By Tom Howze
Online poker gambling at casinos and poker rooms is one of the fastest growing forms of
wagering on the Internet. Fueled by the televised tournaments seen on Travel Channel's
World Poker Tour, ESPN with the 2004 World Series of Poker (WSOP), and Bravo's
Celebrity Poker, the popularity of the game is seen everywhere. A huge number of the
qualifiers for the 2004 WSOP gained their entries from playing in online satellite
tournaments for a fraction of the large entry fees paid by others. Look for more players to
enter 2005 world series of poker satellite tournaments for this reason.
Tournaments at land based casinos are becoming so popular that people are being
turned away, with waits at some lasting two hours to get a table on the weekends. Smaller
land based casinos are promoting poker tournaments in order to capitalize on the
growing trend of the game. Even though the cut for the house is pretty slim, they report
increasing revenues by the number of patrons who play other games, buy drinks and food.
It is also allowing them to attract new players which are mostly twentysomethings and
women which expands their customer base.
It seems that most of the upcoming poker stars are a lot younger than in the past. This is
because the years of experience formally gained at the brick and mortar poker rooms is
compressed into months when playing online. College students watching Texas Hold'Em
poker on TV have taken to playing at crowded tables on campus or online where they
can take advantage of the 24/7 availability of other players when they can. One college
student stated that "Being able to lie (bluff) and get away with it is exciting when you
know the hand you have is inferior to the one your opponents have." Plus being able to
play for free is also a nice way to learn the game which is a feature that most poker rooms
on the Net offer.
Learning the game is also becoming easier with free lessons at brick and mortar casinos
and also The Travel Channel featuring review and analysis of poker hands on
Wednesdays through it's WPT Poker Corner. Viewers will learn more in-depth about what
they did not see. Discussions will go over the tells, the big mistakes, and the bluffing
made by others players. This is an excellent way to learn how to improve one's game.
With the huge piles of money that people can win, more and more are getting into the
game of poker. The 2005 WSOP championship for next year will boast a $6,000,000 first
place prize and anyone making the final table will be a millionaire. The 2004 WSOP
winner turned a $160 buy-in satellite shootout into a massive $5,000,000 check and so
many endorsements he quit his job as an patent attorney. Visit our sister site to learn
more about the 2005 World Series of Poker .
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 . He can be reached at webmaster@justgambleforfree.com for
questions.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
By Tom Howze
The popularity of the World Series of Poker gained tremendous
momentum from The Travel Channel's World Poker Tour
showings.
Although the event had been showing for a number of years on
ESPN, when new technologies such as the table camera were
used,
television watchers began getting involved in the hands as they
were being played.
Other advancements will also take place since the purchase of
the World Series of Poker (WSOP) from Binion's in 2004 by
Harrah's. They will need them because of the sheer increase in
the number of players entering the tournament. In 2003 when
Chris Moneymaker won the title and $2,500,000, there were 839
entrants. In 2004 Gregory Paul Raymer became champion after
defeating 2576 players and was rewarded with $5,000,000. For
2005, the WSOP will be estimated to have over 7500 players
hammering each other for a top prize of $6,000,000. And most
of these will come from Internet poker rooms. A significant
number of online poker rooms will host online tournaments to
sponsor seats to the WSOP main event with buy ins that are
far less than the $10,000 fee.
The Internet will be instrumental in tournament poker because of
the 24/7 availability to play large numbers of hands that would
take months in just a number of days. This will allow experience
in the game to be gained much more quickly than one could gain
say 5 years ago. With the numerous poker games that are played
at the annual WSOP, (in 2004 there were 32), anyone can learn
and practice any game over the Internet in order to compete
for a WSOP bracelet and title.
Players come from all walks of life to play at the WSOP, both
male and female. But the makeup of the top performers has
changed. Aggressive players who understand areas of
mathematics
in analytical professions will come out on top more and more.
No longer will champions be made up of just those who have
played poker for 20 to 25 years in order to build up razor
sharp instincts. This is why so many younger players are
being seen winning championship events. A number of newer
champions will be current college students.
For those who do not possess such knowledge, that will not stop
them from playing the game from a competition standpoint.
