Why is Texas hold 'em so popular? - James McManus

翻译人员: Ng Kai Yuan 校对人员: Sophia Ye

Throughout the 1800s, in saloons across the West,

在整个 1800 年代， 西部的酒吧里，

you could find cowboys locked in tense standoffs.

你可以发现牛仔们陷入了紧张的对峙。

But these weren’t shootouts.

但这不是火拼，

They were simply playing cards—

而只是简单地玩牌——

for a mountain of chips worth their weight in gold.

赌注是一堆价值重金的筹码。

Most men wore loaded pistols in case a player was caught cheating.

大多数人携带装有子弹的手枪， 以防玩家作弊被发现。

When they prepared to make their bets, however,

然而，当这些牛仔准备下注时，

these cowboys weren’t focused on their holsters or their cards,

他们并不关注枪套或卡牌，

but rather on their opponent’s face.

而是对手的脸。

Because not even a bullet could protect them from a well-executed bluff.

因为即使是子弹也 无法阻挡一个精巧的虚张声势。

From its earliest incarnations, poker has always been a battle of nerves.

从最早的版本开始， 扑克一直都是一场心理战。

The game first emerged around 1800 in the melting pot of New Orleans.

这个游戏最早出现在 1800 年 左右的新奥尔良这个文化大熔炉

At this time, two games ruled the card tables:

那时，牌桌上有两款游戏称霸：

French poque played with a 20-card deck, and English Brag which used 52-cards.

法国扑克牌(使用20张牌) 和 英国的吹牛(使用52张牌)。

Both these games saw players being dealt five cards from a four-suit deck,

在这两款游戏中，玩家会从一副有 四种花色的牌中获得五张牌，

and then trying to make the best hand possible according to a simple hierarchy.

然后尽可能地组成最好的手牌。

They would then wager on whether or not they had the best hand—

玩家会下注他们是否有最好的手牌，

either adding more money to the pot

要么加注，要么弃牌，

or folding and forfeiting their chance to win it.

否则就是投降，放弃赢的机会。

But since each player's cards were only revealed at the end of the hand,

由于每个玩家的手牌只 有在最终揭晓时才会被看到，

someone with bad cards could always bluff—

所以手牌差的人总是可以虚张声势，

betting enough to scare his opponents into folding.

加注到足以吓到对手弃牌。

Both games had slightly different hand combinations, but most importantly,

这两款游戏的手牌组合 略有不同，但最重要的是，

Brag allowed players to discard and draw new cards,

吹牛允许玩家弃牌和抽牌，

making better hands more likely and allowing for another round of betting.

让手牌更好，并在下一轮继续下注。

Eventually, the Southerners merged the two games

最终，南方人将这两款游戏

into a new version of poque— which they pronounced pokuh—

合并成了一种新版本的扑克 (他们发音为pokuh)，

that created bigger pots and opportunities for more complex bluffing.

创造了更大的奖池 和更复杂的虚张声势机会。

This winning combination of guile, guts, and gambling caught on quickly.

这种、胆量和赌博的成功组合迅速走红。

But its popularity skyrocketed after the invention of the steamboat,

但是，随着蒸汽船的发明， 它的知名度更是飙升，

which carried livestock, goods, and card games

因为它将牲畜、货物和纸牌游戏

up the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri rivers.

运送到密西西比河、俄亥俄河和密苏里河。

By Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860,

1860 年亚伯拉罕·林肯当选时，

Americans in every state and territory were playing the newfangled bluffing game.

美国各州和领地的人们都在玩这种 新奇的虚张声势游戏。

And while many played for low, friendly stakes,

尽管许多人只是小赌，

some gamblers put their homes and livelihoods on the line.

但一些赌徒却把自己的家庭 和生计押在了这里。

These life-changing bets even found their way into popular novels

这种改变人生的赌注， 甚至出现在流行小说中，

like “Gone with the Wind,”

比如《乱世佳人》，

where Scarlett O’Hara’s father wins an entire plantation

斯嘉丽·奥哈拉的父亲用一手扑克牌

in a single hand of poker.

