions, current President George W. Bush was known as a skilled poker player while attending Harvard Business School.



10. The first World Series of Poker was a small, invitation only affair held in 1968 at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno.

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