Earth-liberation-front – When, and indeed where, did the game of poker start? Well that is where the myths began. There is no definite answer to the question. Most say that the game was first played in New Orleans and spread up the Mississippi by gamblers. Most just say that it started in the saloons in the Wild West during the middle of the 20th century.
There is one man, no name known, who has done an extensive study in poker and he has compiled a detailed story of the early days of the game. He says that one day a gambler walked into one of the saloons and suddenly everyone sat down to play a game of poker. The players were evenly divided between the eyes, each bringing a different play to the game.
The man researched poker and discovered it was once played with only ten people, but as they started to see more regularity, the game began to evolve and many new strategies were conceived.
The histories of many games of poker tell of great battles, gladiator fights,debate rounds, and championship games. It was during the American Civil War a player named Charles Hedgspeth learned of the tactics needed to win at poker and became a professional. He published a book, ‘Harper’s,’ually dedicated to the game, which was very popular among the Stars of the stage.
In the beginning, the game was dominated by the Remipoker. When the Yankees went for baseball, many games were forfeit because the players would travel back and forth to the east coast. When the Yankees won, they would go back and continue to dominate. When baseball died, the games went national.
The man who created the world famous game, Doyle Brunson, was not only a great card player, but also a chameleon. The man changed his name to Brunson after he got out of the army and tried to make a living with gambling. The man was a Baltimore boy who began in the draft barns andEnded up in Vegas.
Brunson was a natural born gambler and mastered the basics of the game. He was known for his expertise in the different games and great intuition. Brunson is one of the most original players to have played the game.
In the beginning he would rather play ten against one than two against two. Even then the man would have a good feeling and be right back into the game. The man was a model of calmness, which allowed him to be both a winner and a winner.
Brunson began to develop his game from the different home games that he and his friends held on the weekends. The game began to get wild during the weekly get togethers. Friends would bet with each other and not only that, they would bluff one another.
Brunson began to notice when the game was getting higher stakes and he noticed, although they didn’t say so, that one of his friends was up quite a bit on the bets. One day when Brunson was sitting at the poker table alone he thought to himself that if one of my buddies bet a lot, I’d be out a big sum. The up high bet meant that he had to play. The up low wager meant that he didn’t have to play. Brunson began to do the same thing.
As the game began to rise in the popularity, Brunson decided to up his game and got into the headquarters of the Vegas casinos. He began to make the off season poker run. He would take his set of cards to the poker rooms and play, often until one of his friends had enough. By this time Brunson had become a regular at the poker tables. One day when Brunson wasn’t playing it was to his benefit to drop by just to check on one of his friends. The friend was badly beaten and the casino was about to shut down. Brunson went in and the man’s chips were all in front of him. Brunson walked away with his money and No. 1 finished.
From this one hand of cards one of the most valuable lessons that Brunson took away was that a true winner has to be different than the rest. He was an businessman and realized that there is business risk and gambling risk. He had to use his knowledge of the game to make a very difficult decision in his favor or not to bet on it. That is one of the truly great things that Brunson accomplished.
The other principle is that a winner has to be a lot larger than life. When I read that statement I thought about being a winner and not living for the rest of my life, but then I realized that it is no easy task to win millions upon millions of dollars. One has to live for the now, and not the future.