Page 14 - June 2005 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Most online poker sites have games for free so players can hone their skills without risking real money. Many new players are gaining experience and con dence playing online and then moving to the card rooms in the casino.
Online poker rooms o er many satellite tournaments that allow the players to win an entry into one of the major live tournaments such as the WSOP or one of the
World Poker Tour events. Chris Moneymaker, winner of the 2003 WSOP, and Greg Raymer, who won the event last year, both won their entries into the event by playing online tournaments. Several of the players making the nal table of the tournaments broadcast on the World Poker Tour were players who won online and were playing live for the rst time.
When the online poker sites rst started there was some concern that they may hurt business at the brick and mortar poker rooms. Nothing could be further from the truth. ey are actually helping increase the number of players heading to the poker rooms.
Poker at Home and on the Road
It seems that people can’t get enough poker, more speci cally Texas Hold’em. In the past, home poker games usually involved getting a bunch of guys together for a “boys night out”. e popularity of the game has rede ned the home poker game as more and more women are discovering the thrill of playing poker. Many couples in my social circle are replacing their traditional
cocktail party with a couple’s poker tournament. ere is a small entry fee to make the game interesting, but the tournaments are designed to be a night of social interaction. ese home poker parties have proved to be a very popular.
And if you are out on the road and can’t get to a game have no fear. Texas Hold’em is just a phone call away. Internet company
Yahoo announced that it had reached an agreement with Sprint to o er Yahoo! Games’ multiplayer PC-to-mobile games to customers in the Game Lobby from Sprint. Sprint is the rst carrier to o er Yahoo!’s new games to consumers, the
rst of which is Yahoo! Poker, a game that enables people on their Sprint PCS Vision(SM) phones to play against thousands of people playing Yahoo! Poker on their PCs at any time, as well as mobile-to-mobile and PC-to-PC game play. Yahoo! Poker will be available on select Sprint handsets in mid-June.
No-Limit Future
What does the future hold for poker? Will it continue to grow or is it a fad? I don’t have a crystal ball, but I think to get an idea about the future of poker we need only to look at the past. Poker has endured for 180 years or more and it is now just becoming a socially acceptable game. In the last two decades gambling in general has expanded immensely as casinos open up all over the country. Since poker is a game where the skilled player can gain an edge, I think it will continue its growth for quite some time.
Some players will try it, lose and then quit playing, but these are people who won’t take the time or make the e ort to learn to play the game. Since poker is a game of skill those who do practice and learn will nd that the rewards of being a winner will be worth the e ort.
Until next time remember...”Luck comes and goes... Knowledge stays forever!”
Bill Burton is the Casino Gambling Guide and columnist for the Internet portal About.com. He also writes for several national gambling publications. He is the author of Get the Edge at Low Limit Texas Hold’em available for $15 postage paid. Send checks to Bill Burton, PO Box 310299, Newington, CT 06131-0299 or online at www.billburton.com. Bill Burton’s website is located at: http://casinogambling.about.com.
Page 14 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE June 2005