[vincent]

For years I have wanted to learn the actual origin of Texas Hold 'Em. Internet searches reveal nothing except thousands of pages of crap. A search for "origin of Poker" will bring up literally thousands of pages of the same regurgitated text.

Ok, I got it, poker started in the Louisiana territory, bla bla bla.....but I want to know the exact origin of the "flop style" of poker. So stop me now if I'm just an idiot and the answer is staring me in the face. The best I can come up with is the typical line like, "THE probably started sometime in the 20th century somewhere in Texas by a bunch of saloon gamblers." I even watched that Beyond the Glory show with Doyle and it basically said something similar. Does Doyle know? I'm admitting I've yet to read super/system. Does he have a section on the subject?

It had to actually be developed by one person or a small group of people at a specific point in time, even if it was just trying it out at home or the local saloon. And someone, somewhere must have this information, right? Or could it truly be an American mystery?

I can't even figure out when stud variations began. Some of that same regurgitated text seems to imply that variations of draw and stud began around the same time or are ambiguous about it at best. There is an interesting paragraph out there explaining that Nevada outlawed poker and then CA deemed that draw poker could be legal because it was a game of skill, whereas stud was a game of only chance and therefore was outlawed. Is it just me or is the reality the exact opposite of that? Anyone who's ever played those games knows that stud is the skill game of the two. Arguments? I love to hear them.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. If those folks could only see what their little game has become today.

P.S. -- What about Omaha? Obviously a variation of THE. Hmmm.....developed somewhere by someone in ummm....Omaha?



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