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Early poker literature tried to establish firm rules for the game. Unlike other card games in being a uniquely dynamic game (a competitive money-management game rather than a routine card game), poker could never be bound in rigid rules. Continuously changing within a loose framework of traditions, poker remained a versatile, living game always subject to modifications and variations (over 150 varieties of poker are described in the literature).
As early as 1674, Cotton's Complete Gamester's (published in England) described a card game called Post and Pair, a predecessor to Bragg, which, in turn, was a predecessor to poker with a full deck. Bragg and the art of bluffing were first described in Cotton's 1721 edition. Poque, a French card game that directly influenced the development of poker, was described in the eighteenth-century editions of Acadence Universelle des Jeux.
Until 1850, there were no printed rules for poker.[ 47 ] Neither of the two American Hoyles then in print (George Long, New York, 1825, and G. Cowperthwait, Philadelphia, 1838) mentioned poker. The English Hoyle (Bohn's Handbook of Games) made no reference to poker in either its 1850 or its 1887 edition. But the 1850 American reprint of Bohn's book mentioned poker in an addendum. Also in 1850, Hoyles' Games (H. F. Anners, Philadelphia) had a brief note about poker that described a full deck, ten players (therefore, no draw), and a bonus paid for any hand of trips or better. In 1857, Thomas Frere's Hoyle (T. W. Story, New York) described poker without referring to a draw.
The first mention of draw poker appeared in the 1867 edition of Hoyles (Dick and Fitzgerald, New York). Also, that edition was the first book to mention an ante, a straight (which beat two pair, but not trips), and the straight flush (which beat four of a kind). The 1875 edition of Hoyles (Dick and Fitzgerald, New York) mentioned jackpot poker and the joker used as a wild card.
The first printed poker rules in England were written by General Robert E. Schenck, the United States minister to England. He introduced poker to the guests at a country house in Somersetshire. The hostess, a prominent duchess, persuaded him to write down the rules. In 1872, the duchess privately printed those rules for her court. The game caught Queen Victoria's fancy, and the popularity of poker spread through Great Britain. Poker in England soon became known as "Schenck poker,"
In 1875, a description of poker appeared in Cavendish's Round Games of Cards (De La Rue & Co.).
After 1875, books about poker appeared regularly in America, England, and Continental Europe. Data on all poker books (whose locations and dates of publication are known) published in the one hundred years between 1875 and 1975 have been tabulated below.
| Number of Books | % | Country Where Published |
|---|---|---|
| 93 | 72.6 | United States |
| 22 | 17.2 | England |
| 8 | 6.2 | France |
| 2 | 1.6 | Italy |
| 1 | 0.8 | Germany |
| 1 | 0.8 | Holland |
| l | 0.8 | India |
| ----- 128 | ----- 100.0 | (for 1875-1965) |
| Years (in 10-year intervals) | Number of Poker Books Published |
|---|---|
| Up to 1875 | 2 |
| 1876-1885 | 13 |
| 1886-1895 | 18 |
| 1896-1905 | 13 |
| 1906-1915 | 11 |
| 1916-1925 | 9 |
| 1926-1935 | 9 |
| 1936-1945 | 4 |
| 1946-1955 | 11 |
| 1956-1965 | 17 |
| 1966-1975 | 20 |
| -- | ----- 127 |
[Note: From 1976 to 1980. an additional 20 poker books were published.]
The Addendum Bibliography at the end of this Appendix B reviews each poker book published since 1968.