赢得整个种植园。

But as pots became bigger, so did the temptation to cheat.

但随着奖池变得越来越大， 作弊的诱惑也越来越大。

Some players enlisted an accomplice to spy on opponents

一些玩家招募同谋监视对手，

and used props to communicate their hands.

并使用道具进行交流。

Others marked important cards with nicks, dents, or invisible ink.

有些在重要的卡片上标有刻痕、凹痕或隐形墨水。

But perhaps the most common method was sneaking a cold deck into the game.

但也许冷牌是最常见的方法。

Cold decks were pre-sequenced to give victims powerful hands

冷牌是预先堆叠的， 目的是为了将强大的手牌发给受害者，

that encouraged them to bet big,

鼓励他们下大注，

while giving the cheater an even better one.

而老千会获得比受害者更好的手牌。

However, even cheaters had to keep up with the game’s constant changes.

但是，即使是老千也必须 跟上游戏不断的变化。

As poker moved west with the Gold Rush, new variants emerged.

随着淘金热转移到西部，扑克出现了新的玩法。

Five-card Stud became the game of choice

梭哈成了霍利德医生、 怀特·厄普和野生比尔·希科克

among notorious gunmen like Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and Wild Bill Hickok.

等臭名昭著的枪手的首选游戏。

With four rounds of betting,

通过四轮下注，

Five-card Stud produced even more lucrative pots,

梭哈带来更有赚头的奖池，

encouraging so much cheating that California outlawed the game in 1885.

许多人没抵住诱惑而作弊，以至于加利福 尼亚在 1885 年宣布该游戏为非法。

Meanwhile, back in Texas, another variant emerged

同时，在德克萨斯州，

to solve the common problem of having too many players and not enough cards.

出现了另一种玩法， 解决了玩家经常过多但牌不够的问题。

This game, known as Texas Hold'em,

这款游戏称为德州扑克，

became a favorite because its low ratio of private, hidden cards

因为它的私密牌

to shared, exposed cards

和公开牌的比例较低，允许

allowed for plenty of deductions and tactical maneuvering.

进行深入的推论和战术操作， 因此成为最受欢迎的游戏。

Even more exciting was no-limit Hold’em, which allowed players to go all in,

更令人兴奋的是无限注德州 扑克，玩家可以把全部筹码下注，

betting everything they had at any point in the hand.

将手头上的一切都压上。

In 1928, Hungarian polymath John von Neumann

1928 年，匈牙利博学家 约翰·冯·诺伊曼

sought to explain the nuances of betting and bluffing in mathematical terms.

试图用数学术语解释赌博和 虚张声势的微妙差别。

His work became the foundation for a whole new branch of mathematics

他的工作成为一门被称为

called game theory,

博弈论的全新数学分支的基础，

which has grown to be vitally important not only in high-stakes poker,

这不仅在高风险扑克中至关重要，

but in economics and military strategy.

甚至在经济学和 军事策略中也占有一席之地。

In the late 20th century, game theory became essential

在 20 世纪末，博弈论成为解决 地缘政治核战争的核心要素，

for navigating the geopolitical bluffing game of nuclear warfare.

而虚张声势正是其中的精髓。

Today, America’s card game is an international affair,

如今，美国的纸牌游戏 已经成为一项国际赛事，

attracting players from over a hundred countries

吸引着来自一百多个国家的玩家

to the annual World Series of Poker.

参加每年一度的世界扑克大赛。

Fortunes are made and lost every day on casino floors, poker websites,

在赌场、扑克网站以及成千上万的直播

and in thousands of live and online tournaments.

和在线锦标赛中，每场

So while a single game's outcome will never be certain,

比赛的结果都无法预测，

poker is definitely here to stay.

但扑克肯定会长盛不衰。