The World Poker Tour

September 30, 2009 by poker player  
Filed under Poker News

Just as the World Series of Poker (WSOP), introduced the world to big-time poker tournaments, so has the World Poker Tour revolutionized the game as seen on television. The World Poker Tour is not only entertaining, but is a valuable source of information for new players. Take, for instance, the “WPT Cam”, an amazingly innovative camera about the size of a lipstick tube. This little device, introduced on the WPT in 2003, allows viewers to see the player’s hole cards, adding to the drama of the game by revealing the strategies behind the player’s high stakes bets and bluffs.

Then there are the WPT hosts. Whenever the hosts speak to the audience using specific poker terms, a drop-down box appears with an explanation of those terms so that viewers new to the game will gain a better understanding of their meaning. As a result of this type of programming, the WPT as seen on the Travel Channel, has undoubtedly recruited literally millions of new fans and players worldwide.

World Poker Tour face-to-face tournaments are held each year from May to the following April, ending with the World Poker Tour Championship Event being held at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Sixteen preliminary WPT tournaments are held at various locations world-wide which lead to the final championship event.

Final tables at each of the preliminary WPT Tournaments are televised, and the winners receive, in addition to their prize money, a paid entry fee – worth $25,000 – to the World Poker Tour Championship at the Bellagio.

These preliminary tournaments are one way to obtain a seat at the WPT final event. Players can enter directly into the championship games by paying the $25,000 entry fee up front, or enter various satellite tournaments – for a smaller buy-in – that will prepay the WPT Championship entry fee for the winners. In fact, the Bellagio hosts a satellite tournament during the weeks preceding the final event with a prepaid entry fee to the WPT Championship awarded to the winner.

The final table at the World Poker Tour Championship Event is televised from the Bellagio by the Travel Channel and viewed by a live audience. The prize money has increased considerably since the WPT’s beginnings with the prize pool for the 2006 WPT Tournament expected to exceed $12 million, and the first prize over $4 million.

Consisting of Texas Hold’em No-Limit tournaments, the World Series of Poker is heading into it’s fourth season as one of cable television’s most popular shows. The WPT is the brainchild of television producer Stephen Libscomb, who is the CEO of WPT Enterprises, a publicly traded entity controlling the World Poker Tour.

Holdem news All About No Limit Hold Em Poker

September 30, 2009 by poker player  
Filed under Poker News

All about no limit hold em poker
No limit hold em Poker is not what most people think it is. If youre looking for a smooth game where the best hand always wins, this isnt it. This is the game of champions and the most-played tournament poker game on TV, in the casinos and online.
No limit hold em poker is entirely different than any holdem game youve played. The same amount of cards are dealt, and theyre dealt the way that youre used to, but the comparison stops there. Of course, the winning card combinations are also the same, but it takes a lot more strategy and skill to win, even if you do have the best hand.

The goal of the game is to win all the money, not necessarily win all the hands. Thats because you focus on taking all of the other players chips and that doesnt necessarily require you to win every hand. The size of your chip stack determines how long youll stay in the game.
Its important for you to have a thorough understanding of how pot odds work if you want to come out a winner playing no limit hold em poker. The next most important thing for you to understand is how to build up the size of the pot.
Pot odds are the ratio between the size of the current pot and your cost to complete an anticipated play. Suppose the pot size is $100, and you have to call a $10 bet to stay in the game. Your pot odds are 100-to-10 or 10:1. Some players like to convert pot odds to a percentage. To do that, simply add the two pot odds numbers together and then divide by the smaller one. For example, if your pot odds are 3:1, add 3+1 and then divide by 1. In this case, that would equal 0.25 or 25%.
You should be constantly looking to give yourself good pot odds while forcing your opponents to play against lousy pot odds. When you learn pot building skills, and combine them with the knowledge of how pot odds work, you can very often force your opponents to fold even if they might have a good hand.
Thats the way to end up owning all of your opponents chips and walking away the big winner at the next game of no limit hold em poker.
For more information on this and other poker related topics, visit our website at http://www.holdem-news.com

Five Easy to Follow Texas Holdem Poker Tips to Improve Your Game

September 30, 2009 by poker player  
Filed under Online Poker

How would you like five easy to follow tips that will immediately improve your poker game? Yes, that’s right, these five easy to learn tips will have you winning more hands more often. Just read on…

Poker Tip #1
Maximize your winnings and minimize your losses. Simply put, bet on the hands that you have a good chance of winning and fold the bad hands. In Limit play you must play solid hands. If you are being dealt bad hands throw them away. Limit Hold em is primarily a showdown game and very rarely can you bluff anyone out of a pot.

