Faro Poker

Most Popular Game
Despite what most western movies and television shows would lead you to believe, Faro, not Poker, was by far the most popular card game in the American West and then in Alaska in the early 20th century.

Faro is directly descended from a French card game called “pharaon”, the French word for pharaoh. Early decks likely featured depictions of Egyptian pharaohs.

Old West Meets Alaska
In the Old West, notable individuals like Wyatt Earp who either played or dealt Faro, western movies and TV shows instead had gunslingers, lawmen, cowboys and outlaws playing poker, not Faro. While Faro had once been an inescapable aspect of life in the American West, the game would have been unrecognizable to many if not most viewers.

In 1869, the Klondike gold rush brought thousands of prospectors to Alaska. This created boomtowns, saloons and gambling houses where Faro was always the main game. However thirty years later in 1899, Congress approved a new criminal code for Alaska that prohibited prostitution, and gambling. The gambling ban specifically mentioned Faro.

Faro Disappears
Eventually Faro’s demise came from its own popularity. Everyone wanted to play faro, yet there was only a narrow advantage for the house. At that point, almost every gambling den across the nation decided to cheat the players. Cards were marked for dealers and decks and tables were rigged.

Faro was inseparably linked with cons and crime and became a targeted villain of the temperance movements in the early 20th century. Arizona, once a hotbed of faro activity with more than a thousand gaming establishments, banned the game in 1907.

Faro faded from the cultural landscape and by the 1950s, it was rare. By the end of the 20th century, it had disappeared almost entirely and became a dusty relic in the history of the American West and Alaska.