The title of Coolidge's original 1894 painting is Poker Game. The titles in the Brown & Bigelow series are:. A Bachelor's Dog – reading the mail; A Bold Bluff – poker (originally titled Judge St. Bernard Stands Pat on Nothing).

• Nov 16, 2018 Dogs Playing Poker Made Coolidge famous but not with Critics. As it turns out, people love dogs and people love playing cards. The paintings of Dogs Playing Poker struck a nostalgic chord with home decorators and kitsch aficionados in the United States. This delivered a fair amount of fame to Coolidge, despite being an artist in his 60s.
• It’s not commonly known, but Dogs Playing Poker by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge refers to not just one painting, but 18 of them! The series includes the artist’s original Poker Game (1894) painting, along with 16 other oil paintings commissioned in 1903 by Brown & Bigelow to advertise cigars, and an additional 1910 painting.
• The Dogs Playing Poker series refers to the collective group of Coolidge’s dog paintings, including his original 1894 painting, the 16 oil paintings that were commissioned in 1903 by Brown & Bigelow, and an additional 1910 painting he did.
• Jan 31, 2017 - Original Antique 1930s 'Dogs Playing Poker' Print by C.M. Coolidge for Sale.

The game of poker was developed some time during the early 19th century in the United States. Since those early beginnings, poker has grown to become an extremely popular pastime throughout the world.

19th century[edit]

In the 1837 edition of Foster's Complete Hoyle, R. F. Foster wrote: 'the game of poker, as first played in the United States, five cards to each player from a twenty-card pack, is undoubtedly the Persian game of As-Nas.' By the 1990s some gaming historians including David Parlett started to challenge the notion that poker is a direct derivative of As-Nas.^{[citation needed]} There is evidence that a game called poque, a French game similar to poker, was played around the region where poker is said to have originated. The name of the game likely descended from the Irish Poca (Pron. Pokah) ('Pocket') or even the Frenchpoque, which descended from the Germanpochen ('to brag as a bluff' lit. 'to knock'). Yet it is not clear whether the origins of poker itself lie with the games bearing those names. It is commonly regarded as sharing ancestry with the Renaissance game of primero and the French brelan. The English game brag (earlier bragg) clearly descended from brelan and incorporated bluffing (though the concept was known in other games by that time). It is quite possible that all of these earlier games influenced the development of poker as it exists now.

A modern school of thought rejects these ancestries,^[1] as they focus on the card play in poker, which is trivial and could have been derived from any number of games or made up on general cardplay principles.^[2] The unique features of poker have to do with the betting, and do not appear in any known older game.^[1] In this view poker originated much later, in the early or mid-18th century, and spread throughout the Mississippi River region by 1800. It was played in a variety of forms, with 52 cards, and included both straight poker and stud. 20 card poker was a variant for two players (it is a common English practice to reduce the deck in card games when there are fewer players).^[3] The development of poker is linked to the historical movement that also saw the invention of commercial gambling.^[4][5]

English actor Joseph Cowell^[6] reported that the game was played in New Orleans in 1829, with a deck of 20 cards, and four players betting on which player's hand was the most valuable. Jonathan H. Green's book, An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling (G. B. Zieber, Philadelphia, 1843), described the spread of the game from there to the rest of the country by Mississippiriverboats, on which gambling was a common pastime. As it spread north along the Mississippi River and to the West during the gold rush, it is thought to have become a part of the frontier pioneer ethos.

Soon after this spread, the full 52-card French deck was used and the flush was introduced. The draw was added prior to 1850 (when it was first mentioned in print in a handbook of games).^[7] During the American Civil War, many additions were made including stud poker (the five-card variant), and the straight. Further American developments followed, such as the wild card (around 1875), lowball and split-pot poker (around 1900), and community card poker games (around 1925).

Early books discussing poker[edit]

• Hildreth, J. (1836) Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky Mountains, Wiley & Long, New York: mentions poker
• Green, Jonathan H. (1843). Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling, Philadelphia: Zieber
• Cowell, Joe (1844). Thirty Years Passed Among the Players in England and America
• Anners, Henry F. (1845) Hoyle’s Games: refers to Poker or Bluff, 20-deck Poker, and 20-deck Poke
• Bohn, Henry George (1850) New Handbook of Games: stated the rules of poker in print for the first time
• Dick, Willium B. (1866) The American card player
• Trumps (1868) The Modern Pocket Hoyle New York: Dick & Fitzgerald
• Steinmetz, Andrew (1870) The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims, London: Tinsley Brothers
• Schenck, Robert C. (1872)Rules for Playing Poker, private circulation
• Winterblossom, Henry T (1875) The Game of Draw Poker Mathematically Illustrated
• Blackbridge (1875) The Complete Card Player

20th century[edit]

Developments in the 1970s led to poker becoming far more popular than it was before. Modern tournament play became popular in American casinos after the World Series of Poker began, in 1970.^[8] Notable champions from these early WSOP tournaments include Johnny Moss, Amarillo Slim, Bobby Baldwin, Doyle Brunson, and Puggy Pearson. Later in the 1970s, the first serious poker strategy books appeared, notably Super/System by Doyle Brunson (ISBN1-58042-081-8) and Caro's Book of Poker Tells by Mike Caro (ISBN0-89746-100-2), followed later by The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky (ISBN1-880685-00-0).

