why poker is popular

I remember a time in the late 90s, before the current, and seem-
ingly plateaued, poker boom, flipping through the cable channels,
then only a mere fraction of the number now available, and landing
on ESPN one afternoon. They were showing apparently the world
championship of a card game I knew nothing about. The announc-
er-- more specifically, Mr. Kotter, "what the hell..." I remember say-
ing to myself, "Is Vinny Barbarino playing this game?"-- informs
the audience that we are watching a game called No Limit Texas
Hold Em. Back then the only poker game I knew was 5 card draw
and I had heard of 7 card stud, but didn't know the rules. I was
never much of a card player anyway. I was stuck on the 90s mini-
craze of Nine Ball. But with that game there's no faking it: unlike
Texas Hold Em, which partly explains it popularity..

Anyway, this game mystified me. I watched the whole hour's
worth of coverage and understood nothing. "I play the board,
Scotty, I call." Meant nothing to me. Still I was entranced. A
couple of years later, around 2000, I decide to actually learn to
play this game. This is still before the online boom, so I chose
perhaps the worst place to learn anything, Yahoo. They only
offered the limit variety, but I eventually learned the basics.
But I soon became bored and stopped playing.

Fast forward 2 years and this weird game is on tv again. It's
the WSOP main event again, 2002. I'm watching the final
table "action" and there's a quietly intense Russian named
Ralph Perry, a young British guy named Julian Gardner,
plump ivy-league lawyer, Russell Rosenblum, all-american cool
as silk, Harley Hall, and last but not least, our nerdy, who-is-this-
guy, MIT graduate and chip leader, Robert Varkonyi. It was
this televised tournament, more than any, that got me interested
in learning the nuts and bolts of the game. For most it was a year
later, with Chris Moneymaker, second amateur in a row, as the
eventual winner, that got the ball rolling. But for me it was 2002.
And honestly I cannot say why. I guess I was looking for something
new to learn. And I guess up till then I did not really understand
that there was a depth and complexity to the game, much like
chess, a former favorite of mine, I had missed utterly in my first
attempt at learning the game.

I am and have always been an intensely competitive person. And
this fact may mostly explain why it's popular to me. But why has
Texas Hold Em become the fad it has become? A variety of factors,
all of which are touched upon in the other Helium articles on this
thread. But I think ultimately it's a crucial blend of two primary
ones that matter most. The first being: Poker is a fun, exciting, soc-
ial game. Social being the key word. The second: You can win mon-
ey based on wits and luck alone. Like Twister in the 60s and 70s,
Trivial Pursuit in the 80s, Hold Em has entered the zeitgeist with
equal fervor, in the early 21st century. But the crucial difference is,
there is money to be made. The debate will continue whether or
not Poker is ultimately a gambling game or a serious skill-based
sport. But the truth is it's both. Most likely, like all other trends
and fads, Poker's popularity will wane (at a much faster rate if
current criminalizing trends continue), will return to a cult game
status. Im rooting for that personally. Although Im not averse to
easy money either. I'm just more attracted to fringe sports and
ideas as a whole.