Texas Hold’em has seen an exponential increase in popularity in the past 15 years. The boom happened in 2003, when amateur player Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event. This was historic because Moneymaker’s win pushed forward the idea that anyone could achieve poker glory. He inspired millions of players to begin playing poker online, as he had won entry into the World Series through an online qualifier. Another factor in poker’s rise to mainstream popularity, was the invention of ‘hole card cameras’ which allowed the television broadcast to show viewers the cards that each player held during the tournament. These two events, which both happened in 2003, encouraged many players to begin to play poker online. However, the game has been around for a lot longer than that. Hold’em poker was invented in Texas in the early 1900’s and was introduced to Las Vegas gambling culture in 1967. Prior to the rise of Texas Hold’em, 5 card draw was the most popular poker game. Smart players realized that Hold’em presented a greater opportunity for strategy, as it has 4 rounds of betting compared to only 2 rounds in draw poker. Since Hold’em offers more opportunity for strategy, that means that professionals had a greater advantage and therefore they heavily promoted Texas Hold’em. With the support of professional poker players, Texas Hold’em became featured in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker in 1972, and has maintained its place as the world’s signature poker game ever since. Millions of players now play poker online every day, and the vast majority of them play Poker Texas Hold’em.
