The First Poker Game
In December of 1829 an Englishman named Joseph Cowell took a trip down the Mississippi on a riverboat. Cowell was an actor touring the United States. The stage made him a decent living, but frankly, his career in the theatre was entirely forgettable. Hardly anyone remembers Joseph Cowell as a thespian. Rather, he is remembered for what he saw on the riverboat.
Cowell watched four passengers play a card game. Later, he wrote an account of the contest. His report is the earliest record we have of poker.
It is a rare artifact almost unmatched in gaming history. What we know of comparable contests in their early years (such as blackjack, craps, or roulette) comes to us mostly from contemporary gaming guides, tracts, and sermons preaching against the games, or perfunctory descriptions that peripherally mention the action.
But Cowell writes about a specific hand and the people who played it, and he includes many personal details. The traveling actor paints a vivid picture of a game that took place nearly two centuries ago. And as in modern poker, his historic contest would have many unexpected twists and turns.
The Setup
The dealer was the sort of person who would later be the archetype for a thousand Hollywood villains. He wore green spectacles, a gold guard-chain “long enough and thick enough to moor a dog,” and a diamond breastpin. Cardsharps in those days were known as blacklegs. And this particular blackleg was planning to scam the table for a tidy sum.
At one point during the journey through the muddy waters, the riverboat was enveloped in a thick fog, and it hit an embankment. Everyone rushed to the windows to see what was happening, but the blackleg stayed behind (to stack the deck it seems). Soon after the confusion, “Green Spectacles” dealt an amazing hand. Though as you’ll see, it didn’t turn out the way he intended.
Cowell writes, “He did not lift his cards, but sat quietly watching the countenances of the others. The man on his left bet ten dollars. A young lawyer (son to the then mayor of Pittsburgh, who little dreamed of what his boy was about), who had hardly recovered from his shock, bet ten more.” The third player raised the pot $500.
“‘I must see that,’ said Green Spectacles, who now took up his hand with ‘I am sure to win,’ trembling at his fingers’ ends; for you couldn’t see his eyes through his glasses. He paused a moment in disappointed astonishment, sighed ‘I pass,’ and threw his cards upon the table. The left-hand man bet ‘that five hundred dollars and one thousand dollars better!’
“The young lawyer had time to calculate the power of his hand–four kings with an ace–it could not be beat!”
Keep in mind that straight flushes had not yet been invented. This game was played with five-cards per hand and no draw.
Cowell continues, “But still he [the young lawyer] hesitated at the impossibility, as if he thought it could [be beat]–looked at the money staked and then at his hand again, and, lingeringly, put his wallet on the table and called.”
The left-hand man revealed his cards. He had four queens with an ace, and the next man had four jacks and an ace.
“‘Did you ever see the like on’t?’ said he [the man with the jacks] good-humoredly as he pushed the money toward the lawyer, who very agreeably astonished, pocketed his two thousand and twenty-three dollars clear!”
It seems that Green Spectacles had stacked the deck, intending the four kings for himself, but he accidentally gave them to the young lawyer. Talk about a bad beat!
The Timeless Spirit of Gambling
Cowell infuses his report with other observations that could apply to any modern gambling Mecca. He calls the riverboat journey “an uncontrolled yearly opportunity for the young merchants and their clerks to go at it with a perfect looseness, mixed up indiscriminately with vagabonds of all nations, who then made New Orleans their jumping-off place. All moral and social restraint was placed in the shade–there, Jack was as good as his master.”
Sound like a vacation in Las Vegas? Just add a few celebrities and some hot nightclubs.
And he has tender words for professional gamblers, when they’re not blacklegs.
Cowell writes, “After the actors, there is no class of person so misrepresented and abused behind their backs as the professional gamblers… as a general body for kindness of heart, liberality, and sincerity of friendship (out of their line of business) they cannot be excelled by any other set of men who make making money their only mental occupation.”
On the other hand, Cowell was like many of his contemporaries; he was willing to see cheaters punished physically for their crimes. Cowell remembers one cheater who was spying over a player’s shoulder, then signaling a confederate by placing various fingers on the table.
According to Cowell, “The eagle eye of the Virginian soon detected the villainy, and taking out his hunting knife… [he] began paring his nails with well-acted indifference.”
Things soon turned hot.
“The next hand dealt him [to the Virginian] one trump, and the spy placed his forefinger on the table, which my friend instantly chopped off!
“‘Hallo! Stranger, what are you about?’ shouted the dismembered gentleman. ‘You have cut off one of my fingers.’
“‘I know,’ said old Virginia coolly, ‘and if I had more trumps you would have had less fingers.’
“This was considered an excellent practical joke, and we all took a drink together, and I lent the wounded a handkerchief to bind up his hand…”
Then Cowell adds perfunctorily, “…which I reminded him last fall at Gallatin races that he had forgotten to return.”
That is how people played in the early days of poker.
Basil Nestor is author of The Smarter Bet Guide to Poker, The Unofficial Guide to Casino Gambling, and other comprehensive gambling guides. Got a question? Visit SmarterBet.com and drop him a line.
(c) copyright 2008 Basil Nestor
3 comments
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Posted by GamingNut – 12 Jun 2008, 2:59 AM
I feel so ignorant, but this is actually the very first time I have heard about this contest! This was quite the fascinating read, to say the very least... and I can bet that a number of us wished we had been there to see all the action!
Posted by Charlene – 12 Jun 2008, 5:54 AM
Wow, that's really interesting. I'd never really thought about when poker began, but this was some nice insight. I loved the part about trying to stack the deck, but he dealt the kings to the other guy instead, haha.
Posted by MVP2008 – 12 Jun 2008, 3:19 AM
Talk about history unfolding before your eyes! Joseph Cowell had the good fortune of getting to watch history in the making, and the detailing he gave was excellent. Just by closing my eyes, I can almost picture being there with Cowell.