Many people are interested in the game of poker, whether playing online or real life at the table. The majority of poker players can rattle off concepts of the game, and tell you all about the different hand types. Some can even quote general rules verbose for each poker game, but very few can list any factual information about the game and its actual history.

Its my belief that to truly appreciate anything, it is good to know about its past and those who were involved with it, and to me poker is no exception. So Ive dug around and came up with a few surprising poker facts that I think as a poker player youd enjoy.

Currently, there are a minimum of 65,000,000 people in America that play poker on a regular basis.

The first cards meant to be playing cards were invented in China, and traveled to Europe in the thirteen hundreds.

In 1492, when Christopher Columbus first came to North America, the men that were with him gathered wide leaves from the trees and drew pictures on them to play cards with.

Poker was a popular game among riverboat gamblers in the 1800s. They player poker on while sailing the American Waterways. Very few of these gamblers played honest games, thereby leading to a lot of conflict on the boats.

In 1937, there was a fifth suit added to the standard card deck, but it never was implemented because it would have required so many people to purchase new decks of cards.

In general history, men like Wild Bill Hickock were notorious poker players, but most history buffs will tell you that most of them were terrible at the game.

Edmond Hoyle died 150 years before the game of poker was ever invented. At the time of his death, he was ninety seven years old.

The suits in a deck of cards were influenced by the French. The Spades are meant to stand for royalty, Diamonds symbolized merchants, Hearts stood for members of the clergy, and Clubs represent the peasants.

$6000 was won in a poker game by Richard Nixon during his time in the United States Navy during World War Two. The majority of his campaign for Congress in 1946 was funded by his poker winnings. He won that election.

Comedian Groucho Marx used to keep his poker money, or bankroll, in what he called his grouch bag, hence the name Groucho.

Doyle Brunson won two consecutive World Series with a hand of Ten and Two. Today, that hand is named after him.

The poker term Dean Mans Hand refers to a poker hand consisting of Aces and Eights. In the state of Nevada, Las Vegas in particular, casinos are under no legal obligation to pay off their gambling debts.

These are just a few of the interesting and fun poker facts that have emerged over the years. As time marches on, and poker continues to be played, you can be sure there will be even more eyebrow raising poker facts added to the ever growing list.