In the previous installment, recall that we found that beginning in the 1960's with corporate ownership of casinos, poker was not a favored game because it wasn't a house-banked game and, therefore, not a game that the casinos could control. In all casino games, the casino, the "house", controls and banks the game. Therefore, the casino can alter the game's rules to assure itself of a steady winning percentage. That's why all casino games have what's called a "house edge", which is that mathematical percentage by which the casinos have altered the true payouts of each game's events to gain an advantage.
It is primarily for this reason that casinos don't like poker.
Poker is not a game that is between the player and the casino. Poker is not, therefore, a house-banked game and, consequently, the casino cannot alter its rules of payouts to assure itself of a steady win. This is most definitely something the casinos don't like, and especially casinos owned, operated, and controlled by corporations, and now especially by public corporations and their shareholders.
While casino owners like Benny Binion weren't necessarily afraid of the fact that poker was not a house game, since they played poker themselves and were far more likely to beat their opponents regardless of the nature of the game, even such owners as he did not feel the game of poker would be popular enough to warrant making it a major part of their casinos. Although it was available, and it was spread in casinos owned and/or operated by Benny Binion and Sam Boyd in Las Vegas, and Bill Harrah in Reno, none of these gaming pioneers considered this as a "public" game for the casual gamblers that their properties attracted in such huge numbers. And as for the corporations, well, they didn't like poker because it wasn't a game they could control. But eventually even poker became a more popular casino game, primarily by the invention and application of the "rake".
The "rake" was an up-front percentage of each pot - the "pot" is the amount of pooled money during each hand of poker - and it was this that allowed the casino, the house, to be able to count on a steady income from the game. Poker, therefore, became not only a game played between the owner of the casino and some of the road gamblers or professional players, but it became a casino game that could "spread" - meaning be offered to and dealt to - the general public. People who never played poker could now be taught the game, and could now play in poker rooms within casinos, and poker card rooms in states outside of Nevada that permitted poker-style card games, even though such card rooms were not actually allowed to be, or be called, "casinos", in the same manner that those in the State of Nevada were able to be so configured and named at the time. Now poker started to make its way into the mainstream of the popular casino games, and popular card games. However, it wasn't until the early 1970's that poker aficionados and casino innovators like Benny Binion realized the enormity of poker as a popular game, and as a medium to gain publicity for casinos and casino gaming. This lead to the origination of the World Series of Poker.
But it would be yet 30 more years before Poker became the worldwide phenomenon that it is today, in the 21st century. For this to happen, we had to wait for modernday gaming pioneers and innovators, perhaps the two greatest minds in modern Poker: Steve Lipscomb and Lyle Berman- the creators and innovators of the World Poker Tour.
The WPT has transformed poker from a popular game played by poker aficionados and professional gamblers, to a television phenomenon that spans the globe. In all countries worldwide, poker has now become the world's most popular card game. This trend is fueled by the Internet, and the ease with which games like Texas Hold'Em can be programmed and played on the hundreds of online poker sites and online casinos. The WPT has given a boost to an old game with a force the likes of which casino gaming hasn't seen since the great casino boom of the 1950's and 1960's and 1990's in Las Vegas.
New players everywhere are flocking to real casinos and casino card rooms. The legalization of various card rooms in states like California, and the legalization of various casinos in the Midwest and on tribal lands and riverboats have all contributed toward this great burst of enthusiasm for poker, and poker games. Poker is no longer considered, or thought of, as a game played by diehard gamblers in dark and smoky back rooms populated by sharks and cheats. The world of the "rounders" has come into the light of day, and even in front of the bright lights of television. Now poker is sought after as the preferred game by the youth of the world, and every young man or woman of age now aspires to play in a poker game. The world has changed, and poker has changed with it. New games, new people and now new players have all come together to make an old game new again and more popular than anyone ever thought it could be. Of course, this also means that thousands of players who flock to casinos and online poker rooms face the hard road of learning. Learning not just what pays what and how, but how to actually play the poker games that they will find. This is not an easy task. Games like Texas Hold'Em, for example, are inherently very easy games to learn and grasp. But to play the game well takes a whole lot more brainpower than most people imagine. It is a continuing process of learning that never ends, and should not end. The day when you think you know all there is to know about Texas Hold'Em, or poker, is the day you will become forever stuck in the spiral of a consistent loser.
There is a whole lot more to poker than just knowing the rules, or what pays what. Playing poker, any poker game, is a process that can bring out the best in people, and the worst. It is a battle, a contest of skill and will, similar to any battle or contest so fought among humans for as long as humans have battled each other. In centuries past, this may have been a contest between the gladiators of ancient Rome, or a contest between the knights of King Arthur or King Henry, or any of the battles that we all know so well from films and history. In those times, the winner lived and the loser died. It was a final contest, and a battle to the death. So it is still today, in poker. Our weapons may have changed, but the contest is still one to the death. Today, the death is only the loss of the playing chips, which represent the cash, the money, which we now use as both the weapons and as the means to determine the winner, and to count the score. But the battle is no less ferocious, and no less final. Although poker is a highly sociable game, and can be played very well by friends and for enjoyment, it is still a contest of skill and fortitude, the same as that of the gladiator or the knight. Particularly so in poker tournaments, where the loss of chips is, indeed, sudden death.
But don't be afraid. There is no need for you to think of poker in such morbid terms. The analogy is simply used for effect, because it allows us to gain a better understanding of what poker really is. Although poker is a sociable game, it is always a contest, involving not only the luck of the draw but also the skill of the play. Poker is the only casino-style game where the best hand does not always win, and where the worst hand can, and often does, win. Poker is that struggle of humanversus- human, regardless of gender, religion, political affiliation, or economic status. Once the chips are in and the cards are dealt, who wins and who loses has less to do with the cards as the weapons, and more with the players as the warriors wielding them. But the most important thing in all of this is the fact that poker is FUN! It is so hugely enjoyable as a game, and, though a contest, it is still the most socially pleasant game, and its battles are decided not with malice but with pleasure. Both the winner and the loser are more often than not appreciative of each other's play, and luck, and skill. Yes, there are times when the combatants will not be friendly with each other, but those are the exceptions rather than the rule.
Today, the modern game of poker is a game played socially, and socially accepted not only as a means of recreation, but also as a profession and source of professional income. Players who are now professional players have become world-class heroes. They are seen on TV winning millions, and they are role models for all the rest of the players. Poker is, after all, a game of people with people. It is a wonderful and wondrous game, one that thrills and fills the soul all at the same time. It is a game for all seasons and for all persons. So take a ride on this great journey into the thrills of it all, in a world of grace, skill, and opportunity.
