The Popularity of Playing Texas Hold Em Poker Online

When Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 World Series of Poker having qualified for the event through playing poker on an internet site, the world of internet poker exploded. Playing Texas Hold em poker online suddenly became the coolest thing to do! No longer did people have to justify to family and friends why the spent so much time online wasting money on virtual poker. Heck, here was a chance not only to become a minor celebrity overnight but also to rake in piles of money hither to undreamed of.

TV tournaments did much to promote the 'glamor' of playing poker. Celebrity tournaments, celebrity commentators, the hole in the table cam that allowed the audience to see the opening cards, all gave instant promotion to Texas Hold em poker. Online companies hitched a ride to this juggernaut and with the advent of TV advertising for internet gaming, the numbers increased even more. All this for a card game originally invented in the early 1900's. No need to add in which state this took place.

Add to this the simplicity and immediacy of playing Texas Hold em poker online and a boom in punters hit the sites. In turn this increased the number of sites providing online poker and the opportunity for many to wither take up a new hobby or increase the playing hours of the one they already had. Then there is the anonymity.

You may be a preacher who spends their weekends spreading the good word. You may work at a school and have to set a good example. You may have a spouse who forbids any sort of frippery with money. But online you can be who you want to be. No one sees you enter the casino or gaming room, no one even hears your voice. Apart from having to have a genuine identity for the financial transactions, your online gambling is your business and no one else.

From a playing perspective, you don't need to be a card whizz or mathematical genius to grasp the basics of the game. For a start, there are only two cards that you alone get to see. The other three to five cards are dealt face up on the table for all to view. So instead of trying to assess what everyone is holding in their hand, you only have the permutations of two cards plus the ones you already know about.

This leads to early folds and keeps the pace lively. One of the attractions of playing Texas hold em poker online is that you never have to wait too long before you get another chance to increase your share of the pot, or try to make up lost ground.

If you haven't yet hit a table and discovered for yourself why playing Texas Hold em poker online is one of the internet's biggest sensations of the last few years, then get yourself logged on to a site and get that poker face into action.