Poker is a game that has been developing for over 1,000 years and today is the most popular card game on the planet. However, the type of poker online that is most famous and is played in nearly all the big sites like Sky Poker is little more than fifty years old. So how did Texas Hold’em come to be the most popular poker variation, and which other variations have held the crown over the last few centuries?

5 Card Draw

5 Card Draw was probably the first of the globally popular versions of the game, particularly in America. It was played primarily during the American Civil War and held its position for almost a century. Its popularity was partially due to a law in Nevada (of all places) that made betting illegal. However, the Attorney General of California decided that draw poker was a game of skill rather than luck and therefore 5 Card Draw couldn’t be banned by any anti-gambling laws. Though not a death knell for stud poker, the ruling meant that Draw Poker was the game to play.

7 Card Stud

In 1931 Nevada decided that legalising casino gambling was a good idea and not long after Las Vegas started to grow into the gambling capital of the world. The new Poker halls decided that a form of stud was the best way (presumably because it gave them more or a chance to make money). Stud poker was the most popular from just before the Second World War right through to the late 70s when a new game arrived in town and took over from everything else.

Texas Hold’em

The popularity of Texas Hold’em is owed almost entirely to the World Series of Poker that took the States by storm in the 70s. Texas Hold’em, then relatively unknown, was chosen because it was deemed to be the most exciting, and the several rows of betting and the changing odds made it more gripping for audiences.

Since then, no other game has really been able to challenge Hold’em for the title of most popular, and, as poker has grown into a massive online industry, most companies have chosen to operate Hold’em tables because they’re the most well known and most popular. In turn, this has made sure that the game has retained its position at the forefront of the game.

That said, the poker world is always looking for new challenges, so maybe Omaha, Razz or one of the other games may yet rise to prominence in the next few decades.