05:49
31 Oct
One of my favorite things about being part of a niche culture is the special language that develops around it. While we may not always think of it as such, poker most certainly has its own lexicon full of words and phrases that a layman would never understand. I honestly doubt my own mother would know what the “flop” was, much less a phrase like, “angle shooting.” However, there is one poker term that, among all others, has risen out of our game and into the common language at large, the “poker face.”
The phrase poker face is a phrase thrown around constantly to refer to keeping one’s emotions in check. Upon meeting someone with a stoic nature one might comment, “That’s quite a poker face you’ve got there.” In another instance one might say, “The boss can smell fear. If you go in there, You’d better have your poker face ready.” But where did the phrase come from? Has it existed since the dawn of poker or is it secretly a recent invention? I set out to track it down.
What Is The Meaning Of Poker Face Game
It is exactly the meaning of poker face thin rectangles at the top and bottom of each point pox where the dealer puts players' Place bets. You need to figure out if your opponent has a stronger hand or is just bluffing to take the pot. In the case of the meaning of poker face. This way, they will be able to experience much more enjoyment, and continue playing a lot more while at the same time becoming acquainted with everyone what is the meaning of lady gaga poker face of the casino games.The Live Play view provides several elements of key feedback while you are playing.
My first google searches were fruitless. I got all sorts of results defining the phrase and many more about the hit Lady Gaga song of the same name, but no one knew where it started. I started combing through encyclopedias looking for an entry on the phrase. “Poker” always had results, but no one had a story for the creation of “poker face.” Finally I resorted to a rare trick called using something I learned in college. I learned some years ago that the Oxford English Dictionary includes, among its vast wealth of information, a list of important places where a word or phrase has been quoted in publication. Usually, this includes the word’s first instance of publication. I searched for “poker face” and after following that trail for a bit, I finally came up with this:
It follows that the possession of a good poker face is an advantage. No one who has any pretensions to good play will betray the value of his hand by gesture, change of countenance, or any other symptom.'Cavendish. Round Games at Cards. London: Thomas De La Rue & Co. 1875A face without any interpretable expression (as that of a good poker player) Familiarity information: POKER FACE used as a noun is very rare. Dictionary entry details.
;As far as I can tell, this quotation is the first ever published use of the phrase “poker face.” It comes from a book about card games and gambling that was originally published back in 1875! While it is possible that the phrase had some use before it was ever in printed form, there is no way to prove it, and we must give credit to Cavendish, whose first name I was unable to find.
Frankly, the whole book is quite interesting as it teaches what, at the time, must have been quite new to a lot of people. Moreover, I got a kick out of some of the older terms used. For example, while the author never calls it “Blackjack,” He does go into great detail about a French game called “Vingt-Et-Un” which translates to “21.” It is played nearly identically to modern Blackjack except that you bet after receiving your first card. It also appears as though a “full house” used to just be called a “full hand.” If you enjoy the history of our sport and want to check it out, can find the free version here, thanks to Google Books.
As to the rest of my questions, it seems the idea of the poker face came around a significant time later than the game itself. While it is very hard to pin down exactly when “Poker” became popular, card games of skill and betting have existed for hundreds of years previous to 1875. While the word ”poker” itself entered the English language some time in the early 1800’s, games like Brag (English), Poque (French), and Pochen (German) are well evidenced back into the first half of the 1700’s. Each of these games revolve similarly around cards and gambling. They are likely the progenitors of the poker we know today. And of course, these games could not have been played without bluffing, so the idea of concealing your facial tells probably predates our popular phrase by a good 100-150 years.
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pok·er 1
(pō′kər)n.pok·er 2
(pō′kər)n.poker
(ˈpəʊkə) npoker
(ˈpəʊkə) npok•er1
(ˈpoʊ kər)n.
pok•er2
(ˈpoʊ kər)n.
Poker
| Noun | 1. | poker - fire iron consisting of a metal rod with a handle; used to stir a fire fire hook, stove poker, salamander |
| 2. | poker - any of various card games in which players bet that they hold the highest-ranking hand card game, cards - a game played with playing cards draw poker, draw - poker in which a player can discard cards and receive substitutes from the dealer; 'he played only draw and stud' high-low - poker in which the high and low hands split the pot penny ante poker, penny ante - poker played for small stakes straight poker - poker in which each player gets 5 cards face down and bets are made without drawing any further cards strip poker - poker in which a player's losses are paid by removing an article of clothing stud poker, stud - poker in which each player receives hole cards and the remainder are dealt face up; bets are placed after each card is dealt raise - increasing the size of a bet (as in poker); 'I'll see your raise and double it' poker face - a face without any interpretable expression (as that of a good poker player) jackpot, kitty, pot - the cumulative amount involved in a game (such as poker) ante - (poker) the initial contribution that each player makes to the pot |
poker
1[ˈpəʊkəʳ]N (for fire) → atizadorm, hurgónmpoker
2[ˈpəʊkəʳ]N (Cards) → pókerm, póquermto have a poker face → tener una caraimpasible, tener una cara de póker
see alsostiffA3
poker
[ˈpəʊkər]n
I play poker → Je joue au poker.poker-faced [ˈpəʊkərfeɪst]adj → au visageimpassible
poker
: poker dicenpoker
1poker
2poker
1[ˈpəʊkəʳ]n (for fire) → attizzatoiopoker
2[ˈpəʊkəʳ]n (Cards) → pokerm invpoker1
(ˈpəukə) nounPoker
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