While many of us have watched Texas Hold em Poker on TV and have seen players bluffed out of pots we understand that this effective strategy in no-limit Texas Hold em rarely works in limit because you are limited to a maximum bet. This makes bluffing and picking-up small pots more difficult in limit Texas Hold em Poker.

Again, stick to playing the best hands.

Poker Tip #2
Knowing when to play and when to quit is an important consideration for a poker player. Play as long as the game is good and you feel good. If you’re winning and the players you’re playing with are inferior and have plenty of chips to give, as long as you feel good, keep playing.

If you’re tired and the inferior players have left and been replaced by good players then you may want to think about quitting. If you find that your patience and discipline are lacking, then you should also consider quitting. Remember, you will not always win. Everyone suffers bad beats.

Poker Tip #3
What makes some hands better than others? Obviously pocket pairs, especially high ones are powerful opening hands. Pocket pairs can win without any additional help from the board. If you’re pocket pair connects with the board you can turn a set and even a full house.

Higher cards are better than lower cards as they make bigger pairs with bigger kickers. Suited hands have a better chance of making a flush and suited connectors (or near connectors) are more likely to make straights, flushes and on occasion straight flushes.

Hands that incorporate both hole cards are usually stronger than hands that use only one.

If you like to play suited cards and suited connectors I recommend that you now how to calculate pot odds and know how many outs you have.

Poker Tip #4
The decisions you make on the flop are the most important. After that there are fewer details.

Taking into account and using everything you read and study will help you solve the problems you’ll face in limit hold em. However, there is no substitute for experience. Only by playing will you gain that experience, confidence, self-discipline and control to make you an expert player.

Try not to be too predictable. Don’t play the same hands the same way all the time. By swaying from your normal style of play – occasionally – you’ll keep your opponents off balance.

The table can be broken up into the following sections:
Player one = the Blind
Players 2 to 4 = early position
Players 5 to 7 = middle position
Players 8 to 10 = late position

So what are good hands before the flop when you’re in early position? – You want a hand that’s strong enough to stand a raise (pair of aces, kings, queens etc..) if you have one of the three highest pairs I would recommend raising. Of course if your hand is poor you should fold. Do not be afraid to fold. Remember that patience is very important in limit hold em.

Raising with a strong pair does two very important things for you. It gets more money in the pot and more importantly, it thins out the field. Strong pairs decrease in strength according to the number of hands out there. Your best and really only form of protection is to raise.

Poker Tip #5
Most important of all, if you want to improve your poker game, you have to practice and play. Studying what the best hands are is great. So is reading about strategy but you eventually need to apply that knowledge. The only way you will really ever improve is to play.

So there you have it, five easy to follow, easy to do tips to help you win more hands more often.

Best poker rooms in Las Vegas – Part 7

September 30, 2009 by poker player  
Filed under Poker Rooms

When it comes to Las Vegas cardrooms, one name stands above the rest and that name is Bellagio. This is really unfortunate as many facets of the room are horrid, but the action is there and the game follows the action, not the comfort. What you’ll find at Bellagio is packed tables and great weekend games. It’s hard to find good weekday games in Vegas and Bellagio is probably your best bet there too. The action increases during big tournaments. Unfortunately, the cardroom is poorly administered. I’ve seen more than a fair share of questionable decisions from floormen there, and the logistics are downright terrible. They did the right thing and removed a table to space things out a little more before the 2007 world series of poker. This change moved the room from sardine can to pickle jar. It’s still tight, but survivable.

The chairs at Bellagio are really bad. You’d think that wheeled chairs that swivel would be a good idea, but every time some careless player bumbles past you, he spins your chair under you. When this happens dozens of times over a session it can be extremely irritating. If you’re sensitive to smoke, Bellagio can be rough on you. While the room is nonsmoking, it isn’t shielded from the smoking players who smoke immediately over the rail from the room. The air conditioning is ridiculous and often the room is boiling, especially in the terrace section where the 100/200 range games run.

Bellagio is also extremely stingy when it comes to feeding their poker players. To get a meal comp, you’ll need to be playing a big game and you’ll need to go beg the shift manager for a $15 comp that won’t buy a full meal anywhere in the casino but the poker snack bar. You’ll also see regular players with whole books of meal tickets – the benefits of ‘tipping’. The noodle bar is actually a great place to eat though – there’s lots of great food in Bellagio.

