Texas Hold'em

When some older people hear the word poker, they may simply think of the game 7 Card Stud as it used to be the most popular form of poker for decades. However, when newer generations hear the word poker, they most likely think of the game that began in the smoky bars of Texas – namely Texas Hold’em poker.

This is because the game originating from the lone star state has flew past 7 Card Stud to quickly become the most popular form of poker played today. Yes, Texas Hold’em is the most widely played variation by far and it has been aided greatly by its TV exposure. You see back in the early 2000’s, a small group of people believed that they could be successful by filling television time slots with Texas Hold’em. Of course there were many skeptics at the time as people thought watching cards on TV would be extremely boring to people.

These skeptics also thought that it would be difficult to find sponsors to back Texas Hold’em poker as there weren’t really many pre-set personalities already in place for people to identify with. After all, Texas Hold’em was more of a cult-type game before it exploded onto TV and none of the stars were really mainstream in anyway.

But nevertheless, marketers and business owners alike took a big leap of faith and decided to start broadcasting poker on television. The results were a smashing success which helped lead to the game grow in many unexpected ways.

Now, it’s hard to find an area where at least some people aren’t avid Texas Hold’em poker players and it’s even harder to find people who don’t know some of the major stars like Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth. If you don’t know about Texas Hold’em poker, then you should definitely start catching up on it!