It can be said that poker is the most popular card game right now, especially since it has become the main game in many card game tournaments, but this famous card game has very humble beginnings. Let us explore the history of poker and why it has become as popular as it is today.

Early Beginnings

Although there is no clear-cut information that points to the start of poker, it can be said that this originated from Persia from a game called As Nas. Some researches about the history of poker also points to the Chinese as being the creator and inventor of this popular game, stating 969 AD was year that poker was invented. However, there are some historians that claim that it was the Egyptians who invented poker during the 12th to 13th century. But the earliest game that poker is most similar to is the As Nas by the Persians which makes use of 25 cards made from ivory or wood. The reason why As Nas is most closely related to poker is the fact that this game also includes rounds of betting as well as the utilization of hand rankings.

During the 17th and 18th century, France and Germany had their own card games, called Poque and Pochen respectively, that closely resembles Spain’s card game known as the Primero, which dates ack to the 15th century. The game of Primero involves dealing three cards to the players, and it also incorporates the technique called bluffing to lure opponents into thinking that they have a good hand when they have, in fact, poor cards. Bluffing in the Primero game is very important. With its close resemblance to poker, historians are saying that this is the mother of poker.

Popularity of Poker

The fact that this card game involves skills, especially since you have to form a hand with a good ranking to be able to beat your opponents, and the many techniques that you can employ like bluffing and being aggressive easily made poker the most popular and the favorite card game. Another factor that entices many people into playing poker is that this can be a very lucrative game.

With the advent of the Internet, this very humble game that started centuries ago has now conquered not only the land based casinos but the online casinos as well. Now, it has invaded our homes and our televisions, bringing this card game to millions of people.

Poker is one of the most popular card games in the world, and, in fact, it can be said that it is the favorite of many. But what are the reasons why poker became this popular, and what is in poker that made it loved by many players?

For Fun

Of course, the very first reason why a lot of people play poker is that it is a very fun card game to play. Not only does it involve a whole lot of luck to have the best cards, but it also involves a lot of skill, especially since you have to know the card values in order to create the winning card combination. Furthermore, poker is a very social game since you are going to play against opponents.

For Money

Of course, poker is a very lucrative game to play, especially if you participate in major poker tournaments. There are poker tournaments that could give you hundreds of dollars in poker earnings, but if you get to join in the major ones like the WSOP or the WPT, then you get the chance to win millions of dollars in cash prize.

However, playing at small cash games will also be very beneficial for you. When having a good rakeback deal in place will make sure you always get part of your paid rake back to your players account no matter if you win or lose. In fact, this is the most common way that many poker players do to increase and pad their bankrolls. With a small starting bankroll, they can build this into hundreds, thousands, and even millions of dollars, provided, of course, that you know how to handle your money well.

Right now, there are many poker pros that make a living just by playing poker in live tournaments as well as online tournaments.

For Fame

Another reason why poker is such a favorite game is that, if you win often, especially in major poker tournaments, you can really get your name out there. Famous and popular poker pros such as Phil Helmuth and Daniel Negreanu enjoy all that poker games give them. They have the money to burn that they have received from all their poker winnings, and they have fame to boot. With fame comes more money because they get to endorse popular brands.

Because of all these reasons, many poker players are hoping to reach the top like the other poker pros did and enjoy all that the game has to offer. So, if you want to reach the top, then you should practice, practice, practice.

There are poker pros who get into the Poker Hall of Fame, but, of course, there will be poker pros who are going to get into the Poker Hall of Shame. So, let us take a look at these poker pros who, in some way or another, have been abusive to both the dealers and the players, earning them a spot in the 2009 Poker Hall of Shame.

The Mouth

With three WSOP bracelets under his belt and over five million dollars in poker winnings, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow tainted his reputation by getting involved in selling drugs. Matusow was arrested in 2003 for having sold drugs to an undercover agent, and on 2004, he was jailed for six months. It would have been 10 years in prison had he not plead guilty to the charge of drug trafficking.

The Poker Pervert

Another poker pro who gave up his reputation of having won two WSOP bracelets and one and a half million dollars in poker winnings is Shahram “Poker Pervert” Sheikhan. He was imprisoned for having committed sexually-related crimes against children. Sheikhan is from Iran, and the US government has been trying to deport him back to his original country, but their efforts to deport him failed, all because an immigration judge ruled in favor of Sheikhan, the reason of which is that the Feds could not produce some important official paperworks relating to Sheikhan’s served time.

Chino

David Rheem, also known as Chino, is a poker pro from America. He got into the 2008 WSOP Main Event, and it can be said that he has more than four million dollars in poker winnings. The reason why he got into the 2009 Poker Hall of Shame is the fact that he has been found guilty on charges of burglary. He was also convicted of dealing in stolen property as well as robbery. He stayed in prison for four months and a probationary period of 30 months. In 2003, he found himself in deep trouble once again for trespassing.