Despite all these negatives, Bellagio is the place to make the most money in Vegas if you play big. If you’re playing smaller games, you might be at home more at Wynn or Venetian. Venetian certainly has the nicest decor and is the best room by any statistical measures. When Jimmy Knight was running the room, he tried everything he could think of to bring the big games over from Bellagio, but was ultimately unsuccessful. The food comps are generous, the room is really nice, and everything is wonderful – except that there are no high rollers dropping wads of cash on the games. Venetian’s biggest problem is that they built an amazing cardroom ten years too late.

Wynn has a really well run cardroom, a great staff, and is the best environment in Vegas in terms of being comfortable while playing and still having good action. It’s definitely riding in second place to Bellagio. The room is always full, but the largest limit games will usually be 30/60 and the largest no limit games will be 10/20 – it’s not a place to be if you’re a top pro, but if you’re just moving into the mid-limit games, it can make a good home. They feed you pretty well, though selections are very limited.

Mirage sometimes gets a really action filled 40/80 game running, but they died for the most part when Bellagio stole their thunder. They are very good about comping meals at Mirage though and it’s worth going there for a session just to eat at the Carnegie Deli and the California Pizza Kitchen.

As for the rest of the cardrooms scattered throughout Vegas, unless you want to play very low limits, there’s nothing much there for anybody. Most of the small casinos are total dumps and you really don’t want to set foot in them.

Video Poker: How to Play, How to Win

September 30, 2009 by poker player  
Filed under Poker News

Online casinos and brick and mortar casinos keep their players charged with numerous video poker games. Video Poker is played against a machine which shows the player’s cards on a screen. It’s similar to live poker where games are played using a dealer to represent the house stake. Video poker is a popular game in both online casinos and land-based casinos and many people see little differences between the online version in the online casinos and the brick and mortar versions of the game.

In online casinos, the player bets a wager, five cards are dealt from a 52-card deck. The player has an opportunity to discard any number of cards they do not want in their hand and have replacement cards dealt from the deck. If the player’s hand is good enough, which would be determined by which video poker game the player plays, then the player wins and receives a pay off. If the player’s hand is not good enough, the wager is lost.

In some video poker games, certain cards are wild and can significantly change the player’s chances of winning. You should check the video poker machine you are considering playing for what hand is required to receive a winning pay out and what, if any, cards are wild. Deuces Wild is one of the more popular online casino games in the video poker arena.

In the brick and mortar casinos, it has been calculated that a Royal Flush will be paid about once every 60 hours that a specific video poker machine or game is in play. Of course, that does not mean that YOU have to play 60 hours. You may be lucky and select a video poker machines that has already been played 59 hours at 59 minutes; there is no way to tell about this factor. However, keep in mind that these hands are supposedly calculated on true and accurate play for the specific game. There are several books out on the subject and if you want to win playing video poker, then you need to take a look at Bob Dancer’s books on the subject.

Generally speaking, the strategies for playing video poker do not differ from those of playing some of the older and more traditional games of poker with a dealer. However, it is important to remember some simple rules when playing online video poker. First of all, it isn’t advantageous to the player to draw to an inside straight; seldom will you catch the card you need. Remember, to always play the maximum coin allowed in online casinos just as you would in brick and mortar casinos because otherwise, if you get anything significant, you won’t realize the best payoff.

Pay close attention to the games you are playing because pairs and three of a kind will pay differently depending on what game you choose to play. Just as there are different strategies for all of the table games and variations of poker, you will find many different strategies for all of the games of video poker as well. To increase your chances of winning, learn to play strategically in all of your video poker game choices.

Net and Online Casinos

Internet has brought about a sea change in how gaming is now a days. The root of all Internet casino games online is the offline or land based casinos. Unlike the offline casinos, the casinos online have remarkable flexibility and are in a constant phase of development. The gaming software both online and downloadable will go a sea change in time to come as programmers work their minds and come up with greater variation and combination to make gambling more alluring and exciting. The Internet has become the most popular means for people to play bingo game and online casino game on the net. The game played in an online gaming or gambling sites (as it is also known) country wise is named as US Slot in USA online or French Roulette in France and in United Kingdom is known as UK bingo or UK casino online.

