The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-06-12

-AeNA N-NhduStcut Out nOl DuSleQ.
None of the party long survived this
ordeal
Whether the game was full deck or
2O-card poker is not stated but in an
other part of it the same book 20-card
poker is very fully described, while
full-deck poker is not mentioned.
In another work, Gambling Ex-
posed" published by Peterson, there is
chapter on poker which begins by
remarking that there is no mention of
the game in any of "Hoyle's Games"
then published This allusion would be
to Cowperthwaite, Philadelphia, in 1888,
and to George Long, New York, in
1875, both of whom published works
under the title of "Hoyle's Games"
The author describes it as a game
much played on steamers coming from
New Orleans, usually with twenty
cards only, and by two, three or four
persons, each having five cards.
Green, in his preface, says he is
writing in the spring of 1S43. and in
the book describes an Incident which
happened on the river "a few years
ago. So the game must have taken
place some time in the thirties.
In none of. these books is poker
spoken of as a particularly new game
on the river or in the vicinity of New
Orleans, and it is clear that the game
NS'o N4AOIls AL 1o1Ot PiGLLy wen hAlON IL
as far up as. Cincinnati, Louisville and
probably in most of the river towns.
Origin in New Orleans.
All the evidence about poker which
has come, to light points to it's origin
in New Orleans. The question is where
did New 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 Franch game played
with only twenty cards, but there are
several French games in which all
the poker hands are to be found ex-
cept four of a kind. Ambigu, brelan
and many others will at once suggest
themselves
But, all these French games are play
ed with three cards only in the hand
of each yer. Where co I'D the in
Ventors of poker have found u game
played with five cards in each hand,
and the pack consisting of twenty
cards only?
The standard pack of cards in Eu-
rope from the earliest DAYS has been
what is now called the Diquet pack.
which Is the same as our America
euchre pack, thirty-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 one
country in the world where poker has
always been played with five cards IN
the hand of each player and that is
Persia; but the game is not called polk
err. 1t is called as mas.
Those who are familiar with this
ancient Persian game unhesitatingly
assert that some Frenchman must have
hrO1Rhf IL ~ Naur s,,
tive 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 its
name?
The name OF as mas is not only the
name of a 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, word which
seems to be derived from the Chinese
and means paper cards. The word
is at present applied to European play
ing cards only, five cards in each suit.
Persian Extraction Evident.
The old Persian pack 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 j DIS: varak asands, or simply
as, from the game as or asands, which
was played with 1t. This ancient game
was simply twenty-card poker, as ii
was first played in America at the be-
ginning of this century.
But if poker was originally known
as asands, how came it to lose that
name? 1t seemed to the writer and al
so to Mr.. Iessel that the answer to
this question must be looked for in the
language of the people who brought the
game from Europe, if they did 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 it an improvement
on the French games of ambigu and
brelan, the introducer was probably
French, and more familiar with French
games and French terms than with
Persian. II this theory were correct.
the next thing to do would be to ex-
anime all the books published in the
French language on the subject OF
playing cards and card games.
Curiously 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 famous Academic Uni
verselle des Jeux. Ches Theodore
Legras au Palais, Paris"
In the 1866 edition of the work we
find the first description of the French
game of hoe, which is carefully distin-
guished from the Italian game of hoccG.
This game of hoe continues to be
described until the edition of 1902, with
no mention of any Improvement or
change in it's form. In -733 however,
page 3O5. we find description of 'le
Jeu du Poque." which exactly agrees
with the game known to all German
children as pochenspiel, on pochen.
The Academic des Jeux" speaks of