Although the passion for Poker is international, it is an American game. It developed here in the early 1800s and has been a part our national history and culture ever since.
The British were the first Europeans to embrace Poker. Today, the Brits are among the best. The man who introduced America's Game to the British and the world was Robert C. Schenck, of Ohio, in 1871.
One writer called it, "the most significant export from the New World since the potato."
Born in 1809, Robert grew up on the early Ohio frontier. His father was a General in the War of 1812 against the British. He died when Robert was twelve.
Young Schenck graduated from Miami University (OH) in 1827 and passed the bar in 1831. He developed a successful law practice in Dayton and in 1841 won a seat in the Ohio General Assembly. Two years later he was elected to Congress.
Gambling was commonplace throughout much of America before the Civil War. During the opening of the West, Faro prevailed. Historian Herbert Asbury tells us, "Poker was virtually unknown during the Gold Rush."
In the East, however, Washington D.C. was the capital of Poker.
Draw Poker was particularly popular with the powerful. Among Robert Schenck's poker playing peers were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, President Grant, and General Sherman among others.
Congressman Schenck declined re-election in 1851. Following the end of his term, he was appointed by President Millard Fillmore to be Minister to Brazil. He returned to Dayton four years later and opened a law office.
During the 1850s, the question of slavery sharply divided the country and continued to cut ever more deeply into the heart 'n soul of society. In 1859, Schenck was among city leaders invited to address the divisive issue before the citizens of Dayton. Sympathetic to the abolitionist views of the new Republican Party, Schenck, took the occasion to become the first person to publicly suggest Abraham Lincoln be elected President.
With Schenck's support, Lincoln won the White House in 1860. The South welcomed the new President with a volley on Ft. Sumter igniting the Civil War.
Honest Abe didn't forget the man who helped stake him in the Presidential game. "Lincoln sent for me and asked, 'Schenck what can you do to help me? I said, 'Anything you want me to do. I am anxious to help you.' He asked, 'Can you fight?' I answered, 'I would try.' Lincoln said, 'Well, I want to make a general out of you'."
General Schenck proved to be one of Lincoln's most courageous commanders. He fought at the bloody battles of Bull Run and Manassas. He was severely wounded fighting against General Robert E. Lee. Hospitalized, the General eventually recovered but no longer had the use of his right arm.
Poker flourished during the Civil War on both sides of the conflict. Some military men have expressed a correlation between Poker, a game of strategy and maneuvers, and combat.
However, one Civil War soldier who played the "game" up close saw a different kind of metaphor.
He wrote, "We boys... grew up in an atmosphere in which human suffering and human life were the cards with which men played the game of life and chance."
After the Civil War, Robert Schenck was rewarded for his distinguished service when President Grant appointed him Minister to the Court of St. James, Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
When Schenck arrived in 1871, London was experiencing an era of prosperity, one in which gambling flourished. Attending a reception given in his honor by Queen Victoria, the American Ambassador was asked about the game of Poker.
Robert was delighted to talk about his favorite pastime, Draw Poker. One writer reported that while speaking to an enthusiastic young Duchess Schenck "described to her the beauties of Poker in such a way that she became intensely interested and begged him to write out a set of rules and directions for playing the great American game."
In 1873, Ambassador Schenck published a simple, 4-page pamphlet titled, "A Flowery Path to Wealth: The Game of Draw Poker as Taught to the English Aristocracy".
On the title page was a couplet:
Put not your trust in Kings and Princes; Three of a kind will take them both.
Schenck's work not only explained the game of Draw Poker to the British, it's the earliest known publication on the subject.
The game known as "Schenck's Poker" soon became popular throughout Europe and its author an international celebrity.
Schenck returned to the United States in 1876 and resumed his law practice in Washington D.C.
Having enjoyed his celebrity as a gaming writer in Europe, he decided to publish a similar book for Americans. In 1880 the first edition of "Draw: Rules for Playing Poker" was printed in Brooklyn, NY. It was 17 pages.
In the U.S. Schenck's book on Draw Poker was not welcomed in the same fashion it had been in United Kingdom.
Reformers severely criticized the elder statesman. To his sad surprise, he said the book brought upon him "the wrath and reprehension of many good people in America."
Negative reaction to the book in conservative quarters helped bring an end to the old man's public career. He soon retired and in 1890, the "Father of British Poker", the man most responsible for taking the game to the world, RobertC. Schenck checked out.
