Before you buy a poker table and begin playing Texas holdem, you need to know the basic rules of the game. This will help you keep yourself oriented so that you can play better. Texas holdem may be different from the poker you’ve played before, so you might need to play a few hands before you start feeling comfortable. Read the rest of this entry »
Games played with a wheel are believed to be as old as the wheel itself, but the game of roulette didn’t appear until the 17th century. Details about the birth of roulette (French for “little wheel”) are sketchy, but one theory holds that pioneering mathematician Blaise Pascal invented the mechanism in 1657 while attempting to develop a perpetual motion device. Read the rest of this entry »
Dice are the oldest gambling tools, dating back to the Roman Empire when they were made of marked animal teeth. Craps‘ oldest ancestor, however, was a game called “hazard,” which didn’t appear until the 12th century. Hazard’s origins are uncertain. Some claim that the fact that “al zar” is Arabic for dice is evidence that the game is Arabic in origin. Read the rest of this entry »
Blackjack is believed to have originated in French casinos in the early 18th century where it was called “vingt-et-un” (Twenty One) and migrated to the U.S. in the 1800’s. It initially wasn’t as popular as poker in gambling houses, so as a promotion for the game they started offering a 10 to 1 payout to any player who received an ace of spades and a jack of spades on their first two cards. And thus term “black jack” as both the highest hand possible and the name of the game was born. Read the rest of this entry »