Evening star., 1905-08-20

. * & K :: - :. !;
as a particularly new game on the river or
IN the vicinity of New Orleans, and It is
clear that the game was then in 1910.
pretty well known as far up as Cincinnati.
Louisville and probably in most OF the river
towns.
All the evidence about poker which has
come 10 light points to its origin in New
orleans, The question is where did New
Orleans get 1t from. is It an Improvement
ON some game known to the population OF
that city. who, 1t must be remembered.
were French and used French terms in any
games that they played
ihefe Is no French game played with
only twenty cards. but there are several
French games In which all the poker hands
are to be found except four Of a kind Am
oigu breian aud many others will at once
suggest themselves
But al! these French games are played
with three cards only I'm the hand OF each
prayer. Where could the inventors OF poker
nave found game played with five cards
IN each hand and the pack consisting OF
twenty cards only?
Inc standard pack of cards IN Europe
from the earliest DAYS has been what is
now called the piuuet pack which Is the
same as our American euchre pack thirty
Two CARDS. There Is only one country in
the world that uses n pack limited to TWEEN
~ cards. and that is Persia: hut the game
is not called poker. II is called ''as mas"
Those who are familiar with this ancient
Persian game unhesitatingly assert that
some Frenchman must have brought IL to
New Orleans in Its primitive form. with
the pack limited to twenty cards and the
hand of each player increased to five. The
question still remains how did IL change its
name?
The name of as mas IS not only the name
of "A game-it is now generally used to dis
tinguish the old Persian cards. with which
- frhf E'.ITn N lrdG
" hich modern.
The old Persian pack hau eight suits and
was called sanjtfeh. a word which seems
to be derived from the Chinese and means
paper cards. The word Is at present APP
piled to European playing cards only, FIVE
cards in each suit
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 I ds; varak 1
| 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 II poker was originally known as
asands. how came IL to lose that name,
1t seemed to the writer and also to Mr..
Jessel that the answer to this question must
be looked for in the language OF the people
who brought the game from Europe IL
they did bring It,
If they brought 1t to New Orleans from
Persia, II some resident of that city was
familiar with the Persian game and thought
Ii an improvement the French games
of Hmbigu and brelan. the introducer was
probably French. and more familiar with
French games and French terms than with
n. theory ia
next thing to do would be to examine alt
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
a great many editions. This is the famous
| Academic tniverselle des Jeux. Ches
Iheocore Legras. au Paiais. Paris"
In the 1865 edition of the work we find
the first description of the French game
If hoe, which Is carefully distingu shed
from the Italian game of hocCa
This game Of hoe continues to be de-
! scrIped until the edition of 1Tu2 with no
mention of any Improvement or change in
us form. In 1888, however page So we
ma a description of 'le .Jeu du Po1ua
| which exactly agrees with the game known
to all German children as pochenspiel. or
! pnchen. The Academic des JerIx' sne,ks
| of poque descendant or offshoot from,
| the Older game of hoe.
The popularity of poque Is that after the
cards are dealt and each player has taken
| from the common pool the counter for the
rank of the highest cards held he is at lib
erty to bet upon the various combinations
of cards he hods-tripets pairs etc In
the French descriptions of the game we
are told that a player opened the betting
by saying, "Je poque dun ieton." or two
or a he sod hot
, then the others could see him. raise him or
drop out in their turn.
In the German game pochen as IL il
played today we find exactly the same ex-
preston still in use. "Ich poche eiI's' or
many chips the player cares to ven
ture. and the answer of the PLAYER enter
ing the betting against the opener IS In
variably. 'Ich poche nit" Both poque and
, pochen are played with the piquat pack
thirty-two cards.
Now it Is very curious that iE the Eng
lish translation of this "Aci lemie des
Jeux." and in all the English descriptions
of the game of poque. We find the players
are instructed to say in English. Il poeue
for much" and the following payers
are to respond. Il poque against you"
Show this word ''poque" 20 any ordinary
EnglIsh-speaking person not acqua!cled
with French and he would undoubtedly sep
arate it into two syllables ind call ii ro-
que. In the German the word pochc is
already as near poker as the vowel sound
Will ADMIT.
What more natural than that 4 resident
of New Orleans OF French birth or extrac-
ton already familiar with the elma Of
poque. and seeing asands PLAYED for the
first time. should the expressions "Ie
poque dun jeton,' etc. and that the Eng
lish or German-speaking person adopting
the game should say. Il po-que?"
, From this it is a short step 10 drop the
curious and difficult foreign name OF asa1ds
altogether and call the game po-Iuc and
later to spell it poker.