The game of poker is the one that is easiest to identify
with gambling. Unlike in the case of the slot machines, you do not need to take
yourself to a casino if you want to play a game of poker. All you have to do is
call some of your poker-playing friends over and sit down with a few mugs of
beer and a decent amount of money to throw away.
As with all modes of gambling, an amateur generally starts
out by putting in a small amount, but with every win he becomes more confident,
more reckless, and every loss thereafter merely eggs him on to throw in even
more cash.
A large number of movies have very dramatic scenes where the
protagonists get together to play a game of poker -- which often becomes a
symbol of a full-out battle, replete with anger, jealousy, fear, hope and
strategy. In his Essays on Elia, the
eighteenth century English author Charles Lamb had said, "Cards are war,
in disguise of a sport."
The game of poker is easily one of the most popular card
games of all time. And this is evident not just in the number of casinos that
have sprung up, or in the number of people that play the game, or even in the
number of movies that have poker game scenes. The games popularity is also
evident in the number of phrases that began as terms in a poker game, but went
on to entrench themselves in common everyday speech in the English language.
Phrases such as "call one's bluff", "when the chips are down"
and "beats me" had their humble beginnings in the poker games of
yore.
The game of poker became a full-fledged sport in 1970, which
saw the beginning of the World Series of Poker in the United
States. Amarillo Slim and Johnny Moss were
among then earliest winners of this tournament.
Today, with the emergence of online poker as a way of
playing the game, we can play poker on our computers as well. There are
countless websites urging us to throw away our money by "upping the ante"
or "calling someone's bluff".
If you are new to the game of poker, or are surrounded
by ace players, make yourself the wild card by reading up on some of the tips
and tricks that the best of poker players swear by. It is easy to call it a
game of luck, but it also involves a great deal of strategy and psychological
manipulation. It certainly isn't a sport for the faint-hearted.
Ajeet Khurana is a web enthusiast and an author. He recommends: Poker, Casino and Horse Racing.