The history of poker has been debated for decades, but many will agree that it closely resembles the Persian game of As nas. "In the 1937 edition of Foster's Complete Hoyle, R. F. Foster declared: "the game of poker, as first played in the United States, five cards to each player from a twenty-card pack, is undoubtedly the Persian game of as nas." David Parlett and other gaming historians now have a solid base that agrees with this belief.