Companies such as Party Poker and 888 are most probably rubbing their hands together as they emerge the big guns (even this is a US wild west centred reference) in modern online poker but the game of poker as we know it with bluffing abetting actually originated from Spain back in the 16th Century. A game called "Primero" which involved three cards being dealt to each player and the known introduction of bluffing, or betting high stakes whilst holding poor cards to deceive opponents, dates back to 1526 and is often referred to as modern "poker's mother" as it is the first confirmed version of a game directly related to modern day poker.

Once Europeans started to colonise the Americas many games including poker spread, but it's during the Wild West period of United States history that the poker earned its modern day reputation, with the poker table a central component of any saloon.

It is perhaps this love affair that we have with the Wild West period that keeps poker at odds with the new image many are trying to portray.

I put it that if Europeans and China claimed ownership of the creation of poker as a social game like that of whist (which is referenced in literacy works including Jane Austin) then some headway may be gained in the argument that poker is a game of skill.

The online gambling industry has moved so far away from the illegal, seedy casinos of yester year that it seems an oddity to retain the connotations of the renegade gambler regardless of any romantic notions of that period in history. If we are to win any battles with government in the future we need to distance ourselves with those who fought battles over the poker tables in the past.

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