9 Crazy Poker Facts that Will Make You Fold

A rich history that dates back to the 1800s, interesting characters featuring pistols to politics to prison, and a huge collection of stories that will last a lifetime – poker, for folks who hate folding more than anything else, is more than just a game. And why shouldn’t it be? Fear, patience, reward, risk, luck, skills and aggression, the game has it all.

A rich history that dates back to the 1800s, interesting characters featuring pistols to politics to prison, and a huge collection of stories that will last a lifetime – poker, for folks who hate folding more than anything else, is more than just a game. And why shouldn’t it be? Fear, patience, reward, risk, luck, skills and aggression, the game has it all.

If you don’t trust us, take a look at some of the most craziest fact about Poker that’ll make you fold :p

  • Hoyle’s Game: Although the origin of Poker dates back to late 1820s, the Hoyle’s Game – the holy bible of card games released in 1989, mentions 1845b as the first year of poker.
  • Dead Man’s Hand: James Butler Hickok, better known as “Wild Bill” Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. He was a famed lawman, gunslinger, and cardplayer in the late 1800s. At the time of his death on Aug. 2, 1876, at Nuttal & Mann’s Saloon in Deadwood in the Dakota Territory, he was holding A♠ A♣8♠8♣, forever known as the “Dead Man’s Hand.”
  • The birth of real money online poker games: We Indians might be new to real-money online poker games, but in America, the groundwork was laid down over 2 decades ago. The first real money online poker game Dealt came into existence way back in 1998. Though the games were a bit glitchy but that never got in the way of Online Poker becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry.
  • The longest poker game that lasted for almost 8 and a half years: Crazy! Right? That’s how addictive the game of poker is. According to legends, a poker game, played at Bird Cage Theater, Tombstone, Arizona, lasted for eight years, five months, and three days. The game was played for 24 hours a day till it lasted, and was joined by renowned figures of the old west including Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Diamond Jim Brady, George Hearst, and Adolphus Busch.
  • Richard Nixon and his $5000 funding his first run: Richard Nixon, who served as the 37th President of the USA, was one of the most successful politicians to play poker. He used to pocket around $150 a month while playing in the Navy during the 1940s. But that’s the least of his poker legacy. If rumours are to be believed, he used $5000 from his poker winnings to fund his first run for Congress in California in 1946.
  • The poker story from the American Civil War: It is said that soldiers during the American Civil War used to play poker and kill time while waiting for the next battle. And that five-card stud was a regular part of military camp life.
  • The biggest payout: Jamie Gold, who defeated 8773 players to win the largest WSOP Main Event in 2006, received a whopping $12 million payout
  • Rounders was one of the first Hollywood movies to show a realistic look at poker on the felt as well as the New York underground poker scene. The movie starred Matt Damon and Ed Norton in the lead and gained a cult following after releasing on cable TV. What’s so special about the movie? The movie clocked a whopping $8.5 million – on its opening weekend in September 1998. And it only cost $12 million to produce. 
  • Mark Twain, also known as the father of American literature, was a regular cardplayer as a young riverboat pilot along the Mississippi. 

Want to know more interesting facts? Keep playing and watch out this space regularly.

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