Poker: The Story of America's National Pastimeby James McManus | Published: Dec 06, 2006 |
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In this column I'll do my level best to narrate the history of poker, from the game's arrival in New Orleans as 20-card poque (or poqas), its evolution into 52-card poker aboard Mississippi steamboats and later in the camps of Union and Confederate armies, its migration to the Dakotas and California, its importance as both entertainment for servicemen and a tactical model in war games and nuclear diplomacy, through its emergence as a tournament spectacle at Binion's World Series of Poker and its mushrooming popularity in scores of other countries as well as in cyberspace, the fastest growing segment of the $100 billion poker industry.