By the 1980s, poker was being depicted in popular culture as a commonplace recreational activity. For example, it was featured in at least 10 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation as a weekly event of the senior staff of the fictional ship's crew.^[9]

Two significant events in the late 1980s led to the first poker 'boom'. In 1987, California legalized the flop games of hold'em and Omaha, as well as stud. Previously only draw games were allowed. While there were more poker games in California than anywhere else before this, the number of games and the action hold'em brought both increased dramatically. Cavernous poker rooms like the Commerce Casino and the Bicycle Club began operating in the LA area.^[10] In 1988 Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA),^[11] which legalized casino games on Indian lands. Poker rooms began rapidly opening within a few short years. Limit Texas hold'em was the most widely played game by far in the west, and seven card stud was the most widely played game in the east from the late 1980s until 2003.^[12]

Poker Dogs Original Painting

In the 1990s, poker and casino gambling spread across the United States, most notably to Atlantic City, New Jersey.^[13] In 1998, Planet Poker dealt the first real money online poker game. In 1999, Late Night Poker debuted on British television.^[14]

21st century[edit]

Poker's popularity experienced an unprecedented spike at the beginning of the 21st century, largely because of the introduction of online poker and hole-card cameras, which turned the game into a spectator sport. Not only could viewers now follow the action and drama of the game on television, they could also play the game in the comfort of their own home. Broadcasts of poker tournaments such as the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour brought in huge audiences for cable and satellite TV distributors. Because of the increased coverage of poker events, poker pros became celebrities, with poker fans all over the world entering into tournaments for the chance to compete with them. Television coverage also added an important new dimension to the poker professional's game, as any given hand could now be aired later, revealing information not only to the other players at the table, but to anyone who cared to view the broadcast.

Following the surge in popularity, new poker tours soon emerged, including the World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour, both televised, and the latter sponsored by online poker company PokerStars. Subsequent tours have since been created by PokerStars, such as Latin American Poker Tour and Asia Pacific Poker Tour, as well as other national tours. Beginning in 2003, major poker tournament fields grew dramatically, in part because of the growing popularity of online satellite-qualifier tournaments where the prize is an entry into a major tournament. The 2003 and 2004 World Series of Poker champions, Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, respectively, won their seats to the main event by winning online satellites.^[15] In 2009 the International Federation of Poker was founded in Lausanne, Switzerland, becoming the official governing body for poker and promoting the game as a mind sport. In 2011 it announced plans for two new events: The Nations Cup, a duplicate poker team event, to be staged on the London Eye on the banks of the River Thames and 'The Table', the invitation-only IFP World Championship, featuring roughly 130 of the world's best poker players, in an event to find the 2011 official 'World Champion'.

After the passage of the UIGEA in October 2006, attendance at live tournaments as well as participation in live and online cash games initially slowed; however, they are still growing and far more popular today than they were before 2003. The growth and popularity of poker can be seen in the WSOP which had a record 7,319 entrants to the 2010 main event.^[16] The only nations in Europe that prohibit live poker are Norway, Poland and Albania, according to Dagbladet in 2011.^[17]

References[edit]

Poker Playing Dogs Original

1. ^ ^abReuven and Gabrielle Brenner, and Aaron Brown, A World of Chance: Betting on Religion, Games, Wall Street, Cambridge University Press (2008), ISBN978-0-521-88466-2
2. ^Stephen Longstreet, Win or Lose: A Social History of Gambling in America, Bobbs-Merrill (1977), ISBN978-0-672-52253-6
3. ^Aaron Brown, The Poker Face of Wall Street, John Wiley & Sons (2006), ISBN978-0-470-12731-5
4. ^David G. Schwartz, Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling, Gotham (2007), ISBN978-1-59240-316-5
5. ^Timothy O'Brien, Bad Bet : The Inside Story of the Glamour, Glitz, and Danger of America's Gambling Industry, Crown Business (1998), ISBN978-0-8129-2807-5
6. ^Williamson, G. R. (15 May 2012). Frontier Gambling. G.R. Williamson. ISBN9780985278014. Retrieved 16 December 2018 – via Google Books.
7. ^Henry G. Bond (ed.), Bohn's New Handbook of Games, Henry F. Anners (1850)
8. ^'World Series of Poker: A Retrospective'. Gaming.unlv.edu. 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
9. ^'Poker & Pop Culture: 'Star Trek: The Next Generation''. www.pokernews.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
10. ^Badger, Steve. 'California Hold'em Poker - Texas Holdem Comes to California Poker'. www.stevebadger.com.
11. ^'Industry Overview'. Indian Gaming: The National Information Site of the American Indian Gaming Industry. Liberty Lake, Washington: ArrowPoint Media, Inc. 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
12. ^'WSOP NEWS: A WILDER RIDE'. www.wsop.com. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
13. ^'United States of Poker: New Jersey'. Pokerplayernewspaper.com. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
14. ^'Late Night Poker: About the Show'. Channel4.com. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
15. ^'Chris Moneymaker on'. Answers.com. 1975-11-21. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
16. ^'WSOP 2010 Results - World Series of Poker Champion Jonathan Duhamel'. PokerStars.com. 2011-01-22. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
17. ^LøvikSivilingeniør, DEBATTINNLEGGPål Skønberg (15 September 2011). 'Legaliser poker'. Dagbladet.no. Retrieved 16 December 2018.