A bibliography of all known poker books is tabulated below:
| Catalog Number | Subject Heading "Poker" Library of Congress Card Information (verbatim) |
|---|---|
| 1. GV1251 A15 | Abbott, Jack. A treatise on Jack pot poker, with the game of sancho pedro, when played for stakes. New Orleans, Clark & Hofeline, printers, 1881. 64 pages |
| 2. GVl258 A43 | Allen, George W. Poker rules in rhyme, with chances to improve the hand by drawing. St. Louis, Mo., 1895. 74 pages |
| 3. GV1251 B6 (other editions) | Blackbridge, John. The complete poker player. A practical guidebook to the American national game: containing mathematical and experimental analysis of the probabilities at draw poker. New York, Dick & Fitzgera1d, 1880. 142 pages |
| 4. GV1253 B8 1916 (other editions) | Brown, Garrett. The autocrat of the poker table, or, How to play the game to win. 3rd ed., Boston, R.G. Badger, 1916. 105 pages |
| 5. GV1251 C15 | Cady, Alice Howard. Poker: the modern game. With passing description of its origin. New York, American Sports Publishing Company, 1895. 37 pages |
| 6. GV1251 C65 | Coffin, George Sturgis. Fortune poker: a world-wide roundup of the traditional American game. Complete with new laws according to Hoyle. With a forward by Ely Culbertson. Philadelphia, D. McKay Co., 1949. 198 pages |
| 7. GV1251 C67 | Coffin, George Sturgis. The official laws of poker. Baltimore, Ottenheimer, 1956. 64 pages |
| 8. GV1251 C68 | Coffin, George Sturgis. Pocket guide to the play of poker. Baltimore, Ottenheimer, 1956. 64 pages |
| 9. GV1251 C95 | Curtis, David A. The science of draw poker; a treatise comprising the analysis of principles, calculation of chances, codification of rules, study of situations, glossary of poker terms necessary to a complete understanding of the great American game. New York, D. A. Curtis, 1901. 216 pages |
| 10. GVl253 D62 | Dowling, Allen Nicholas. Confessions of a poker player by Jack King (pseud.). New York, I. Washburn, Inc., 1940. 209 pages |
| 11. GV1253 D62 | Dowling, Allen Nicholas. Under the round table by Jack King (pseud.). Philadelphia, Dorrance, 1960. 219 pages |
| 12. ? | Edel, Edmund. Poker ein spieler--roman. Charlottenburg, E. Beyer, 1912. 176 pages |
| 13. GV1253 E26 | Edwards, Eugene. Jack pots; stories of the great American game. With over fifty original pen and ink illustrations. Chicago, Jamieson-Higgins Co., 1900. 342 pages |
| 14. GV1251 F5 | Fisher, George Henry. How to win at stud poker . . . instruction for the novice, principles of strategy, problem hands, hand valuation, card probabilities, complete set of rules, history of the game, etc. Los Angeles, The Stud Poker Press, 1933. 111 pages |
| 15. GV1251 F83 | Florence, William Jermyn. The gentleman's handbook on poker. New York, London, G. Routledge Sons, Ltd., 1892. 195 pages |
| 16. GV1251 | Foster, Robert Frederick. Practical poker. New York, Brentano's 1905. 253 pages |
| 17.GV1251 G47 | Gilkie, Robert J. Experimental drawing at poker from five thousand hands. Dorchester, Mass., 1886. 13 pages |
| 18. GV1251 G5 | Girardet, Philippe. Philosophie et mathematique du poker. Paris, M. Senac, 1929. 160 pages |
| 19. GV1251 G77 (other editions) | Gray, E. Archer. Hints on poker. Washington, D.C., 1886. 16 pages |
| 20. GV1251 H2 | Hardison, Theodore. Poker: a work exposing the various methods of shuffling up hands, as well as other ways of cheating that are resorted to by professional gamblers, also embracing the cardinal principles by which every sleight-of-hand trick known with cards may be played. St. Louis, Hardison Publishing Co., 1914. 120 pages |
| 21. GV1251 H4 | Heineman, Walter Raleigh. Draw poker, a compilation of rules governing the game of "Jack pots," by Jack Pot (pseud.). New York, Chrisholm Printing Co., 1923. 48 pages |
| 22. GV1251 H52 (other editions) | Henry R. J. Poker boiled down . . . the latest authentic rules ... on the great national game ... 1st edition. Boston, Massachusetts, Tourist Publishing Company, 1890. 13 pages |
| 23. GV1233 H8 (temporary entry) | History and anecdotes of card games (especially poker). 43 cuttings from newspapers, etc.... bibliographical notes in ms ... Gift of Prof. Brander Matthews |
