TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER

The winner of the annual World Series of Poker – a week-long series of poker tournaments that culminates in a four-day tournament of no-limit Texas Hold'em – will walk away with more than $1 million and the right to the name “World Champion.”

Locally, the Marine Corps League, a charity organization that helps veterans, drew 130 players to its first-ever Hold'em tournament at State Street Pub last weekend, and organizers said they may make the event a regular one.

“We're pretty happy with the number of people who've come out,” said Malcolm Cherry, who helped organize and coordinate the tourney for the league. “A lot of these are fairly new players, so it seems like interest is building.”

Fueled by television programs such as the Travel Channel's “World Poker Tour,” ESPN's “World Series of Poker,” and ABC's “Celebrity Poker Challenge,” poker – and Texas Hold'em in particular – has grown from a game contested by men in smoke-filled back rooms to a favorite casino activity for millions nationwide, including many in southcentral Kentucky.

Tournaments like the one in Bowling Green draw more than 75 million people annually, with entry fees ranging from minuscule to extremely expensive.

The “buy in” for the Bowling Green tournament was $125, with $95 going to the pot, $5 for food and $25 for charity. By contrast, contestants in the World Series will each pony up $10,000 for a shot at the title, with the event's prize purse stretching to well over $12 million.

Malcolm Cherry's wife, Susan Cherry, said she is impressed by the growth in popularity of all poker games and Hold'em in particular.

“We don't know why, but it seems like poker and this game especially have just mushroomed in the past few years,” she said. “It's become a very popular activity for a lot of people who would never have thought about playing poker a few years ago.”

In addition to the explosion of media coverage of card playing, the simplicity of Hold'em makes it attractive for many players, said Aaron Clark, a Western Kentucky University student who was one of the contestants in the Bowling Green tournament.

“It looks like a really easy game, and the mechanics of it are very easy,” Clark said. “But when you get into the play, it's very intricate and complicated.”

The basics of the game are simple enough to be learned by nearly anyone. Players are dealt two cards face down at the beginning of the hand. These cards are called the player's “hole” or “pocket” cards and are kept secret.

The first two players to the left of the dealer must post “blinds,” forced bets to start the hand.

Subsequent players can either “fold,” declining to bet and dropping out of the hand; “call” the blinds, matching the bet; or “raise,” increasing it.

After all players have either called or folded, three cards are dealt face-up to the middle of the table. These cards, known as the “flop,” are community cards used by all players.

After all players have bet or folded, another face-up card, called the “turn” or “fourth street,” is dealt, and players bet again, then the final community card, referred to as the “river” or “fifth street,” is added to the table.

Players then make the best five-card poker hand they can, using any combination of their own hole cards and the five community cards.

But while the game may look easy, the intricacies of probability and the betting process make it much harder and help to eliminate much of the luck that many beginners blame for their losses, Clark said.

“There is an element of luck in the game, just like there is in any card game,” he said. “But there's also a lot of skill, and that's why the same players end up at the last table of the World Series year after year.”