Online Games

Not only does the Internet enable you to play various exciting Internet versions of online bingo, roulette, slot, and crap but also help make interaction across the Net world possible with online chat among experienced and newbie. The chatrooms offer great place to share information and enhance the expertise of the players. Internet casino sites allow you to play casino games or gambling on the web.

New Technology

The new technology has brought in downloadable software (from site) to play games or you can play games online from the software that is installed there on the site itself. The online casino sites offer various Internet gambling games like online bingo, keno, craps, blackjack, roulette, poker, and online slot. These are very popular games on the Internet and are played for jackpot, bonus, and cash rewards. You can win big cash money from deposits at some online bingo portals on Net.

Gaming Resources

Take assistance of gambling aid like article on strategies, tip, advice, rules, news reviews. Keep tab on offers for information on latest updates and promotions in casino gambling in UK and worldwide. There are various types of portals on Net to play casino online that offer free gaming or gambling, free game, cash bonus, rewards, jackpot, fortune and no deposit gaming. Many portals on gambling online offer directories of online casino sites and online casino halls offering online roulette, online bingo, craps online, online blackjack game, online slot, and video slot.

Fun Gambling on Internet

Free gaming site is the best for betting on Internet. Free gamble on Net is thrilling to play, and you can win fortune get cash rewards, bonus, and a big jackpot. Learn about gambling strategy, rules from experts and old hands.

Cyber Chatting

The chat rooms allow online chat for gamblers on Internet. Cyber chatting is an added attraction for online bingo players as it helps them develop new relationships. It again helps you by providing an interaction with a gaming expert. It is truly an exhilarating feeling to hit the jackpot in an online bingo game and have someone interesting from the chat room congratulate you on a great gaming fortune.

Online Poker – Tips and Tricks

September 29, 2009 by poker player  
Filed under Online Poker

It is not uncommon for even experienced poker players to flounder at online poker games. This is because there are some differences in the manner in which poker is played in the real world and online.

1. When you play online poker you are not able to see your opponent and thus you cannot gauge his emotions from facial expressions and gestures. Thus, you need to make use of whatever information is available. The time tells at online poker games offer an indication of whether the person you are playing against is a fresher or an experienced poker player. If the player takes time to make his move, chances are that he is new to online poker and you can probably try to bluff him more than you would otherwise do.

2. Online poker is a fast game, more so than live poker. This means that you have to be at the top of your game. You can consider writing notes to yourself about your game plan and mistakes to avoid and quickly glance at them as you play. If possible, memorize the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents.

3. If you are new to online poker, polish your skills playing with virtual money first and analyze your strengths and weaknesses to gain confidence. This is the time to develop your own strategies and find out whether you are a safe player or an aggressive one who pushes an advantage to the fullest. You can then move on to playing with real money.

4. Ensure that you are registered at a reputed online poker site. This is because there is always a possibility of players colluding online against someone and sharing information. The site you are registered with should have an effective monitoring system for keeping tabs on the players.

5. Your chances of winning depend a great deal on your game selection. Select a game that is in sync with your skills, ability, and style of play. If possible research on your opponents and get an idea of the quality of opponents that you are going to face. Research on online poker games shows that there is a great deal of benefit in accumulating as much information as you can on your opponents. The key mistakes that people make and the ones you should look to avoid are calling too frequently, betting too much, or folding too often.

6. Know the skills that can bring you maximum gains. For example, if you play with a group that plays very few hands and folds more often, you can benefit by sharpening your short-handed play skills. You should also be a little more aggressive in blind-stealing.

7. Conversely, if you are playing with the “maniacs” who bet aggressively do not be afraid to hold on to your cards because they are betting “maniacally” and not because they have good hands. If you feel that your online poker opponents are calling too often, take advantage of it and do not bluff.

Remember that at an online poker game, if you are unable to form an intelligent opinion of your opponents, you will get sorted out by them.

How to Play Poker — Poker Table Position

September 29, 2009 by poker player  
Filed under Poker Strategy

Poker seating and the position one has at the table is one
of the most important and least talked about aspects of
poker. It’s especially relative to the Texas Hold’Em poker
game because it is positional in nature. Where a player sits
each hand determines the amount of information he or she can
gain on other players. This can have a big effect on your
poker strategy and how a hand is played. This article will
reference how to play poker from a table of 10 players and
discuss playing from the dealer, early, middle and late
positions.

