The History of Texas HoldEm Poker

Although the full history of the game of Texas Hold 'Em is a little obscure, the Texas State Legislature recognises Robstown, Texas as the birthplace of the game and have dated back it's origins to the early 1900's.

However, it wasn't until the game reached the bigger city of Dallas that the game really began to find popularity and attract a bigger following. Until then, the game was practically unchanged from the version brought to the United States by French settlers almost 200 years before.

In the early days of Texas hold 'Em, the game was played largely by cowboys and miners who combined the game with drinking and violent scenes led to American government trying to outlaw the game. In some places, the game was christened 'Devil's River' and the game still retains an important part of those times by still calling the final community card 'The River'.

For many years, the game of Texas Hold 'Em stayed largely confined to Texas with 7 Card Stud being the more popular version of poker to seize the United States. It wasn't until the game of Hold 'Em was taken to Las Vegas in 1967 that interest began to waken on a larger scale. Because Texas Hold 'Em saw more rounds of betting than Draw Poker, it was soon thought of as a thinking man's game although for the first couple of years only the Golden Nugget Casino was to offer the game to players while the rest of Las Vegas looked on.

By 1969, the game had moved to the entrance of the more upmarket Dunes Casino where professional players capitalised on the inexperience of other players in what was still a largely unknown game.

It wasn't until Benny Binion acquired the rights to the annual Gambling Fraternity Convention and renamed it the World Series of Poker that things really took off. Texas Hold 'Em was made the main event of the tournament and has been ever since.

Interest began to spread outside of Las Vegas in the 1980's at a steady rate, but the birth of online poker finally brought the game to the level that we see today. The rise in popularity of Texas Hold 'Em has seen the game enjoy vast coverage on television throughout the world, with established players becoming household names and celebrities taking part in late-night tournaments.

Today, the game of Texas Hold 'Em is being played by more players than ever before. Traffic at online poker sites increase while more players are beginning to play the game for real. After the slowest of starts, Texas Hold 'Em continues to enjoy an astronomical rise as the most famous poker game of all.