Poker in Recent History
The history of poker is much debated upon. There are records of the game being played in New Orleans as early as 1829. There are many theories on where it originated. It is much easier to trace the recent history of the game of poker.
Despite the fact that poker has always been played widely across the United States, the popularity of the game suddenly spiked upwards in the Seventies. Largely responsible for this development was the World Series of Poker.
The first competition called the World Series of Poker was actually held in 1968 at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno. It was the brainchild of Tom Moore of San Antonio, Texas. The event was by invitation only.
The World Series of Poker that is hugely popular today, though, was developed by Benny Binion along with his sons, Jack Binion and Ted Binion. They owned the Binion Horseshoe, a hotel and casino in Las Vegas, and were themselves avid players of the game.
The Binion-sponsored World Series of Poker was held in 1970 in the family-owned Binion Horseshoe. It was held there annually until 2004, when the hotel and casino as well as the rights over the tournament series were bought by Harrah Entertainment.
From 1970 to 2004, the Binion family succeeded in boosting the popularity of poker in casinos everywhere. Harrah Entertainment recognized how lucrative the World Series of Poker was and retained ownership of its rights even after reselling the Binion Horseshoe Hotel and Casino.
Today, the World Series of Poker is recognized as the largest poker tournament internationally. Every year, it holds over fifty events and lasts for over a month. All the most popular variations of poker are included, with each event winner taking home a bracelet.
The World Series of Poker main event is the final game which is the $10,000.00 no limit hold'em. This brings in thousands of aspiring competitors because the winning pot is known to reach several millions of dollars.
With the resurgence of the popularity of poker in the 1970s, authors began to come up with strategy books. Most popular among these were Super/System from Doyle Brunson, The Book of Tells from Mike Caro and The Theory of Poker from David Sklansky.
In the late 1980s, community card poker became popular in casinos in California. This and other forms of poker travelled across the United States in the 1990s and became popular in the casinos of Atlantic City in New Jersey, as well. By the end of that decade, poker's popularity crossed over to Europe with the opening of the television show Late Night Poker in the United Kingdom.
Today, poker is a true global phenomenon due to the popularity of online poker. The online network is even being used to launch qualifying tournaments for the World Series of Poker, producing two champions, so far, for the years 2003 and 2004. Indeed, poker has come of age.