Texas Holdem Pokers popularity growing

Texas Hold?em Poker is taking the gaming-world by storm. The game has been around for a long time, but probably due to advanced technology spreading into many homes in recent years, it?s becoming more and more popular with gaming enthusiasts.

It?s very popular among Internet users and television watchers.

There are several Websites where you can play Hold?em with real money or fake money.

There are several television networks ? including ESPN, Travel Channel, Fox Sports Net, BRAVO and Game Show Network ? that televise different tournaments and events. ESPN even has a series, Tilt, based around Texas Hold?em.

?It?s become very popular,? said Monticello resident Jess McWilliams. ?I?ve been playing it for 10 to 15 years now. Over the last five years it?s went from obscurity to a household name. If you go to a mall, you?ll see Texas Hold?em T-shirts and pocket games, and it?s all over the Internet.

?When we used to play dealer-call, I?d call Texas Hold?em, but everyone else would call their wild-card games. Now everybody just plays Texas Hold?em.?

Monticello resident Travis Funkhouser said the basics of the game are pretty easy to learn.

?It?s basic poker. You have to understand what beats what. It doesn?t take long to understand what beats what, you really ust have to know the situation,? he said. ?You have to know when not to play.

?It?s exciting when you find out if you made a right or wrong decision in the situation you?re in. You find out if you made the right decision when the hands are shown.?

McWilliams said it takes a ?lifetime? to hone your skills to be among the best of the best. ?It?s true competition,? he added. ?There?s always somebody better.

?All the skill in the world doesn?t beat luck.?

Texas Hold?em has advantages over other poker games, according to McWilliams.

?Hold?em is the purest form of poker. If you can handle the swings of the game, you can handle the game. The chip leader can go to the short stack in two hands,? he said. ?It?s a true battle person to person.

?You throw all odds out the window when you play with wild cards. With standard rules, you know what to expect every time.?

Funkhouser hopes to set up Texas Hold?em games at the Eagles Club in Monticello soon.

?Our goal is to get something started within the next couple of weeks,? he said. ?We?re going to find out how they can help us do this.

?In Lafayette and Rensselaer there are places to play. We?re trying to get something set up at the Eagles Club in Monticello.?
By Beau Wicker

News Added: 15 April, 2005

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