Poker
One of the all-time favorite casino games that hold fascination among gamblers is the game of poker. Players are called to place a bet on the central pot on the basis of the point value they are holding in their hand and the person who has the highest value according to some prevalent value system or the player whose hand remains even after others; hands have folded, emerges winner.
The variants of this gambling game are many. With its popularity making it a sought after game in both traditional and online casinos, poker may be played in such ways like straight, stud, draw and community. While straight poker is the oldest form of the game, stud poker has 7 card stud and draw poker has 5 card draw as the most attractive variants. Community poker which itself is a variation of stud poker has further variants like Texas Hold ‘em and Omaha. Moreover with the onset of online gambling facility, video poker is a game resembling slot machine and played by individual gamblers. Interesting to mention, a game called Red Dog poker, though bears the name, is vastly different in rules and mode of play from poker and has much more similarity to Blackjack.
Poker has enriched culture by contributing phrases or clichés for everyday conversations. While such expressions like ace up one’s sleeve, beats me, blue chip, call one’s bluff, pass the buck, up the ante, wild card etc have found place in ordinary usage, that they have origin at the gaming table has passed the memory.
Poker’s popularity has been on the rise since the latter half of the 20th century. With the inception of World Series of Poker in 1970 poker attained almost cult level in American casinos. Not only were there now professional players competing in tournaments, detailed strategy books on poker games and tactics also came to be published.