Dealer Position — This position, also referred to as “on
the button”, is the most coveted because once the flop takes
place, the dealer is the last to act. This means you can
watch and gather information on all the other players before
making your decision. Aggressive play is expected from this
position, especially when all others have checked. Almost
any hand except trash hands like 9 2, 10 4 offsuit can be
considered for play here.

For example, your opponent has Jc, Jh. You have Qd, Kd and
are the dealer. Your opponent raised $20 before the flop and
you called. The flop shows 2d, 3d, 5d. You both check the
flop and the turn shows 8c. Your opponent checks, you raise
$20 and they call. On the river the Js comes up and your
opponent raises $50. From watching you figure they may have
trips. You raise to $100, they call and you win with a King
high flush. Had you been in your opponents position of
having to bet first, you would have been hard pressed to
figure what the dealer had.

Early Position — This is made up of positions 1, 2 and 3 to
the left of the dealer and are the least advantageous as you
are the first to act after the flop and have no information
on the other players. Here one should play only the
strongest hands like paired A’s, K’s, Q’s, J’s, Tens, or
suited AK, AQ, AJ and KQ. Anything outside of these one
should consider folding and waiting for a better
opportunity, especially with an aggressive table. One thing
that can be done from an early position is bluffing. Betting
from an early position can imply that you do have a strong
hand, but bluffing too often will result in others picking
up on it and can be disastrous, particularly when aggressive
bettors are at the table.

Middle Position — Positions for the middle are 4th, 5th and
6th to the left of the dealer. Because the disadvantage is
not as great as with the early position, you have greater
flexibility to play more hands. Hands like paired 5’s thru
9’s, suited connectors from 5 6 on up, unsuited connectors 5
6, 6 7, on up. There are more hands that can be played but
this covers the majority that can be easily remembered.
Being in the middle, it is better to raise than call if no
one is in the pot, if you have a playable hand and you feel
some players will fold.

Late Position — The 7th, 8th and 9th seats at the table to
the left of the dealer make up the late position. Here you
are in an excellent seating area of the table. You can
gather a great amount of information about the players and
their hands. In these positions, one should be aggressive if
not many have entered the pot. If there are a lot of
players, scale back the aggressive play unless you have the
type of superior hand as discussed in the early position.
Another advantage of the late position is that you can
easily play cards like 5 8, J 7, Q 8. For example, supposing
you have 5 8 in the late position and the flop is 2 6 7
unsuited and everyone else checks. Raising at a
non-aggressive table would be the correct thing to do as it
gives you a chance to gain control of the pot as well as
keeping other raises in check from those who would try to
steal the pot. But remember, it is not a license to play
trash hands.

Poker seating is an advanced player concept, but the basics
are simple enough for anyone to remember and take advantage
of when the opportunity does present itself. Good luck!

About the Author

Tom Howze is a webmaster for 9 sites that relate to online gambling, World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour events and updates. For more information, please visit 2005 World Series of Poker .

The worlds most respected poker tournaments – Part 2

September 28, 2009 by poker player  
Filed under Poker News

There are thousands of poker tournaments worldwide that offer money and fame to any professed player. Most are showcased in luxury hotspots like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno, HongKong and Tokyo. During the last decade, ESPN and Bravo networks featured the World Series of Poker, Hip-Hop Poker and Celebrity Poker. Hollywood luminaires like Jennifer Tilly, Charlie Sheen, Ben Affleck, Laura Graham and others have appeared on shows to play for their favorite charities. Hip-hop artists and actors like Method Man, Andre Hall, Funkmaster Flex and Rosario Dawson have tried their hands at Texas Hold Em and other games as well. Hip-hop Poker and Celebrity Poker are tournaments for the Hollywood’s A and B-listers. These shows have poker experts commentating on the games.

The World Series of Poker has been around for several years. ESPN began broadcasting the tournaments worldwide in 2002. Fans got to see their favorite players like “The Kid” and Phil Sexton. As the popularity grew, so did the cash purses. In 2007, an $8.5 million dollar purse was won by a college professor. Tournaments, such as these, charge exorbitant fees for players to compete. Considering the cash prizes could change someone’s life, the fees are worth the gamble.

Pokerstars.net and ParadisePoker.net feature online tournaments. Some are free to enter with a chance to score $1 million in winnings. Financially strapped hopefuls find these competitions more to their liking. The luxuries are that a game going on somewhere.

Use these examples when digging for poker tournaments.

