A little bit about poker and Texas Hold 'em

The newness has worn off, but every once in a while you'll still see a "Poker is bigger than ever!" story on TV or in the paper. These recycled stories usually tell you what you already know, including the fact that journalists love low-hanging fruit, but that doesn't keep them from being mostly true.

I say mostly true because poker, in general, is not bigger than ever. No, what's bigger than ever is a poker variant called Texas Hold 'em, or just hold 'em (by the way, I'm going to assume you are somewhat familiar with the game, and if not, open up a new window and Google it). I'm not going to knock the game because basically I'm a "high tide raises all boats" kind of guy, but the truth is, hold 'em's popularity has brought some unwelcome things with it.

1. The near death of stud, omaha, and draw poker. Good luck finding one of these games in a card room now. The first couple of times I was in Vegas, the stud and omaha tables outnumbered the hold 'em tables, and now you're lucky if the card room even goes through the motion of putting out a sign up sheet for one of them.
2. Luck is a much larger factor in hold 'em than in other games. I don't know of any other game in general, not just hold 'em, where so many amateurs have beaten so many top pros. Don't get me wrong, bad players eventually end up losing, but in the short term, I've seen them do quite well.
3. The idiots you have to play with and their annoying habits. A) Dudes (or chicks) who wear sunglasses while playing. Here's a news flash, there are two kinds of people who wear sunglasses indoors, blind people and assholes. B) The "let me think" guy. Here are your options: throw chips in the center of the table or throw your cards in; unless there's serious money in the pot, taking more than five seconds to decide what to do should result in a beating from the other players. C) The "I know everything about poker" guy. Of course it goes without saying that he knows as much about poker as I know about particle physics. Dollars to donuts, he picked up most of his knowledge from watching it on TV, which means he doesn't know anything about other card games. He also usually has a bulging vein on his forehead from the brain strain he gets by constantly trying to innocuously drop poker jargon and pro players names into casual conversation because it makes him feel more macho to do so. It goes without saying that when he's winning, it's because he's good, and when he's losing, it's because bad cards are coming his way.

Having said all of that, card players are still better off in a world where hold 'em is popular. It used to be that you had to hunt for a casino that had a poker room (some only had a table or two in a corner somewhere, and you had to play with old ladies when the casino got a game up and running), now they all have them, and that's a good thing. Now where are my sunglasses?