Expect
more satellite tournaments at land based casinos to sponsor
seats to the WSOP in order to cash in on the poker craze. They
admit they don't make much from the tables, but what they make
on other sales and games from the players and the crowds they
attract, make poker something they will promote. Land based
casinos went from closing down poker rooms to opening them
up again and building new ones to handle the capacity.
You will still see familiar faces playing at the top of their
games like Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, T.J. Cloutier, Doyle
Brunson, Annie Duke and others. They are excited because even
though it is becoming tougher to win more tournament titles at
the World Series of Poker, overall they win more money because
of their level of expertise at the game. Players of this caliber
will stay contenders to be respected (and feared) at any final
table. The future of the World Series of Poker has an incredible
amount of potential with an estimated 50,000,000 poker players
in the United States alone. Keep your eyes open to see what
will happen next.
Tom Howze is a webmaster for 7 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. He
can be reached at webmaster@justgambleforfree.com for
questions.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
By Ian Mcintosh
Texas holdem is taking over the world, but believe it or not there are many other poker
games you can play. Most of them fall into one of three categories:
- Stud Games (for example 7 card stud)
- Draw Games (for example 5 card draw)
- Shared Hand Games (for example Texas Holdem)
There are also some other obscure games that don't fit into these categories, some of the
more popular of which are high/low pig, bid poker and guts. In almost all types of poker
game the hand rankings are the same, with a very few minor exceptions which have
become more or less “home-made” rules.
Here are brief descriptions of some different poker games:
5 Card Draw Poker
Played by 3 - 7 players. Each is dealt five cards and there is a round of betting based on
the hands. After the betting players can now put up to three cards back in exchange for
new ones. (There's one exception where a player can exchange four cards if he shows the
fifth to be an ace). There's a further round of betting and the best hand wins. Draw poker
was once the standard way to play but it has of course been overtaken by Texas Holdem.
7 Card Stud Poker
Played by 3 - 10 players. Players are dealt two cards face down and one face up and
there is a round of betting. Cards 4, 5 and six are then dealt face up with betting on each
round. The final card is dealt face down and there is another round of betting before the
showdown. 7 Card Stud Poker is still a popular game and is probably second at the
moment to Texas Holdem.
Caribbean Poker
This is a poker game played in a casino between the player and the dealer. Each gets
five cards and the player has to decide whether his card is worth betting on after seeing
the dealer's first card. If the player has a better hand than the dealer he is paid out in a
fixed odds system depending on the strength of his hand. The fixed odds range from
evens for a pair or high card to 100-1 for a royal flush.
Pai Gow Poker
Pai Gow is a fairly complicated casino game played between the dealer and up to seven
players. It is played with a joker which counts as either an ace or any card required to
complete a flush or straight. There are two variations in hand ranks compared to standard
poker rankings, the highest hand is five Aces and the straight A2345 is ranked second to
AKQJT. The players and dealer are dealt seven cards each which they split into two
hands of five and two. The five card hand must be better than the two card hand. The
dealer then shows his cards and plays against each player, the dealer’s five card hand
against the player’s five card hand and the dealer’s two card hand against the player’s two
card hand.
If the dealer wins both hands he wins.
If the player wins both hands he wins.
If each player wins one hand there’s a “push” which means no money changes hands.
If any hand is tied the dealer wins it, so:
Dealer/Tie – dealer wins.
Player/Tie – push.
Tie/Tie – dealer wins.
Texas Holdem
By far the most popular poker game in the world today, probably because it is very simple
to learn but extremely difficult to master. Two cards are dealt to each player, then three
face up on the table (the flop), another face up on the table (the turn), then a final card
face up on the table known as the river. Players use their own two (hole) cards and any
three from the table to make the best five card hand. There is a round of betting before
the flop then before the turn and river, and finally after the river card is dealt.
Article by Ian McIntosh of http://www.Love-Texas-Holdem.com. Check out the site for all
the latest information on Texas Holdem tournaments and freerolls.
Please feel free to use this poker article on your website, newsletter or blog as long as this
resource box is left intact and there's a live link to the site.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/