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You have probably been waiting for the follow-up on my revolutionary study aimed at shedding light on the mysteries surrounding poker’s early days. Today I proudly present to you the second part in this very long, multi-part essay.

Part I of The Origins of Poker left off after the sacking of Babylon. A tribe of traveling hippies on a pilgrimage to central Asia in honor of Ma Gu, the goddess of Hemp, saved the knowledge of Poker from being lost forever. However, hippies weren’t particularly popular in ancient times either.  Shortly after entering the outskirts of Scythia, the records say, they were captured and summarily executed by a local strongman.

The Heroic Strongman of Scythia

After finding little of apparent value, the strongman surrendered the hippies’ belongings and their heads to the local authorities, who took note of a deck of cards and accompanying playing manual for Positive EV Betting Challenge, which Poker was called at the time.

What happened later is something of a mystery, but one might surmise that games of poker caught on, since it later resurfaced in lower Mongolia under emperor Möngke of the Yuan Empire. Coincidentally, it was in mid-13^th century Mongolia that the first game of high-stakes poker was played; between Möngke and Kublai Khan for rulership of Song-dynasty China.

Kublai Kahn, as portrayed by the most Asian-looking Irish-American actor in the world: Brian Dennehy

The event was played over a period of five months. Although Möngke had brought a bigger bankroll to the game to get an early lead, the game eventually evened up. Around month four, Kublai could claim ownership of most of the provinces. This could partly be due to all the time Möngke spent on blackjack and hookers.

Kublai Khan passed knowledge of Poker to Marco Polo, who brought the game to Europe. This and more will be covered in Part III.