Who hasn't seen the Poker craze?

And I'm not talking about my own little adventures but rather the entire Poker phenomenon that has taken over in the past couple of years.

Today I'm sitting here in front of the TV on one of my day's off and I catch the last five minutes of the Poker Million Masters from Europe. Shucks I tell myself, I would have liked to have watched that. I change a couple of channels over at the end of the show and come across Rogers Sportsnet West. Can you guess what's on? Poker! The final table in a Caribbean tourney that I've never heard of. Nor do I recognize any of these players, but it's still poker and of course I'm watching in the background as I type out this blog entry.

The game of poker has become much more commercialized and more revered to as "sport" over these past few years. Some people say that the movie Rounders helped to fuel the craze. It stars Matt Damon and Ed Norton in a great poker movie that is centered around the high stakes of No limit texas hold 'em poker.

For any of you not familiar with Texas hold 'em.. well... google it!

**I just got called into work on my available to fly days... someone's sick in the office so i'm heading in to cover for them for a few hours until the night guy comes in... dangit!

***Ok, I'm back. Yeesh, that was far longer than anticipated.

So.. anyways.. Texas Hold 'Em. It has really taken center stage over the past few years. Probably the biggest influential factor was when I started to watch the World Series of Poker. It is by far the biggest event in poker held each year in Las Vegas and Binion's Horseshoe Casino. It's the biggest event in poker where in the main event of the Series (No Limit Texas Hold 'Em) anybody can walk in, plunk down the $10,000 CASH entry fee and play in the tourney. It has grown exponentially over the past few years. There have been so many entries that last year the first place prize was an unprecedented $5,000,000!!

So after watching TV and seeing these games more and more, friends and I had started nearly weekly poker games. We even have our own felt and decent enough poker chips. Good times, good times. But alas, I'm not in the lower mainland anymore and therefore can not take part in the festivities, except for when I make it home. So I have taken more to Internet poker and have played quite a bit since I've been in Calgary. So many people are getting into it that poker sites are popping up all over the place. The money is there for the taking, as most of the people are signing up to see what it's like and really don't have a good enough idea about the game. I'm sorry to say but I've taken hundreds of dollars away from these people. But hey, you shouldn't be playing poker with money that you can't afford to lose. And that is my motto to anyone else thinking about starting to play poker for serious cash. Do NOT play with more than you are willing to lose. Start small, build up a bankroll, and gradually progress up to the various stakes of poker. It took me nearly 6 months before I had played enough at the smaller tables that I felt comfortable moving up the stakes ladder and once that occurred and I had a good handle on my game, I was able to pull in some pretty good supplemental income doing it.

The game is fun, and it's not gambling! I've said it many times in this blog and I've said it many times to people that I meet. Especially with Texas Hold 'Em, there is a lot to do with strategy, the ability to read others and the confidence in yourself and your hand to make anything work.

So, that's enough of that. See if you can turn on the tube and find any poker, I bet you wont have to look to far. :)