ARTICLES
The Rise of Poker: Railbirds and Raisers
If you are not playing poker, you may soon be in the minority. The game has come a long way from the dangerous days of the road gamblers and prohibited backroom games. It is true that those two things still exist in some places, but the game itself has been propelled into limelight and into legitimate status, due in large part to shows such as the World Poker Tour (Travel Channel) and the World Series of Poker (ESPN).
According to America's Poker Face, an article by Betsy Streisand (USNews.com, 2004), the number of poker players in America has increased to about 80 million, a 30 million increase over the estimated 50 million players just a few years ago. Most of these players still play brick-and-mortar poker (in home games and casinos), but the number of players now taking advantage of the convenience of online poker games is rapidly growing. It is estimated that there are over one million players playing online at well over 1,500 sites. The lobby area of two major sites, PartyPoker.com and PokerStars.com, regularly show over 60,000 and 40,000 players online, respectively. These types of numbers are only expected to explode over the next...
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Texas Holdem Poker Legends
Stu Ungar is considered by most to the greatest No Limit Texas Holdem Poker player ever.
The three times World Poker Champion was born in New York in 1953 and began playing poker before reaching his teens.
The young gambler started out playing gin and at the age of 10 had won his first gin rummy tournament, while on holiday with his parents. By the age of 14 the little poker maestro had turned professional and dropped out of school.
In 1954 Stu Ungar entered the record books by winning $10,000 in a gin rummy tournament without losing a single hand, a record which still stands in New York today.
The fast talking wiz kid has been compared, in poker terms, to sporting greats such as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Stu Ungar had a real talent for playing poker but despite his successes in Texas holdem poker, he preferred playing gin.
Stu once said that there might some day be a better No Limit Texas Holdem player than him but he could not see how anyone could ever be a better gin player.
In 1980 Stu Ungar was put on the world map...
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