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The game of poker has been taken to new levels over the past decade. The increase in the popularity of poker stems from several different factors. Most people will point to the day an unknown accountant from New York City named Chris Moneymaker went from total obscurity to the forefront of the poker boom when he incredibly dominated the World Series of Poker final table in 2003 earning him several million dollars and worldwide media coverage. That remarkable story became the catalyst for poker entering Main Street America. Almost overnight the victory and subsequent media coverage seemingly dispelled many of the preconceived negative connotations many people had about poker. Before the perfectly named Moneymaker's historic day many people previously had thought of poker with disdain connecting it with the gambling saloons of the Old West, cheating and the negativity associated with other forms of gambling.
Moneymaker's historic heads up battle against Sammy Farha for poker immortality was not the only influential part of the surge in bringing poker to the masses and dispelling those negative thoughts that many people had about the game.
The Internet provided a median that allowed people around the world to play the game in the comfort of their own home. Online Poker gave beginners a chance to practice for free and learn the rules, understand the betting structure and get a taste of the excitement of playing poker tournaments. Online poker rooms like Pacific Poker offered opportunities for players to test their skill in low buy-in tournaments with substantial prize pools. Newcomers to the game fell in love with poker and they in turn encouraged their friends to give it a try. Soon enough home games were being played all over the United States and the rest or the world.
The internet also provided a place to find information about poker. Poker web sites popped up offering poker strategy and poker tournament coverage.
The media has to be given a considerable amount of credit in making poker one of the most highly discussed topics over the last ten years. The blockbuster movie Rounders starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton brought a sense of coolness about poker that seemed to have a far reaching affect on young people all over the country.
ESPN stepped up its coverage of the World Series of Poker and began covering more events. ESPN wisely focused part of each broadcast on some of the more interesting personalities in the poker world. This in turn started turning poker players into poker celebrities. Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Greg Raymer, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, "The Crew", Marcel Luske and many others became household names. Poker on TV took off as more and more people turned in to watch the excitement and suspense of recognizable players competing for millions of dollars at poker tournament final tables all over the world.
The World Poker Tour was created to compete with the World Series of Poker. The ratings for the WPT's broadcasts on the Travel Channel were setting cable TV records for viewers week in and week out. Poker on TV became enjoyable because of invention of the hole card camera which allowed viewers to peek at the hole cards of the players and made every hand more exciting to watch and gave viewers an insight on how pros played their poker hands.
Print media also had an impact as well on the poker boom. Several poker books became New York Times Bestsellers and many poker magazines that began flying off of newsstands.
Additionally, land based casinos began creating new poker rooms or expanding existing card rooms to handle the influx of players they were seeing eager to try to play live poker.
The growth of poker will likely continue as more and more people are introduced to the game because of all the help of books, movies, TV, magazines, radio and the Internet. Poker is almost unavoidable.