# When/why did Texas Hold'em become synonymous with poker? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 19, 2020, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116 "2020-05-19T15:41:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/21 "2020-05-20T16:29:04Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I also agree, but mainly from ESPN’s early WSOP coverage. I think it really took off when Chris Moneymaker won - the number of entries the following year tripled, and from that point on, Hold’em (and usually No Limit Hold’em at that) was pretty much the only game in town. > > I remember when ABC would air it on Wide World of Sports - especially back when it was winner take all. Keep in mind that the entry fee has always been $10,000 - and (a) $10,000 in the early 1970s is much different than $10,000 in the early 2000s, and (b) they didn’t have cheaper “satellite qualifiers” in the early days. I was watching the change in real time in AC casinos and the change came before Moneymaker. Hold ‘em is just better to see on TV than any other game and when they figured out the camera technology the game took off in the casinos. There were many years when I would not play anything but 7 card stud. Then it became hard to find a table because the 1 or 2 Hold ‘em tables suddenly began 98% of the tables. It was already hard to find a stud table before Moneymaker won. In many ways TV killed the enjoyment of the game for me. Especially early on there were several prominent players who were obnoxious as a strategy. So many players adopted that. Along with that many did not seem to know that TV was edited to only show the exciting hands so they thought that “all in” was a winning strategy every other hand. I really hated playing with those assholes. Usually young and only knew poker from tv. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/22 "2020-05-20T16:50:18Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Where’s the fun in that? Isn’t the whole point, for viewers, to increase dramatic tension by \*not \*knowing if they’re bluffing or not? No, because if a player is bluffing, he might just fold his hand and you never learn what he had. Plus if a player is basically behind, but has a slim chance on the last card, the viewers can see that and get excited. Finally it makes the commentators’ life far easier. They can give percentages of winning, state that this player has made several bluffs in the last 10 minutes, say what the best move is and select the most exciting hands for viewing. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/23 "2020-05-20T17:25:21Z")
Another vote for Rounders and World Series of Poker. Though, I think the popularity of the latter was influenced primarily by the former. The movie caused a huge spike in popularity, and the televised events made it synonymous with _Poker_. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/24 "2020-05-20T17:36:48Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > I think it was Hitchcock who said “Surprise is when the bomb blows up unexpectedly - suspense is when the audience know the bomb will go off in 5 minutes, and the characters don’t” - the same applies here, probably (the fun is not guessing whether player X is bluffing; it’s guessing whether player A will realize X is bluffing). I think it was Celebrity Poker Showdown (which I really wish would come back) would do a round each episode where they didn’t show cards and the commentators would talk through what they think the players have based on their hands. It was interesting to watch, but an entire show like that would be no fun. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/25 "2020-05-20T17:41:19Z")
I think people are overestimating Rounders. It didn’t do that well on release (80th overall for that year). Poker becoming more popular made Rounders more popular, not the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/26 "2020-05-20T20:54:25Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Okay, so why did Hold 'Em suddenly take over the poker world in the 1970s and 1980s? I think it’s really kind of simple; it’s the best poker variety. Consider the two halves of Mike Sexton’s line about hold 'em: > > 1. “Thirty minutes to learn…” Texas Hold 'Em is very, very easy to learn. Even as varieties of poker go it’s pretty simple in terms of the rules and is incredibly well designed. > > I taught a bunch of people at work last year how to play. All of them had the game basically figured out very quickly. I taught my wife to play. I taught my kids to play. Everyone has it down in no time. What I tell anyone I teach, if they get concerned it might be too hard to learn, is “just watch; every rule makes perfect sense. Every rule totally helps the next rule. Once you see a rule happen you will instantly understand why it’s a rule.” It’s true. > > 1. “…A lifetime to master.” Despite its simplicity and logic, the strategy just keeps unfolding. You never get good enough. This very simple game can cause people to debate strategy for hours. My wife and I have played poker for an afternoon and then had just as much fun talking about critical hands while driving home. > > Because the game largely uses community cards but has four rounds of betting, it has a tremendous ratio of decisions to rules. You can learn the game really quickly and just get on to learning the strategy, and that’s the fun part. You can be put to an interesting test several times in every hand. It’s just a fabulous game. I like other poker types too, don’t get me wrong; Omaha, draw, razz, they’re all great, but Hold 'Em is the best. This. I’m not really a poker guy at all, so I don’t know the timeline of Texas Hold 'Em basically taking over the poker world, but this is the _why_. I didn’t know about Texas Hold 'Em at all until a co-worker’s husband started hosting these poker parties at his house maybe 15 years ago. And yeah, easy to learn, and a far, **far** more interesting game than the 5- and 7-card stud and 5-card draw that I was exposed to, growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s. I read Loach’s lament about the disappearance of 7-card stud tables, but I can’t imagine why one would play stud poker rather than Texas Hold 'Em. I stink as a poker player, but losing is at least reasonably entertaining while playing Texas Hold 'Em. