Texas Holdem popularity
Eight buddies sit around a heavy green felt-covered table, drink whiskey and soda, smoke cigars and talk. They laugh, share stories and obviously have a great time. Why aren’t these guys out in cinema, disco or at some hot party? Because they are playing one of the most thrilling poker games Texas Holdem.
Texas Holdem popularity beats all other games and quickly spreads across the nation and worldwide. In the US, more than one in ten people, mostly men, play Texas Holdem on a regular basis and one in five people play it time to time. Texas Holdem popularity suddenly surged in the beginning of 2000 due to wide exposure and advertisement in mass media including television and Internet. It has completely replaced Seven Card Stud and Draw Poker, once most popular poker variants played in casinos and card rooms across the United States and in Europe, almost completely eclipsing these games.
For example, just within one year, more than 90 percent of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students (92 percent of male and 88 percent of female students) are playing various poker games on a regular basis. Texas Holdem popularity among students grows every year, eclipsing once popular table games and preferring Texas Holdem to many other activities.
Texas Holdem popularity surged after the first WSOP (World Series of Poker) main event in 1970. Since that time, the game slowly but steadily gained in popularity till 2000, when Texas Holdem popularity made another large leap. For many people playing Texas Holdem is just a joyful pastime, while about 10% of players earn money playing their favorite game. More than three thousand of poker players became millionaires after winning large Texas Holdem tournaments. That is one of the major reasons for such an outstanding Texas Holdem popularity.