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Caribbean Poker - History

 Caribbean stud poker first began in the Caribbean Islands (as you might have guessed from its name) and on ships that cruised those waters. Since Caribbean stud poker is not particularly favorable for the player, when Las Vegas casinos adopted Caribbean stud poker, they added a progressive jackpot sweetener. Although the jackpot doesn't give the player that much of an advantage, it has helped to make the game popular enough to become quite a standard game in Nevada and other gambling jurisdictions, including, of course, web based gambling.

 The ancestor of Poker was a 16th century European three-card game called primero (England) or primera (Spain). The valued hands were three of a kind, pairs, and three of the same suit: a flux (later flush). By the 18th century the betting and bluffing aspects of the game had been incorporated in such five-card games as Brag (England), Pochen (Germany), and Poque (France). It is clear by the fact that pochen means "to bluff" how important this aspect of the game is.

 French colonists to the Louisiana territory carried the game to North America in the 18th century, the American term being a corruption of Poque. Poker then spread north up the Mississippi River and West as the country developed. By 1834 it was adapted to the 52-card deck and from the mid 19th century on it was described in books on card games. At first it was a game for men only, but by the mid 20th century women played it as well.

 In the early 1870s poker was taken back to Europe when Robert C. Schenck, U.S. minister to Great Britain, introduced it to members of the court of Queen Victoria. Schenck wrote a set of rules, which became the first book on the game.

 The rank of hands in the original European games was repositioned (in descending order) by four of a kind; full house (three of a kind and a pair); three of a kind; two pairs; one pair; and no pair (high card winning). Later were introduced the straight (five cards in sequence regardless of suit) and the flush, ranking, respectively, above three of a kind. Additional rounds of betting were also introduced. Caribbean poker quickly became one of the favorite games played on Web Based Gambling sites.