1. The most famous poker hand is the legendary Dead Man's Hand. Wild Bill Hickok was shot to death during a poker game in Deadwood, South Dakota. The hand he held was two pair, black aces and black eights. The fifth card is not known for certain. The top five sources claim the following cards to be Wild Bill's kicker:

    Five of Diamonds — The actual card on display in Deadwood

    Queen of Clubs — The card on display at Ripley's Believe It or Not

    Nine of Diamonds — The card supposedly reported by first-hand accounts and is used in the recreation in Deadwood

    King of Spades — The movie, The Plainsman, in which Hickok is played by Gary Cooper, released in 1936 shows this as the fifth card in the hand.


  2. Ex-President Richard Nixon won $6,000 during his first two months in the U.S. Navy in World War II, playing poker. His winnings were used to fund his first congressional campaign.


  3. Secure, relatively high-yielding stocks came to be called blue chips, a term taken from the game of poker, where blue chips are more valuable than white or red chips.


  4. Groucho Marx got his name because he carried his poker money in a 'grouch bag'.


  5. In 1918, Walt Disney was 16 and too young for the military. When he heard that the Red Cross Ambulance Corps would accept 17-year-olds, he lied about his age, joined, and began training. He nearly missed his chance when he came down with influenza during the epidemic that killed 20 million people worldwide. The war ended. But the Ambulance Corps still needed 50 more men, and Walt was the fiftieth selected. For the next year, Walt drove an ambulance, chauffeured officers, played poker, and started smoking.
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  6. When Columbus landed on U.S. shores in 1492, his men plucked wide leaves from trees, marked them with images, and played cards.
  7. Each year more than 70 million decks of cards are sold in the U.S.


  8. 40 to 50 million Americans regularly play poker. That's more than one in five.


  9. Playing cards were most likely invented in China in 1120 AD and first introduced to Europe in the 1300s.


  10. Edmond Holye's name has become synonymous with precise game playing. To do something "According to Hoyle" means to play completely by the rules, accurately, and without mistake; however poker wasn't invented until 150 years after his death.


  11. On a deck of cards, the king of spades represents David, King of Israel; the king of Clubs represents Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia; the king of Hearts is Charlemagne, King of France; and the king of Diamonds is Caesar Augustus, Emperor of Rome.


  12. The suits in playing cards are derived from French influence, and represent the four classes of men: Spades represent nobility, Diamonds represent merchants, Clubs represent peasants, and Hearts represent the clergy.