How to win at Texas holdem poker: skills versus luck – Part 2

September 28, 2009 by poker player  
Filed under Poker Pros

If I had to play one more time, I would have hemorrhaged from my tear ducts. Every single time I played Chutes and Ladders, I landed on the chute that brought me to the bottom of the board while my opponent swiftly moved on to victory. It became the family joke: Mom sucks at children’s board games.

Unable to live with that reputation and in support of my physical and mental wellbeing we decided to teach the children to play Texas Hold’Em, a game not known for its near death experiences.

So I thought.

After we educated the kids the basic concepts of poker, we brought out the chips and began to play tournaments.

It was a little rocky at first. Nathanael,age 6, tried to go “all in” with every hand. Elly, age 8, still thought a flush had something to do with the toilet. Logan, age 10, folded if anyone raised the bet regardless of the cards in his hand. Eventually we worked out some of the kinks and began to get serious.

Nathanael is incapable of maintaining a poker face. He wears his cards on his sleeve. When dealt a good hand, the child giggles and holds the cards to his lips; our cue to fold. However, we eventually discovered that his idea of a good hand is when he gets a six (because it is his age) and a nine (because it is Isaiah’s age) or other such nonsense.

One time I got dealt pocket aces and was certain to win since I was playing against Nathanael. Certain, that is, for a whole three seconds. Giggle Boy won with a pair of sixes in the flop to match the six in his hands. I HAD POCKET ACES AND LOST TO SOMEONE WHO STILL THINKS RED-BLACK-RED-BLACK-RED IS A WINNING COMBINATION!

A new facial tick was born.

You must understand that percentiles and statistics mean nothing in this family. Neither does skill. Probability leans the way of unskilled minors who spend half their time, unfocused, watching “Ed, Ed and Eddie” while at the table. It is the damnedest thing!

There is no bluffing these children. I held a deuce and an eight in my hand, off suit even, but I was low in chips and thought I could pull off a bluff and double up my cache. I was bold in my betting. I laughed aloud while they kept matching my raises and said things like “Do you really want to do this Elly? I’m just sayingI’d hate to see you lose like this.” She went all in, flopped a high straight on the river and left me applying pressure to my eyes in order to avert a massive loss of blood while she did her happy dance.

ARRRGH!

I would love to see Phil Hellmuth sit down at my kitchen table and play my brood. I am quite certain that after just a few hands, he would mutter a string of profanities and tie a tourniquet around his neck until lack of oxygen made him forget the whole event.

Then I would challenge him to a nice, long game of Chutes and Ladders.

I bet my entire remaining chip that I would win.

Poker’s History

September 28, 2009 by poker player  
Filed under Poker Pros

Studying the history of poker is a worthwhile venture. However, it will be tough to trace back to its exact origins. Its history goes way back and the exact origin is more conjecture than concrete fact.

According to the dictionary, poker was derived from the French word poque in the early 1800s. And in those days, poque wasn’t even poker. According to sources, community card poker games, such as Texas Hold’em, didn’t come into existence until the 1920s.

Ah the 1920s-girls, gangsters and music. Back then poker was played in super-secret locations where finely dressed gangsters would guard the games. And they weren’t the only ones armed. It was commonplace for players to pack the heat too. Bandits and rival gangs would sometimes raid good poker games and make off with the loot. Playing poker was really hazardous to your health.

The world of Poker dramatically changed in the 1970s and it’s this point in time that most closely resembles today’s poker world. It provided the foundation for everything we have today. The famous Word Series of Poker came along and setup the poker world for today’s numerous big-money poker tournaments, such as those offered by the World Poker Tour and countless venues around the world.

And that leads us to Poker on TV, which is even being embraced by mainstream media outlets such as NBC and ESPN. But what was the key moment in time that made this possible? Surely watching people play poker is boring right? We can all thank the hole card cam. This little invention changed the game. Poker was now fun and viable for TV and we haven’t looked back since.

In fact, you could say that this one invention changed it all. Today, Poker is booming. Players all over the world are playing on TV-most started on the Internet. It’s all thanks to poker being popularized-making stars of the average poker player. And that’s all thanks to the hole card cam, which made all of this possible.

Poker’s history is so rich and filled with fun twists and turns that it would be impossible to deal with it all in a single article. Hopefully this article has wetted your appetite.

If you want to learn more about poker’s history, start with the legendary names, such as Doyle Brunson, David Sklansky, Mike Caro, Binion and then move on to more recent stars, such as Gus Hanson and Daniel Negreanu.

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