Why Poker is So Popular?
June 12th, 2008
As recently as five years ago, most people couldn’t even tell you what forms of poker were played in casinos. Their only exposure to poker was an occasional home game with friends, where they played ‘classic’ varieties, such as seven-card stud or five-card draw. Then, in 2003, amateur Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event on national TV in front of millions of people, beating out Sam Farha, a seasoned professional. Texas hold’em became the new game of choice, and poker exploded worldwide, both in casinos and on the Internet.
Before its incredible rise in popularity following Moneymaker’s victory, Texas hold’em had been exposed as the expert’s game of choice in the movie Rounders in 1998. In this poker variation, each player holds two cards; after four betting rounds, everyone at the table eventually shares a board of five additional cards. The best five-card hands are then made from the seven available cards (two in hand, five on board), with the winner being chosen by standard poker hand rankings. Hold ‘em is a very simple game, and the average player can pick up the basics in a matter of hours. However, the balance of information in the game allows the better players to put themselves into advantageous positions more so than any other poker variant. Compare this to a game like seven-card stud, where the player must keep track of every card that comes out, or five-card draw, where the player has no information on the other player’s hand, save for patterns in betting. Thus, novices and experts alike have their own reasons for enjoying this particular version of poker. Professional poker player and commentator Mike Sexton is famously quoted as saying, “Texas Hold’em takes a minute to learn but a lifetime to master.”
As Texas hold’em blossomed, players realized that they could win considerable money if they dedicated time and effort to the game. They had just witnessed an amateur win millions of dollars in poker’s premiere event, and they realized that anyone with a stack of chips had a chance at the title. At first, the industry was infused with so much money from green players that skilled players were able to make fortunes for themselves almost instantaneously; even intermediate players were making enough to live on. Professional poker players became celebrities and established a new ‘dream job’ for men and women everywhere to aspire towards.
Even though the poker craze has slowed in recent years, the game is still enjoying unprecedented interest. The current success Texas hold’em in particular is predicated on several factors: the simplicity of the game, the advantages available to skilled players, the perceived glamorous life of professionals, and the constantly evolving strategies and techniques. Most importantly, though, is that poker offers every player the chance to compete and even win on the biggest stage available – the World Series of Poker Main Event.
June 13th, 2008 at 2:19 am
thank you very much for the fine read. I enjoyed it thoroughly.