Quality Gambling 69146
Poker has existed for more than a hundred years, but it's really only within the last ten years that the game really saw a spike in popularity. So what's changed to influence this popularity and where did the game come from to enjoy such popularity?
While the origins of the game of poker are somewhat murky, with links to the Persian game of As Nas and the French game of poque, it's known to have really started to gain ground within the early 19th century along the Mississippi River, with an assortment of forms of the game being played on riverboats where gambling was a common past-time.
Throughout the American Civil War and continuing after, variations for example stud poker, wild cards, and community card poker were all introduced tot he game. In Las Vegas, regular tournaments were held within an attempt to draw players willing to play in high-stakes games, but they invariably failed to draw the crowds and money players who were desired, in spite of the upgrading of casinos to accommodate these players. Within the mid 20th century poker tournaments, such as the World Series of Poker (WSOP), began in American casinos, finally drawing the kind of player that they had desired. The game also started to show up regularly in popular culture, including television shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as in films like Rounders.
In the 21st century the game saw an enormous spike in popularity for a number of reasons. The introduction of online poker allowed anybody to play the game from the comfort of their own homes without the need to put together a group to play or travel to a casino. Moreover, poker tournaments being televised, together with hold-card cameras, turned poker into something of a spectator sport, with the Texas Hold 'Em selection of the game benefiting in particular as it is becoming the most widely played version, especially at the WSOP.
With smartphones and tablets now being nearly ubiquitous, Read Much more more people are playing poker than previously as a result of the supply of free apps to play anywhere or any time. Online poker players can even win seats at major tournaments simply, with Chris Moneymaker arguably being the most famous due to his 2003 World Series of Poker championship win after winning an online tournament.
As technology continues to connect us it's going to be interesting to determine how the game continues to increase and if it moves away from the casinos and tables and even more to keyboards and pixels.
