TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER

Hands down, poker is one of the hottest games around. And that's true not only in Las Vegas, but in card rooms, casinos, and in homes throughout the United States.

Card games from Persia, India, France and Germany are thought to have led to the modern game, but the versions of the history of poker are as numerous as the combinations of hands.

According to The World Poker Tour, modern poker was born on the steamboats that navigated the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The game quickly spread into the interior by wagon and train, then headed west with the California gold rush.

The popularity of poker exploded with the Civil War when tens of thousands of soldiers played the game in barracks across the north and south. Modifications to the game resulted in ``stud poker," the ``draw," and the ``straight."

By the war's end, poker had become America's favorite card game, played pretty much anywhere two or more men and a deck of cards could be found.

The skill-based game of draw poker … in which all the cards are dealt facedown … rose to prominence in the early 20th century, .

Today poker plays a role in popular American culture. The game has been featured on the big screen in many Hollywood films, from past classics like ``The Cincinnati Kid" and ``The Sting" to contemporary movies, including ``Rounders" and ``Ocean's Eleven."

And like films, poker has become a thriving American export, claiming more than 100 million players around the globe. Every week, according to The World Poker Tour, a major poker tournament is held somewhere in the world, producing international champion players.

In 2003, World Poker Tour revolutionized televised poker and brought Texas Holdem to the forefront. The WPT introduced the world to a lipstick-sized camera that enables the television audience to see the players' cards. This tiny camera plays a crucial role in revealing the drama of the poker players' high-stake bets and bluffs.

Moreover, the televised games have become a classroom for aspiring tournament poker players. WPT's commentary and educational content enables viewers to improve their own poker playing.

POKER LINGO

All-in: Player bets all chips.

Bicycle: A straight that is A-2-3-4-5.

Bottom pair: A pair with the lowest card on the flop.

Cowboys: Two kings.

Flop: The first three community cards, put out face up, all together.

Fold: To throw away your hand when it is your turn to act.

Ladies: Two queens.

Loose play: When a player continually bets with weak hands.

Off-suit: A starting hand in which two cards are of different suits.

Quads: Four of a kind.

River: The fifth and final community card dealt. All players may use it to form their best hand.

Raise: To increase the previous bet.

Split pot: A pot shared by two or more players because they have equivalent hands.

Tell: An involuntary gesture or expression indicating the strength of your hand.

The sun has long since set, but Pat Diver doesn't take off his dark glasses.

Serious poker players know that any discernible gesture … even a blink of the eye … can mean the difference between winning and losing a hand.

Diver clings to the advantage. He thinks about winning big, like the guys on televised tournaments.

``It's every man's dream," says the 32-year-old Mentone school teacher, caught up in the craze that is sweeping the country.

Hot, trendy, and suddenly respectable, poker … once associated with smoky backrooms and shaky cardsharps … has become the rage in casinos, online card rooms, and homes across America.

Television has revived the game.

``Prior to poker coming on television, the poker business was dying," says Bill Davis, general manager of Casino Morongo in Cabazon.

``Poker had been a old persons game and people were dying off and there were no new players. Then they started the World Poker Tour and that generated interest in the game and we got a lot of younger people," says Davis, who has been in the business since the 1960s. ``It's the youngest crowd we've ever seen in the poker business."

It's a sure bet that anyone who follows the game knows about Chris Moneymaker, winner of last year's World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas.

Moneymaker, a 27-year-old accountant from Tennessee, qualified on the Internet via PokerStars.com, turning a $40 investment into a $2.5 million win.

Moneymaker's good fortune is credited with boosting poker's popularity and helping solidify the merger of the Internet and big-name casinos.

``Ben Affleck has not hurt one bit, either," says Waltona Manion, spokeswoman for Casino Morongo, referring to television's Celebrity Poker Showdown.

Televised poker has become a big player in this age of reality programming.

The Travel Channel's World Poker Tour, which draws an estimated 5 million viewers each week, has turned poker into a sporting event that draws the young and old, men and women, and people of all nationalities into the game. By some estimates, as many as 80 million Americans now play the game, in tournaments, online, or at home.

The concept of the World Poker Tour is simple. In Texas Holdem, each player receives two hole cards and the dealer reveals five communtiy cards. Small cameras at each player's table position show the hole card and the audience watches the game unfold.

The stakes are big. The 2005 WPT Championship is expected to have an estimated prize pool of more than $7 million.

In addition to the World Poker Tour and Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown, the Travel Channel offers The World Poker Tour. ESPN's World Series of Poker has drawn such celebrities as Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Steve Martin, Sarah Jessica Parker, and David Schwimmer.

Casinos across the country are scrambling to parlay the popularity of poker into new revenue and customers. New poker rooms are being built and some that were previously closed are being reopened.

Casino Morongo, for example, is increasing the number of Texas Holdem poker tables from 14 to 20 in a major expansion, scheduled for completion in December. In Las Vegas, Bellagio is expanding is poker room, The Palms replaced its keno lounge with a new high-limit poker room and other strip resorts have added tables.

Casinos also are widening their net, through online games.

Internet poker Party Poker.com, the world's large online poker room has seen membership rates increase 1000 percent. Poker.com and others started in the late 1990s.

``Online poker is a new phenomenon," says Diver, the Mentone man who plays poker with a dozen friends each week. ``And you don't have to play for money," he says.. It's practice, practice, practice. Even losing helps in the long run sometime."