Nobody can tell you for sure where and when poker games first appeared. Gambling has always been popular all over the world. Card games were popular in Middle ages. All of them have something in common, so, now we can’t name exact ancestor of poker.   However, the record of the first poker games was made in Europe in 16th century. The card game appeared in then spread to Spain. It was called Primero or La Prime. Each player had only three cards and there were only three possible combinations in this game.   This game gave birth to Pochen, a card game, which became popular in Germany in 18th century. It had something in common with modern poker and even the name of the game resembled the modern one.   But the poker game, which later received the title Texas Holdem was brought to the United States by French colonists. The game widely spread along the Mississippi river.   Poker games became extremely popular in North America during the Civil War. Some other poker games like Omaha, Stud, Razz and Five Card Draw appeared.   One could hardly find a bar without a poker table at that time. Nowadays the situation is almost the same. People play poker everywhere no matter it is legal or not.   It’s a kid of frenzy. The game has become even more popular than baseball.