If one of your next-door neighbours or co-workers ever invite you over to one of their home poker games, you can be 90% sure that they are talking about the game of Texas Holdem when they say ‘poker’. Providing that the participants are under the age of 50, it is more than likely that no limit Texas Holdem will be the game of choice. But why exactly is Texas Holdem so popular? And whatever happened the numerous other poker variants that are out there?

Texas Holdem has become the most popular poker variant for a number of reasons; the game is very simple to play, and is one of the easiest to learn, which helps to attract many new players to the game. Furthermore, the structure of the game makes it easy to set up and deal, and so it lends itself nicely to tournament play as the game can be played at a relatively fast pace without delay. This is one of the key reasons as to why Texas Holdem has exploded over recent years.

If you ever decide to turn on your TV and watch any poker show or tournament, you are more than likely to see Texas Holdem. The structure of the game means that there are big swings in fortune from hand to hand, which in turn creates a lot of excitement and tension for both the players and the viewers. This means that the audience at home can easily keep up with the action and are entertained by the game as it is played out on TV, and so broadcasting companies lean towards showing coverage of Texas Holdem tournaments rather than other tournaments of different poker variants.

If you load up any online poker room, you will also find that the busiest tables throughout the day will be the Holdem ones, including both the tournaments and cash game structures. If you compare poker rooms, you will find that there is very little difference from one online room to another, except for the fact that some may have more traffic than others. However, if you do intend on playing a different game like Omaha or Stud, there should be plenty of action and tables available for you to sit down and play at.

The other popular poker variants as already mentioned include Omaha and 7-Card stud, which have both had their time in the limelight. 7-Card stud used to be the elite game many years ago, but this has been phased out due to the fact that it can be hard to deal and can make things awkward at home games. Omaha is very similar to Holdem in the way that it is played, but there are fewer swings and so there are far fewer exciting match ups as there are in Holdem.

So because of the fact that Holdem is so simple to pick up, and because it is constantly being shown on TV, it is only natural that players new to the world of poker will look to start playing Texas Holdem before any other game. This can prove to be a big bonus to veteran players of the game, because they will always have a constant supply of new players that will readily lose their money due to their inexperience at the tables.

As the new players continue to play and develop their knowledge of the rules, they will look into finding good Texas Holdem strategy to help them further their game and take it to a winning level. Texas Holdem is great fun to play, but it is even more fun if you can show a profit from it at the end of the day. Some players are experienced enough to use poker to supplement their income, and there are also an elite few that win enough money to play poker as a full time job as ‘professional poker players’.

So it is no real surprise to find Texas Holdem as the game of choice for the majority of poker players. It is great fun to play the other poker variants to add a little depth to your game, but you will often find players returning to the Holdem tables day after day. But who knows, maybe in the future we may see a different poker variant take the lead, such as Omaha or even 5-Card Draw. I guess we will have to wait and see what the future holds, but for the time being I am content with sticking to what I know best… Texas Holdem.