The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-03
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Fro mthe Chicago Inter ocean.

Fro mthe Chicago Inter Ocean.
 While most men will testify to the fact that few know very much about the great American game of poker, even the experts will admit they are ignorant of the origin of the game
 All the evidence about poker which has come to light, however, points to it's origin in New Orleans The question is, where did Ned Orleans get it from, or is it an improvement on some game known to the population of that city, who, it must be remembered, were French, and used French terms in any games that they played?
 There is no French game played with only twenty cards, as poker was played at New Orleans in 1882, but there are several French games in which all the poker hands are to be found except four of a kind. Ambigu, brelan and many others will at once suggest them selves
 But all these French games are played with three cards only in the hand of each player. Where could the inventor of poker have found a game played with five cards in each hand. and the pack consisting of twenty cards only?
 The standard pack of cards in Europe from the earliest days has been what is now called the piquet pack. which is the same as our American euchre pack, thir- ty-two cards. There is only one country In the world that uses a pack limited to twenty cards, and that is Persia. There is only In ha morld Uh poker has always been played with five cards in the hand of each player, and that is Persia; but the game is not called poker. It Is caller as nas
 Those who are familiar with this an- cient Persian game unhesitatingly as- sert some Frenchman must have brought 1t to New Orleans in it's primitive form, with the pack limited to twenty cards, and the hand of each player increased to five. The question still remains, how did it change it's name7
 The name of as mas is not only the name of game-it is now generally used to distinguish the old Persian cards with which as mas is played from the European cards. which are modern.
 The old Persian pack had eight suits, and was called ganjifeh, a word which seemed to have been derived from the Chinese, and means "paper cards Ina word is at present applied to European playing cards only, five cards in each suit
 The old Persian cards had no aces, court cards and spots, like ours, but each suit was made up of pictures which ranked Lion, king, lady. soldier, and dancing girl. This pack was called varak las. varak a asands, or simply as, from the game as or asands, which was played with it. This ancient game was simply twenty-card poker, as 1t was first played in America at the beginning of this century
 But If poker was originally known as asands, how came it to lose that name It seemed to the writer and also to Mir. Jessel that the answer to this question must be looked for in the language of the people who brought the game from Eu- rope, if they did not bring it.
 If they brought it to New Orleans from Persia. or if some resident of that city was familiar with the Persian game and thought 1t an improvement on the French game of ambigu and brelan, the intro ducer was probably French. and more familiar with French games and French terms than with Persian If this theory were correct. the next thing to do would be to examine all the books published in the French language on the subject of playing cards and card games.
 Cautiously enough. one of the oldest and most authoritative works on card games was published in France and ran through great many editions. This is the fa- nous "Academie UniverseIle des Jeux. Chez Theodore Legras, au Palais, Paris. .
 In the 1aa edition of this work we