Kid Poker

It might shock many poker fans out there, but Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu got into the list of Poker Hall of Shame for being racist and sexist. He has four WSOP bracelets under his belt and over twelve million dollars in poker winnings, but his disrespectful comments about Asians as well as women, calling them bitches, earns him a spot in last year’s 2009 Poker Hall of Shame.

There were a lot of events that took place last 2009 that changed the whole poker world. These events have changed not only the poker tournaments, especially the major ones, but it has also paved the way for the future of the poker industry.

Let us take a look back at some of the important news that has made a big impact in this popular game.

Postponement of the UIGEA

The UIGEA has always been a problem of the poker industry from conquering the online world, especially since the poker industry is now going online. December should have marked the strict implementation of the UIGEA, but thanks to some of the good people in the congress that the start of the UIGEA was postponed. Now, instead of December, the UIGEA will be reinforced this June 2010, but there is hope though that online poker will be legalized, although this major achievement might take some time. But still, this postponement in the UIGEA is a big step for the online poker industry.

Joe Cada’s New Title

Last year was also a huge year for poker pro Joe Cada. Not only did he take home the title of the 2009 WSOP Main Event Final Table champion, but he also earned himself the title of the youngest champion of the said event. This just goes to show that age does not matter in the game of poker, but as long as you have the skills and tenacity, you could bag the first prize and your very own WSOP bracelet, and along with it, a huge winning and the most coveted title in the poker world.

World Poker Tour in More Capable Hands

This is yet again one of the most talked about events in the poker world, PartyGaming purchasing World Poker Tour. Poker fans as well as the poker pros are excited to see what this major poker series has in store for them now that it is on more capable hands. The fact that the World Poker Tour was sold at a whopping $12.3 million bucks is proof enough that the new owners are going to make this just as exciting and just as lucrative as the major poker tournament that we all used to know.

With these many great events that changed and are going to shape the poker industry, be it online or offline, we can expect a whole lot more this year, 2010.

Did you hear? Online poker is not as addictive as we thought, and moreover, if you never believed in those poker gurus, think again. The Harvard researchers say they have found scientific evidence of poker being a game of skills. The original Harvard Medical School study has made these findings under the title “Sitting at the Virtual Poker Table: Results from the First Ever Epidemiological Study of Actual Internet Poker Gaming Behavior” by The Division of Addictions had already been released and published in the press.

The results from the longest longitudinal and the first ever epidemiological study of the Internet gaming behavior carried out by the Division on Addicts, Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate, in collaboration with BWIN, the Austria-based leading gaming service provider on the internet. The collaboration started in 2005 and aims to study the scientific rationale for conspicuous gambling behavior and its effects on what is known as “responsible gaming”.

The study has a sample size of 3,445 online poker players and has been conducted over a time span of two years. The following findings have been made in the study.

1. The myth of the alluring power of online gambling is busted. It is no more provocative than offline gambling. Moreover, the availability of online gambling and gambling addiction are not correlated.

2. Responsible gaming measures are indeed effective.

Online Players are Rational in Behavior
The research provided additional evidence in support of the previous research carried out by the same institute showed that most subscribers moderately gambled on the Internet. Correlation analyses indicated that as the percent of losses increased, duration,
Total Gambling Sessions, and Total Amount Wagered all decreased. This clearly suggested that individuals modified their behavior based on whether they were winning or losing, thus exhibiting “rational” betting behavior according to Howard Shaffer, PH.D., Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School, Director, Division on Addictions, The Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.
Manfred Bodner, the co-CEO of BWIN expressed the intention of the researchers to replace speculation with scientific evidence for understanding the online poker player behavior. He expressed their interest in developing algorithms of explaining behavior patterns and the risk factors and trends linked with disordered and faulty gaming.

Study Factors

• The average sample age was 27.9 years.
• The 95% of the population was of the masculine gender.
• The median for the activity of an average player was six and a half months, and appeared in a median of a poker session per three days.
• The median wager per session amounted to €13.
• The median cost of playing poker per session amounted to €1.80.
• The most active group, which constituted 5% of the sample, was active for a period of 18.5 months and appeared in ten sessions per week. This 5% subgroup lost the least amount comparatively, which clearly indicates that Poker is a game of skills and the more frequent you play it, the better are your chances of improving and further refining your skills.
• Examining the same more active group, which put more time and money in the poker games, it was found that they reduced Euros per session and decreased their wager with the increase in the percent of losses like the rest of the sample. This means the more they got to play the game, the more rational their betting behavior became.

