Why the Card Game Is Called Stud Horse Poker

Having earned my living for more than a decade with a pack of cards, as a professional magician, your editorial (Aug. 5), “Poker Is Poker Is Poker,” caught my interest. I may be able to shed some light on the phrase “stud horse poker.”

The first game of stud poker is said to have been played in a backwoods saloon somewhere in Ohio, just after the Civil War. The game on this occasion started as draw poker. During the course of play came a pot that was opened by a player holding three kings. There was much raising before and after the draw. The dealer, the man who opened and one other man stayed.

Having bet all his money, the man who opened put his cards down, ran outside, and came back into the room leading a spirited stallion, which he tied to the back of his chair. Then he realized that during his absence the other players had probably seen his three kings. So he made a proposition:

“You fellows know damned well what I’m betting on and I’ve got all my money up on it. Now I propose that to make it fair all around each man turns three of his cards face up, discard two, and draws two more face down. I’ll gamble this here thoroughbred stud horse on my chances.”

I think it’s fair to assume that the game prohibited by the California Legislature in 1884 under penalty of fine and imprisonment was at that time called “stud horse poker,” known today simply as stud poker.

As for politics and poker being old bedfellows, it’s interesting to note that the most lavish of San Francisco’s poker palaces during the 1870s was owned by one Charles Felton, who later became prominent in California politics. Perhaps Mr. Felton had some say in the banning of “stud horse poker” in our fair state.

JAMES LEWIS

Santa Monica