Texas Hold'em poker
Texas Hold'em is a fairly recent addition to the world of poker but is today the most frequently played poker variant online as well as offline. Before the surge in popularity for Texas Hold'em and its close relative Omaha Hold'em, Seven-Card Stud and Five-Card Draw were the most commonly played poker variants in the United States, while other countries had their own particular favorites, such as the Nordic game of Sökö poker.
Texas Hold'em and Omaha Hold'em but make use of community cards which makes these games highly interesting from a strategical point of view. Learning the basic rules is easy; understanding how to handle all the asymmetric information takes considerably more practice for most players.
The exact origins of Texas Hold'em remains unknown, but it is believed to have been developed in Texas during the late 19th century or early 20th century. Robstown, a small town in Texas, proclaims itself as the birthplace of Texas Hold'em but there is no hard evidence supporting this notion.
When Texas Hold'em was played in Texas only it was naturally known simply as hold'em poker. The “Texas” part of the name was added as the game spread outside the state of Texas. It would take until the 1960s for Texas Hold'em to reach the casinos of Las Vegas, despite being played in Dallas as early as 1925.
How Texas Hold'em took root in Las Vegas
When can thank a group of dedicated poker players including Doyle brunson, Crandell Addington and Amarillo Slim for introducing Las Vegas to Texas Hold'em poker. In 1967 they managed to convince the manager of the Golden Nugget casino to open a table for Texas Hold'em in the casino's poker room to accommodate professional players like themselves. After two years, Dunes Casino followed in the footsteps of the Golden Nugget. It would however take many years still for Texas Hold'em to reach the poker playing masses.
In 1970, Benny Binion arranged a small invite-only tournament at the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Six poker pros participated and the winner was decided by secret ballot once the allotted time was up since this was not a freeze out tournament. The game played was of course the poker pro's favorite: No Limit Texas Hold'em. Binion called the tournament “World Series of Poker” and this was the humble start of an event that today comprises nearly 60 different tournaments and attracts thousands of players from all over the world. Although numerous other poker variants have been added, Main Event still consists of No Limit Texas Hold'em.
Texas Hold'em today
Today, Texas Hold'em is an immensely popular poker variant for tournament play as well as for cash games. It is played as Fixed Limit, Pot Limit and No Limit. Pot Limit is fairly unusually, while Fixed Limit and No Limit can be found in most poker rooms online and offline.
For tournament play, No Limit Hold'em is the game of choice for Main Event at basically all major tours. Examples of such tours are World Poker Tour (WPT), European Poker Tour (EPT), Asian Poker Tour (APT), Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP).
