Origin of the term poker hands
Have you ever thought why the most popular card game is called poker hands? And what does it have to do with a fire iron? Just homonyms, you would say. Well, linguists all over the world were not able to find the answer to this question for more than 100 years. But last week the scientists from Sold Lake City University of Sold Lake City, Utah, published the report containing the results of their research work in the field of poker hands terms. The report is entitled “Utah On Pokah” and contains the etymology of almost all known poker hands terms. We’ll give you only some small extracts from that report which appears to be a thick book.
“…the research have shown that there were a lot of cheaters among first Texas Hold ‘em players. That’s why it was called “a cheating game” back in the 19th century. But those were very tough times and if somebody was caught cheating he was immediately beat by their fellow players. As the games usually took place in taverns and saloons, there was always such thing as a fire iron (or poker hands) somewhere in the corner. And the angry cowboys took that poker hands and bet the poor cheater with it.”
“…schooling was one of the most popular kind of cheating in those days. Two or free people act together trying and than share all the profit. By the way it is still used by online poker hands players. If schoolers were caught, people usually tried to hold them while beating to make them unable to defend themselves. ‘Hold the muthafuckas, hold’em and beat’em!’ the people usually cried...” “…and that’s why two most popular names for the game are still Hold’ Em and poker.”
All the above materials are taken from the book “Utah On Pokah” by D.D. Brunsky. Any commercial use of these materials is prohibited.