Edmund Hoyle is not a part of World Series of Poker History, was not among the list of classic professional poker players, never played casino poker, and probably would not recognize the game of Texas Hold’em if his life depnded on it. Despite having no connection to the game of poker in the least, he was an important enough figure to be a charter inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame back in 1979. What he did manage to do was write a book that advanced the cause of gaming as a whole. Without the institution of gaming, there probably wouldn’t be a World Poker Tour or European Poker Tour, and Joe Cada’s professional life would probably include the question, “Would you like some fries with that, sir?”
While the minutia of Edmund’s life are not extremely well documented, what we do know is that he had some training in the law, and spent a good deal of time traveling around to the upper crust of society, teaching them the game of whist. Once again, this game is not a predecessor of Texas Hold’em, and has nothing to do with the game of poker as a whole. If you tried to apply hold’em rules to it, the gentry would have had their butlers escort you out of the house, and give you a swift kick through the door.
As part of his teachings, he sold a booklet on how to play whist to his clients. People got ahold of this list of rules and strategy, copied it, and circulated it among the middle and lower classes. To protect his intellectual property, this booklet grew into a book called Short Treatise on the Game of Whist. Having his work published not only gave him copyright protection, but also expanded his audience. In short the book was a hit. He followed this up with a number of other gaming books, none of them would be helpful to professional poker players, or anyone who has an interest in hold’em rules and casino poker, but that is neither here nor there.
His work has been so lasting that the term “according to Hoyle" has been incorporated into the gaming vocabulary. A lot of books now integrate his name into their titles, even though he had nothing to do with the games they are associated with. His contributions have been considered so important to the overall industry by the poker elite, he is now in the Poker Hall of Fame, an honor that is usually given to those who have been important to World Series of Poker history.
