The
history of video poker goes back alot farther than the first video poker machine. It goes back to the beginning of card gambling games and began to evolve from the river boats and saloons during the 1800's. Video poker has become one of the most popular games in both land based and online casinos.
Slot Machines
You may wonder what slot machines have to do with video poker, and while they are different in both strategy and play, they are what led to the video poker machines.
in 1891 Sittman and Pitt invented the first slot type machine, it used 50 playing card, across 5 drum with each drum containing 10 different playing cards each. A coin was inserted into a slot and a lever was pulled causing the drums to spin, when it came to a stop the drums revealed the cards that made up the hand. To reduce the odds of a royal flush the 10 of spades and jack of hearts were removed to split the odds of getting a royal flush in half.
Charles Fey
In 1899 Charles Fey introduced the liberty slot machine, he is known as the father of the modern slot slot machine. He was responsible for creating the
Card Bell, which was a machine that automatically paid out cash prizes to the winners. It was 1901 when Charles Fey created a new machine that had a hold feature. The hold feature allowed the player to improve their hand by holding one or more of the drums while taking another spin. Essentially this was a five card draw machine.
Dale Electronics
It was in the 1970s that Dale Electronics brought out the Poker-Matic video poker machine, it was the first true electronic video poker machine.
Si Redd
Si Redd was distributor for Bally and convinced them to let him take the patent on a new machine. At that time Si made a deal with the fortune Coin company and formed Sircoma and made the new video poker machines. A year later later Si Redd went public with a new company name. International Game Technology (IGT)
During the 1980s the popularity of video poker and slot machines grew as did the popularity of video poker and slot machines. Video poker machines are now widely available everywhere.
Online video Poker
It was in 1994 that Microgaming produced the first online casino software and has since created many new variations and created a new age. This led to an explosion in popularity. The 1990s was also the time when internet connections were gaining more speed. So the two naturally grew together. During that time online credit card use was became more safe and popular. Today's high speed internet combined with technology has provided players the opportunity to play in comfortably at home or in casinos and enjoy the latest video poker games available.
