Poker players are well accustomed to legislators' unending debates over our favorite game. Indeed, laws to forbid, restrict, and/or permit the playing of poker have been part of its history ever since the game's introduction back in the early 19th century.
It is perhaps surprising to learn, then, that the person often credited with writing one of the earliest rulebooks of poker was in fact a former U.S. Congressman. It was by accident, really, that Robert C. Schenck, once a member of the House of Representatives, came to author a short book explaining how to play five-card draw.