Recently, historical records have verified that cowboys played very little to no poker
in the saloons during 1800's as alot of the western movies portray. The most popular
card game during those times was called "Faro"

Faro is a late 17th-century French gambling card game. It is descended from Basset,
and belongs to the Lansquenet and Monte Bank family of games due to the use of a
banker and several players. Winning or losing occurs when cards turned up by the
banker match those already exposed.

It is not a direct relative of poker, but Faro was often just as popular due to its fast
action, easy-to-learn rules, and better odds[1] than most games of chance.
The game of Faro is played with only one deck of cards and admits any number of
players.

Popular in North America during the 1800s, Faro was eventually overtaken by poker
as the preferred card game of gamblers in the early 1900s.