826LA Good Times

Some people think card games like poker are a sport. | Photo by gisur via flickr and a Creative Commons license.

The 826LA Good Times staff is hard at work on the upcoming issue about sports, which they found doesn’t always involve a ball or the outdoors. In fact, one of the journalists’ favorite sports is playing card games, including Speed and Poker. After a few rounds of Speed, Alanis and Josephine looked up the origins of cards, while Bianca and Miguel did some research on Poker.

Early Card History

By Alanis and Josephine

Playing cards come from 9th century China during the Tang Dynasty. There are four suits: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. The design came from Mahjong tiles. T he first deck of cards were probably printed as a Chinese dominoes deck.

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Poker

By Bianca and Miguel

There are four variations of poker: Straight, Stud, Draw and Community. It was originally a 15th century German game called Pochspiel. In Poker, you have money to start. Every time you win, you get some chips, and you can exchange them for money. There are broadcasts of poker tournaments such as the “World Series of Poker” and the “World Poker Tour.”

My Favorite Card Game: Speed

by Bianca

I just started playing Speed, and it became my favorite card game. You play it with two, three or four people. To play, you have to put the card numbers in order. You put two cards down in the middle, then five on the sides. The rest of the cards are divided among the players. When all the players are ready, you flip over the two cards in the middle and start playing. Put the cards in number order. Or you can go backwards. If you have a joker, it’s a wild card and can be any number.