What to Make Out of It?
Although the results of the study published on various websites portray the addiction factor of poker and online gambling as the main highlight, but you cannot help but observe the small sub-group of 5% winning most of the games, losing the least, lowering their wages with the increase in the percent of losses.
Well more than anything else, the researchers should simply recognize it as bankroll management, and there is no wonder why this subgroup is winning more often and losing lesser than the others. They should too. However, the only thing that is shocking is the fact that only 5% of the people do so.
Looking at the other side of the picture we see that 95% of people are not being as successful as the 5% sub-group, who are more likely to lose money despite managing their bankroll properly. The good news is that they have found that poker is a game of skill, so you can be sure that if you rely on developing your skills and on the skills that you have already developed, you can find a plenty of success with online poker, because there are 95% of the poker players to beat.

Conclusion
Without getting into the statistical complications, a common sense conclusion that can be extracted from the study is simply what the researchers have mainly found out from this exercise. Poker is without a doubt, a game of skill and tact. It even helps you making good decisions and strategy in the opinion of Andrew M. Woods, the Executive Director of Harvard Law School’s Global Strategic Thinking Society commenting on the control exhibited by the online poker players, and expressed no surprise over the findings.  Also, effective bankroll management is essential to the success of its players, and the impression that online gambling is more addictive as compared to the conventional one is totally proved wrong. So, the next time when anyone teases you to be addicted to online gambling, you can quote them the findings from the Harvard study.

It doesn’t matter if you’re playing in a physical casino or at one of the many online casinos, your table image is crucial. In a physical casino, every thing from the way you’re dressed to the way you sit in your chair can portray a certain table image. But, when playing at an online casino, your table image is projected by things such as the way you bet, how quickly you bet and how many hands you play.

There are four main table images, loose passive, tight passive, loose aggressive and tight aggressive. The trick to taking full advantage of table images is to know both yours and your opponents. But, it’s also vital to make sure that you don’t always portray the same image all the time. Playing in the same style game after game tells the other players what to expect next.

Basically, a loose passive player is one that relies heavily on luck to win a hand. They’ll usually always place careless bets and will generally call no matter what type of hand they’re holding. They often don’t concentrate, leave the table early and appear to not care if they win or lose.

Tight passive players are just the opposite of a loose player. These types of players will rarely place a bet unless they’re pretty sure they’re holding a winning hand. During a strong betting round, a tight passive player will often quickly fold their hand.

However, if a tight passive player suddenly throws in a big bet, you’d better pay close attention. When a player has been folding a lot of hands, or making small bets and then stays in the game and places large bets, you can be almost certain they think they’ve got a winning hand.

A loose aggressive player can bring a lot of action to the game, but can also create a lot of chaos. These types of players will raise and keep raising no matter what kind of cards their holding and almost never just call a bet. This type of table style can result in some huge winnings, but it will usually result in many more huge losses.

Many of the most famous poker players have a loose aggressive table image. Often, these “high rollers” will throw their whole stack of chips in the pot and just be holding a small pair. The really good, experienced loose aggressive players will combine a passive style with the aggressiveness which makes it very hard to read their hand.

A player that generally only plays what they think is a winning hand and only bluffs occasionally, is a tight aggressive player. These players are the most successful, they possess a lot of patience, place decisive bets and do very careful hand selections. They are some of the best players in the game.

One of the hardest table images to break free of is tilt. This image usually occurs after someone has just lost a big hand. Desperate to get back into the game, a player in tilt will completely change their strategy and call almost everything. This can result in disaster at the poker table because the players state of panic is very noticeable to all the other players.

Poker is a game that is played all around the world and has become a high-grossing industry.  Historically in the U.S., poker was a game that was played by outlaws and cheats.  It has evolved into a gentlemen’s game and has become a respected sport of sorts.  The exact origin of poker is unknown.

Historians speculate that modern-day poker was grandfathered by a card game played in 16th century Persia.  The game, known as As Nas, was played with 25 cards with five different suits.  Europe soon caught on to the game and helped it spread.  Many feel that the original game may have evolved out of Persia and Europe, but modern-day poker truly developed and was perfected in the U.S.

New Orleans was the first site of wide-spread poker in the U.S.  Pre-Civil War, the early 1800’s saw the spread of poker from New Orleans to the Western frontier.  Comprised of people who did not feel the standards of the East were important, gambling caught on quickly and with it, poker.

Poker was originally played with a draw of five face-down cards and one round of betting.  The game was altered in the 1850’s so professional gamblers could see more of a profit from the game.  At this time, wild cards, bluffing and drawing new cards was added.  Gambling made the jump to riverboats and there are still several riverboat casinos in use today.

Poker is now enjoyed by millions of American and no longer considered a game of outlaws.  The majority of U.S. adults have played poker at one time, although not all for money.  Poker continues to grow in popularity in other countries as well and has brought large profit to many Middle Eastern countries.  Macau now surpasses Las Vegas in the highest amount of money made off of poker and gambling each year.