While casino games were invented to entertain the European gentry, poker has a different story at its origin - it first emerged in Lousiana in the late 19th century, played with a deck of 20 cards. In the years that followed, the number of the cards in the deck has grown to 52, and new hands, new rules were introduced, giving birth to the game we love today. Spread by the riverboats on the Mississippi, poker has spread all over the US, and the world, becoming the most popular card game ever invented. Initially, poker was played mostly in casinos, in saloons, or other recreational facilities, but later it took its separate path. But casinos still wanted to attract poker players to their halls, so they introduced less complex, more chance-based versions of the game, and called them "casino poker". Today we'll take a look at some of these hybrids, which you'll only be able to find in casinos (and at PokerStars, of course).

Three card poker

Three Card Poker was introduced in the 1990s by Derek Webb, an inventor who wanted to combine the excitement of poker with the speed of casino games. It's basically a speedy, dumbed-down version of draw poker, which doesn't involve drawing, but it involves an ante bet, folding, and hand rankings based on the real thing - but with three cards only.

Three Card Poker might not be the most profitable game for the player, but it's surely the highest-grossing one for casinos, and for its developer.

Video poker

A single-player Five Card Draw, with no waiting on the others to bet? Sounds attractive - and it is, even if most players don't consider it a proper poker game at all. It's not very different from Five Card Draw, either. Its rules are basically the same, only adapted to a single-player form. Read more about them at https://grizzlygambling.com - it will give you a few tips on where to play it, too.

The one major difference between video poker and Five Card Draw is that the former has no pot - it pays players based on the value of their hand. And it usually includes a "gamble" feature, where players can double (or lose) their winnings.

Oasis Poker

A very interesting game, which best reflects the nature of casinos. It's a Five Card Draw variant, much like the above-mentioned Five Card Draw, but with a twist: players can discard cards from their hand, and draw others - but they have to pay for it. Its paytable is complicated - the dealer needs to qualify, and the hands pay out up to 100 to 1 depending on their value.