Game Review: Texas Hold’Em

From an outsider's perspective, poker seems like a popular game that many people play in casinos. It’s a game that’s been around for years and is a classic that can’t be missed. Yet today, with over 100 million poker players in the world, it’s clear that poker is much more than just a game.

Thanks to the wave of digitalization, technology has kept poker just as popular with younger generations as it has ever been in the past. Due to accessibility, enhanced gaming features and extensive online communities, online Texas Hold’Em and other poker variants have never been so popular.

Below, we’ll take a look at one of the most popular variants of poker – Texas Hold’em.

The popularity of online poker

While poker was once the life of the party at land-based casinos, online variants have become much more popular in recent years. As footfall steadily declines in land-based casinos, many people are reaping the opportunities and rewards that online playing brings.

While there are a few essential differences in the world of online poker, including the fact you can’t see your opponents upfront and personal, and the speed is much quicker, the fundamentals of the game are essentially the same.

Online poker offers the following benefits over land-based variants:

More bonuses

Thanks to the competitive online space that online poker providers operate in, players can reap a variety of online rewards and bonuses from free spins to no-deposit games for beginners and mini bonus games.

More ways to pay

Now that cryptocurrencies are becoming more widely accepted amongst online casinos, players can use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to pay. Cryptocurrency is not regulated by a central bank, making it much harder to track. As a result, payments are more secure, there’s a reduced risk of payment card fraud, and players can remain more anonymous.

Accessibility

As 5G technology is being rolled out across the world, more and more people can reap the rewards of high-speed internet access from almost anywhere. Whether players choose to have a game of Texas Hold’em on the beach, on the morning commute or simply from the couch, they can rest assured that gameplay will be uninterrupted with reduced lag time and vast improvements to streaming, download and upload speeds.

Variety

While Texas Hold’em is one of the most popular poker variants out there, online vendors can offer many more varieties of poker than their land-based counterparts due to space limitations.

The history of Texas Hold’em

It’s thought that Texas Hold’em emerged in a town called Robstown in (yep you guessed it) Texas during the 1900s. It wasn’t actually until 1967 that Texas Hold’em became widely known when it was launched in Las Vegas.

DIfferentially to many other poker games of the times that depended heavily on luck, Texas Hold’em was described as a thinking man's game. The game was originally hosted in a venue called Golden Nugget – a local bar in the area that rarely saw anyone but locals come in. For this reason, Texas Hold’em went on virtually undetected for several years before it was discovered.

In 1969, Dune Casino in Las Vegas began holding Texas Hold’em tournaments, ultimately setting the foundations for the world-class game we know today. Then in 1970, Texas Hold’em became even more popular as the well-known Gambling Fraternity Convention, hosted by father and son, Benny and Jack Binion, rebranded their organization as the World Series of Poker. This is when Texas Hold’em became the star game of the event.

How to play Texas Hold’em

Texas Hold’em is one of the easiest variants of poker for new players to pick up. Instructions on how to play include:

1.  Two cards are dealt with each player. Players do not show their cards to anyone else.
2. Players now look at the cards, which can be known as the Pre Flop.
3. The dealer then spreads 5 cards in the middle of the table. First, the layout 3 cards, followed by another, and then the final one.
4. Players take bets before these cards are revealed, known as the Big Blind (BB) and the Small Blind (SB).
5. On each player's turn during the game, there are 5 acts they can make. These acts are: Check, Bet, Call, Fold, Raise and Re-Raise.

The game aims to make the best bets to win as many chips as possible, over multiple hands.

The future of Texas Hold’em

Today’s variants of online Texas Hold’em incorporate a range of new and emerging technologies that make the game exciting. Recently, a WII game variant of Texas Hold’em has been brought out, introducing a new video gaming aspect to the popular casino game. The game is proving to be incredibly popular, in which even celebrity player ESPN2 has tried his luck.

As more technologies like live dealer games, live streaming and VR technology are incorporated into online versions of Texas Hold’em, the game seems to continue to be a hit generation after generation.