You may not even be conscious of it, but when someone says “Dogs Playing Poker,” you have a distinct image in your mind. You’ve seen dogs playing poker somewhere… you know you have.

Almost everyone has. Whether it was in the basement of your best friend from high school, or alongside the ping pong table in that one apartment building, the strangely famous painting by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge has mysterious mass appeal, and a permanent place in the hearts and minds of almost all living pre-millennials.

Dogs Playing Poker is an iconic centerpiece of wood-paneled dens everywhere, so it’s time you know the history… and some little-known facts… behind the clever canine masterpiece… or masterpieces.

There’s actually more than one painting of Dogs Playing Poker

Dogs Playing Poker isn’t a one-hit-wonder… it’s not the name of the painting at all. There is actually a serious of paintings of dogs and cards. Coolidge started his dog-depicting kick by painting dogs for cigar boxes in the late 1800s. Then, on a pivotal day in 1903, Brown & Bigelow hired Coolidge to head up advertising images. That’s when the artist’s passion and penchant for painting dogs really took off. In his series of paintings of dogs playing poker, Coolidge created A Bold Bluff, Pinched with Four Aces, and Poker Sympathy, all within the theme. These paintings made a place in homes throughout the country, not only as framed prints, but also as posters and the subject of calendars.

One of the most popular paintings of dogs playing poker is A Friend in Need. This painting actually depicts a pair of dishonest bulldogs helping each other cheat against a brook of smoking hounds. This painting is often referred to as “Dogs Playing Poker,” since that’s what it’s depicting. But the actual name of the painting illuminates the deceptive activity the painting features.

Dogs Playing Poker Made Coolidge famous… but not with Critics

As it turns out, people love dogs… and people love playing cards. The paintings of Dogs Playing Poker struck a nostalgic chord with home decorators and kitsch aficionados in the United States. This delivered a fair amount of fame to Coolidge, despite being an artist in his 60s, nearing the end of his career. Because so many people collected Coolidge’s prints in posters and calendars, the original paintings went for up to $10,000. This was more than Coolidge ever expected from his work.

Art critics, however, were less excited about Coolidge. Since the paintings were created for the purpose of advertising and commercial use, Coolidge was named not much more than a sold-out cartoonist. Critics thought the paintings were in poor taste, appealing to a more low-brow audience. But with a few grand in his pocket, Coolidge didn’t really seem to care.

What do critics know, anyway?

Despite critical critique, Dogs Playing Poker, along with so many others in the series, are now cultural icons. Coolidge’s art is featured in many books about American art fads. His work is still widely circulated, frequently referenced, and boldly displayed on the walls of dens and next to card tables around the world. In fact, some people even surmise that Coolidge may have created the series to mock the arrogance of the upper class. As a purposefully-kitschy series, Coolidge’s Dogs Playing Poker may tap into something deeper, something critics haven’t even picked up on.

But the real critics were Coolidge’s wife and daughter. Mournfully, they were cat people; cat people doomed to be surrounded by canine fame and fortune and home decor for the latter part of their lives.

“You can’t imagine a cat playing poker,” 92-year-old Gertrude Coolidge admitted to The New York Timesin 2002. “It doesn’t seem to go.”

In addition to the aforementioned pieces A Friend in Need, A Bold Bluff, Poker Sympathy, and Pinched With Four Aces, Coolidge created widely circulated pieces One to Tie, Two to Win, His Station and Four Aces, Waterloo, Bachelor’s Dog, Post Mortem and Sitting Up With a Sick Friend.

Now you know the story behind the prolific painter of the series, and can share it with friends and family around the card table, or pool table, or ping pong table. Chances are, you’ll definitely see one of the Coolidge’s paintings again.