The Story of the Joker
No one really likes the joker card; it can be a hassle to remember to remove it before each new poker game. Why then, do playing card decks continue to have this irksome waste of valuable deck space? The simple answer is that some card games in the casino still use a joker, even if poker varieties do not in normal play.
To understand why the joker stays around, we need to first understand where the joker came from. Most people agree that the joker is a modernized form of the Imperial Bower card in the game of euchre. In the early 1860s euchre was hugely popular (much like Texas Holdem today). Because you needed an Imperial Bower card to play the game, decks started to include the joker to be able to sell to the euchre playing population. One thing led to another, and the joker has become standard issue for every pack of playing cards.
A quick note about the joker imagery. By the time that the joker was introduced in the 1860s, royal imagery was the de facto setting for playing cards. An image of a jester, or joker, fit in well with the imperial theme, as jesters were often associated with the early courts of kings and queens.
