World Series of Poker

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the most popular series of poker tournaments in the world. It is held for one month in Las Vegas every year.
The WSOP enjoys a high status because of the world’s top poker players such as Johnny Chan take part in the tournament.
It began in 1968 by Tom Moore at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno and it was an event only by invitation.
The Main Event
The winner receive a platinum & diamond bracelet along with the largest cash prize in tournament poker. The 2008 main event begins on May 28th and will finish on July 17th. It commences at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

WSOP Circuit Events

Harrahs owned casinos run a series of low buying poker tournaments, known as WSOP circuit events. The winner of each circuit wins a WSOP main event seat.

Poker is becoming increasingly popular which can be seen on the example of some numbers showing how many people in different age groups and from various backgrounds take it up as a hobby. Moreover, with the possibilities that the internet offers even more people are expected to start playing. Therefore it is not surprising that the game of poker has its own television channel. In 2005 at the end of March a new TV channel started and its sole purpose is to broadcast the latest news connected with poker. The Poker Channel transmits pre-recorded and live action of major poker tournaments from across the globe as well as coverage of major online tournaments where online poker players compete against each another in front of a TV audience of millions. So if you are looking for some information about poker I bet you will find it somewhere there.

Knowing poker players’ slang is a real must for all those who want to play professionally as without it you can easy be cheated by other players who would not hesitate to use your lack of knowledge against you. One way to practice it is simply to play poker a lot and pay close attention to what people say during the play. You could also try to play online and use it from time to time to check if you got it right. The least pleasant way is to learn it by heart as a list of words and then try to use it. In each case you would probably need a few months to practice it as a complete set of words and phrases that you would need to learn consists of about a few dozens of expressions.

Poker is a simple game played usually with the use of cards, yet also dice can be used to play it. Poker is easy to play and fun mainly because of it limited number of rules but at the same time tactics that is necessary to win. Although it does not have as long history as chess for example it has already been developed what the history of poker indicates. With its development different varieties appeared and now there are some differences as to how it can be played. Among the most popular varieties of poker there are:

• Draw poker where players receive five cards each and all of them are hidden
• Stud poker where players get five cards, yet some of them are dealt face up
• Community card poker where the cards the players were dealt are combined wit so called community cards.

Such poker variation can have further differences, but what is important when playing the game is the specific language used by players without which it is difficult to win.

Precise origins of poker are not known, but it is thought that the game comes from the Renaissance game of primero and the French brelan. It is thought that a variation of poker resembling the game as we know it today was played in the first half of the XIXth century in the USA, which is considered its mother country.

At the beginning of its American history poker was played with a deck of 20 cards and the 52-card deck was used only in the second half of the XIXth century. Along with the additional cards the flush was introduced. Also the poker winning hands were added gradually up to the whole set used nowadays.

With its increasing popularity and number of regular players also a specific poker jargon was developed and is in common use among the poker players. Some of its expressions such as ‘ace up one’s sleeve’, or ‘beats me’ have even already entered the everyday language of many people who are often unaware of their origins.

Poker has always been a very popular game not only among professional players who make a living playing it and students, but it grew in popularity even more at the beginning of the XXIst century when new opportunities appeared. With national or even world tournaments the popularity of poker rose, but the introduction of online poker contributed to the increase of number of players even more.

List of the winning poker hands

If two players have an identical combination for their poker hands,
the player with the highest card has the winning hand, for example, both have a pair of 8, the highest single card is a queen,
if the other player has a a king or an as, his poker hand is better
and he wins.