Texas Hold’em Poker

Texas Hold’em poker is one of the most popular poker games in the world today. With the coming Christmas season many a families may have a fun time playing the game at home online with family members across the globe.  This variant of poker includes “community cards” where five cards drawn from the deck are used by all players along with their personal (hole) cards to form a desirable poker hand.

Texas Hold’em poker actually became popular in recent years, mostly due to the vast increase in popularity of poker itself, and widespread televising of poker tournaments. Texas is indeed the birthplace of this strategic game, and it began its rise to the popularity it enjoys today in 1967, when a group of four Texan gamblers made their way to Las Vegas and introduced the game there. For a long while, the game was only played at one of the less popular casinos, and hence the fad was slow to catch on. Interest in Texas Hold’em poker has grown steadily since the World Series of Poker made Texas Hold ‘em its main event in 1970.

Since then, Texas Hold’em (or just Holdem as it was originally called) has become the subject of a number of movies and online games. Online poker has opened the door to poker novices and low-stakes players, allowing them to play to win and in some cases, play in major tournaments. Thanks to players such as Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, the online poker industry tripled its revenues.

This fad is showing no signs of slowing down. A recent study in the University of Minnesota claims that over 87% of US college students gamble. With the online poker industry growing rapidly, bringing the game to people all over the world, and the casino industry spreading far and wide, Texas Hold’em poker is here to stay.