| 24. GV1251 J2 1947 (other editions) | Jacoby, Oswald. Oswald Jacoby on poker, with a forward by Grantland Rice, and an introduction by William E. McKenney. Rev. ed. Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1947. 175 pages |
| 25. GV1251 J22 | Jacoby, Oswald. Winning poker. New York, Permabooks, 1949. 189 pages |
| 26. GV1251 K59 | Keller, John William. The game of draw poker. Including the treatise by R.C. Schenck and rules for the new game of progressive poker . . . New York, White, Stokes & Allen, 1887 84 pages |
| 27. GV1251 M15 | MacKenzie, Collins. Jack pots. A collection of poker stories. By A. Pair (pseud.). Chicago, the Illustrated Publishing Co., 1887. 160 pages |
| 28. GV1251 P32 | Patton, F. Jarvis. How to win at draw poker. Showing all the chances of the game. New York, Dick & Fitzgerald, 1896. 45 pages |
| 29. GV1253 P6 (Office) | Unknown. Poker as it was played in Deadwood in the fifties. Palo Alto, California, Wheatstalk Press, 1928. 5 pages (A reprint from an article in Hutching's California magazine in August, 1858-Vol. III, pg. 85) |
| 30. GV1253 P77 (Houdini Collection) (other editions) | Poker: how to play it. A sketch of the great American game with its laws and rules, and some of its amusing incidents. By one of its victims. London, Griffith & Farran, 1882. 109 pages |
| 31. QA/273 P96 | Proctor, Richard Anthony. Chance and luck: a discussion of the laws of luck, coincidences, wagers, lotteries, and fallacies of gambling; with notes on poker and martingales. London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1887. 263 pages |
| 32. GV1251 R3 (other editions) | Radner, Sidney H. The key to playing poker and winning. Owing Mills, Maryland, Ottenheimer Publishers, 1964. 189 pages |
| 33. GV1251 R37 | Reese, Terence. Secrets of modern poker. New York, Sterling Publishing Co., 1964. 148 pages |
| 34. GV1251 R4 | Renaudet, G. Le poker; regles completes et commentaires, L'art de gagner au poker, poker a 52 cartes; a 48, 44, 40, 3 et 32 cartes; freeze out; la partie a la cave; calud des probabilities; le blugg, physiologie du jeu. Paris, S. Bornemann, 1922. 31 pages |
| 35. GV1253 R47 | Rhoades, William Morston. Poker, smoke, and other things; fun and pictures. Rules of poker, recipes, toasts, mixed drinks. Chicago, the Reilly & Britton Co., 1907. 69 pages |
| 36. BF21 A7 (other editions) | Riddle, Ethel Maris. Aggressive behavior in a small social group; bluffing, risking, and the desire to beat . . . studied by the use of a poker game as an experimental technique. New York, 1925. 19 pages (Also published as a Ph.D. thesis in psychology, Columbia University) |
| 37. GV1251 R65 | Rottenberg, Irving. Friday night poker, or, Penny poker to millions, by Irv Roddy (pseud.). New York, Simon Schuster, 1961. 222 pages |
| 38. GV1251 S32 | Schenick, Robert Cummings. Rules for playing poker. Brooklyn, New York, Private printing, 1880. 17 pages (1st edition, 1872) |
| 39. GV1251 S32 1881 (Toner Collection. Office) | Schenick, Robert Cummings. Draw poker. Published for the trade, 1880. 8 pages |
| 40. GV1251 S5 | Smith, Russell A. Poker to win. El Paso, Texas, 1925. 110 pages |
| 41. GV1251 S68 | Seig, Irwin. Common sense in poker. New York, Cornerstone Library, 1963. 188 pages |
| 42. GV1251 7 | Steig, Irwin. Poker for fun and profit. New York, McDowell, Obelensky, 1959. 181 pages |
| 43. GV1251 T2 | Talk of Uncle George (pseud.) to his nephew about draw poker. Containing valuable suggestions in connection with this great American game. New York, Dick & Fitzgerald, 1883. 50 pages |
| 44. GV1251 U55 | United States Playing Card Co. Poker official rules and suggestions, endorsed by Association of American playing card manufacturers. Cincinnati, Ohio, The United States Playing Card Company, 1941. 64 pages |
| 45. GV1251 W3 | Walter & Philip (pseud.) Il poker familiare, come si giuoca in Italia. 2nd edition, Milano, U. Hoepli, 1945. 81 pages |
