Tidbits of Poker / New Years

I haven't posted in a while so I figured I'd do something "interesting". Here are some tidbits on poker's history;

• China invented the playing card around 900 AD, it was a variation of their domino game
  
• Poker is said to derive from 'an nas', a 147th Century Persian game that consisted of 5 players and 25 cards
• The French invented the suites; Spades, Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts
• Spades represent royalty, Diamonds represent merchants, Clubs represent peasants, and Hearts represent clergy.
• In the late 1930's, a fifth suite was introduced but never caught on since everyone would have to purchase new decks
• America not only invented the Joker, but were the first to print numbers on both sides of the card (no need to turn the card around to see it's value)
• Former President Richard Nixon used poker winnings to pay for his running in the U.S Congress in 1946, he won.
• When Columbus landed in America (yes in 1942), he plucked leaves from trees and painted pictures on them for playing cards.
• In the 1800's, a Straight beat a Flush
• John Mantagu, refusing to leave a poker table to eat, order meat between two slices of bread so he could eat with one hand, and play card with the other. This was the invention of the "Sandwich".
• Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (1890 - 1977), a famous American comedian, got the nickname "Groucho" because he always wore a grouch bag around his neck. The grouch bag contained his poker money.
• Poker is known as a "vying game". Vying game is actually a class for games (like drama, action, or horror would be for a movie). Games listed under the Vying Class are games that involve betting on the quality of card combinations in one's hand rather then playing the cards out."
• The first documented game of Poker played in the United States was in New Orleans in 1829
• Edmond Hoyle was an avid writer for whist, backgammon, chess, quadrille, piquet, and brag. Hoyle is said to have never played modern poker since he passed 150 years before it's invention. In 1979 he was a charter inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame.
• The phrase "blue chip", used in the Stock Market to name a well-established company making solid and/or high earnings, is said to have derived from Poker. The "blue chip" in poker is commonly the most valuable chip.
  
• Other common everday phrases are also derived from poker. Some of the least obvious phrases include "the buck stops here", "beats me", "high roller", "pass the buck", "stack up", and "wild card".
• "Card Sharp" is a person who purposely cheats at cards with the intension of making money. It's said that "card magicians" were known to deploy this tactic since they had the best pratice employing sleight of hand. This enabling them to keep control of the order of cards - or one specific card for their benifit. The common term for this behavior is a card "mechanic".

While I am sure there are tons of other interesting tidbits from the orgins of poker, I will leave you with the above list. If you know of any others, feel free to leave them in the comments. Have a great New Year everyone!