| 46. GV1253 W4 | Webster, Harold Tucker. Webster's poker book glorifying America's favorite game; a handy volume for the hearthside consisting of fifty portraits; informative and diverting text on the joys, rules, love and pitfalls of poker; sideline suggestions and interpolations; authoritative data on the history and technique of poker; including hints from Hoyle and a forward by George Ade; together with a compartment containing a set of poker chips and a pad of I.O.U. forms ready for instant use. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1925. 126 pages |
| 47. GV1251 W5 1944 (other editions) | Wickstead, James M. How to win at stud poker. Louisville, Kentucky, Stud Poker Publishing Co., 1944. 115 pages |
| 48. GV1251 W55 | Winterblossom, Henry T. The game of draw poker, mathematically illustrated; being a complete treatise of the game, giving the prospective value of each hand before and after the draw, and the true method of discarding and drawing with a thorough analysis and insight of the game as played at the present day by gentlemen. New York, W.H. Murphy, 1875. 72 pages |
| 49. GV1251 X3 | Xavier, Francois. Le poker, sa technique, sa psychologie, suivi d'une etude sur le stud poker. Paris, B. Grasset, 1955. 222 pages |
| 50. GV1251 Y3 | Yardley, Herbert Osborn. The education of a poker player, including where and how one learns to win. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1957. 129 pages |
| 51. GV1243 C8 | Culbertson, Ely. Morehead, Albert H. and Goeffrey, Matt Smith. Culbertson's Hoyle: the new encyclopedia of games, with official rules. New York, Gray stone Press, 1950. 656 pages |
| 52. Reference | Encyclopedia Britannica. Poker. Volume 10, pg. 128, Chicago, William Benton, 1965. 4 pages |
| 53. GV1251 F79 | Fox, Richard K. Poker, how to win, together with the official rules. New York 1905. 90 pages |
| 54. GV1243 F85 | Frey, Richard L., ed. The new complete Hoyle: an encyclopedia of rules, procedures, manners, and strategy of games played with cards, dice, counters, boards, words, and numbers. Philadelphia, D. McKay Co., 1947. 740 pages |
| 55. GV1239 J3 | Jacoby, O., et al. The fireside book of cards. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1957. 364 pages |
| 56. PZ3 L628P | Lillard, John F. B., ed. Poker stories, as told by statesmen, soldiers, lawyers, commercial travelers, bankers, actors, editors, millionaires, members of the Ananias club and the talent, embracing the most remarkable games, 1845-95. New York, F. P. Harper, 1896. 251 pages |
| 57. GV1243 D8 | Ostrow, A. A. The complete card player. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1945. 771 pages |
| 58.GV1291 P6 | Poker-bridge; een nieuw kaartspel. Amsterdam. A. J. G. Strengholt, 1954. 32 pages |
| 59. AP2 W64 | Poker Chips, a monthly magazine devoted to stories of the great American game. New York, F. Tousey, June-Nov. 1896.243 pages (continued as the White Elephant magazine) |
| 60. GV1247 S37 | Scarne, John. Scarne on cards. Including a photographic section on cheating at cards. Revised, New York, Crown Publishers, 1965. 435 pages |
[Note: The Library of Congress does not catalog books about poker under the subject of "Gambling." The 375 books listed under "Gambling" include books on blackjack, boule, cards (nonpoker), cardsharping, craps, fero, horse-race betting, parimutuel betting, probabilities, raffles, roulette, speculation, trente-et-quarante, and wagers . . . but none on poker. Apparently, the Library of Congress does not consider (classify) poker as gambling.]
Seventy-two other poker books not found in the Library of Congress are listed below:
Notes:
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[ 47 ] The common reference "poker according to Hoyle" is curious because the English writer and lawyer, Edmund Hoyle (1672-1769), never heard of poker: he died sixty years before the game originated. Hoyle was a famous whist player. His original book described three card games--whist, piquete and quadrille. But his authority for card-game rules grew until all card and board game rules became known as "Hoyles." Since many different "Hoyles" now exist, "poker according to Hoyle" depends on the editor and publisher of that particular Hoyle.
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