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/27 "2020-05-20T21:23:07Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > …I read Loach’s lament about the disappearance of 7-card stud tables, but I can’t imagine why one would play stud poker rather than Texas Hold 'Em… There’s a lot of quick observations, memorization, and really quick math required to play 7 Stud well. A lot of the cards necessary to make your hand, or what you think your opponent has, may already have been played. If you’re not paying really good attention, you might miss that. Then you have all of the other observations of other players you should be doing, like in Hold 'Em. Also, though this may just be the games I’ve played in, it can be a _really_ aggressive form of poker. With a lot of trying to knock people out with reraises on 3rd and 4th street. OTOH, it kind of plays itself from 6th street on, and usually 5th street, in a way that NLHE definitely doesn’t. The pot is often big enough that putting an additional bet in to continue eligibility for the pot is the right play, even if you’re pretty sure you’re going to lose. But that’s true for a lot of Limit games. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/28 "2020-05-20T21:46:17Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I think the primary blame falls on [_Rounders_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128442/) and [The World Series of Poker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series_of_Poker). This is pretty much spot on. I did not grow up knowing about Texas Hold’em, but began watching poker when Rounders was big(saw it in the theater) and Scotty Nguyen won the World Series(1998). His huge win moment was big for the game. > [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > [World Class Poker with TJ Cloutier](https://www.amazon.com/World-Class-Poker-Tj-Cloutier-Mac/dp/B000AA87S2) … You just got me looking up TJ Cloutier. Wow, dude is still alive. He was always smoking like crazy when he was on TV playing poker(poker was one of the last things on TV where people were smoking while doing it). And Doyle Brunson is alive as well. Incredible! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/29 "2020-05-20T23:58:29Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I think people are overestimating Rounders. It didn’t do that well on release (80th overall for that year). Poker becoming more popular made Rounders more popular, not the other way around. This. Rounders was a huge commercial failure. It vanished from the cinema in a month, an immense disappointment. It become popular on video because of the popularity of poker. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/30 "2020-05-21T14:40:26Z")
> [@glee](#): > > As others have said, the major reason was poker on TV. > > Another reason was that TV programs showed the hole cards. > This meant newbies could see follow the hand easily and in particular spot if a player was bluffing. > > Texas Hold’em has several advantages over 5 card draw: > > - you can have more players round a table (as cards are shared) > - there’s more information about possible hands > - having the two blinds puts money into every pot, encouraging more exciting play > [@Alessan](#): > > Where’s the fun in that? Isn’t the whole point, for viewers, to increase dramatic tension by \*not \*knowing if they’re bluffing or not? Showing viewers the hole cards makes the players’ strategy more visible - without seeing the hole cards, spectators would never see a great read, or a heroic laydown. There’s also a bit of _schadenfreude_, too, when the viewers can see a player has what he wrongly thinks is the nuts, and is setting himself up for a bad beat. YouTube has a clip of a tournament from London, where the two players in the hand had pocket 9s and pocket queens. Both flopped a set, the turn was a queen, and the river was a 9. Watching the poor guy with quad nines figure out how to bet them, not realizing he was about get slaughtered, had an undeniable trainwreck fascination. (Another player at the table has a wonderful reaction when both sets of quads are turned up; he’s utterly stunned, like he’s just taken a 2x4 to the back of the head.) This is especially so if the player taking the beat is a notable “heel”, like Phil Hellmuth or Tony G; a YouTube clip of Daniel Negreanu tilting Hellmuth on three straight hands has over 3.8 million views. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/31 "2020-05-21T14:59:53Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Showing viewers the hole cards makes the players’ strategy more visible - without seeing the hole cards, spectators would never see a great read, or a heroic laydown. I forgot about this. I am struggling to remember when they began showing the hole card. I definitely saw it when Scotty Nguyen won the WSP, but a few years before that, I don’t think so. [Here is footage from 1989 that shows them as well.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfT638JFGw8) ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/32 "2020-05-21T23:04:17Z")
The old cliche (somewhat) applies, No Limit Hold’m takes a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master. Don’t under estimate how quick hold’m is to deal vs Omaha and Stud. More hands per hour means the casino gets more rake, A difference of 4 hands per hour could be an additional $20 of rake. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/33 "2020-05-23T01:57:08Z")
Just saw this tweet come across my timeline > ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/34 "2020-05-23T02:08:58Z")
Hold’m basically ruined the friendly game. It’s the worst game for a poker night. People forgot, or never learned, all the split games that spread out the wins/loses and kept everyone in it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/35 "2020-05-28T13:47:43Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Just saw this tweet come across my timeline > > [https://twitter.com/AndySlater/status/1263635447613468674](https://twitter.com/AndySlater/status/1263635447613468674) Best comment ever: “Looks like a lot of players are holding aces over eights.” For those of you who don’t get it, two pair, aces and eights, are the Dead Man’s Hand. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/36 "2020-05-28T15:53:20Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Best comment ever: “Looks like a lot of players are holding aces over eights.” > > For those of you who don’t get it, two pair, aces and eights, are the Dead Man’s Hand. Like live poker players have the healthiest of lifestyles anyway… Nothing like playing cards next to someone eating at the table. Yuck. For the vast majority of those players, COVID’ll be a non-issue. Brunson and Cloutier, being both obese and older than Methuselah, might want to stay away for the time being though. **Sitchensis** , Hold’em in and of itself isn’t a bad game. The more skill based variants, which HE and Stud are, are going to be tougher for newcomers than variants with a lot of wild cards and much more luck required, but that by itself shouldn’t kill a game. The No-Limit part of it, for people who don’t realize that a player needs 20-25 buy-ins or more in their bankroll to weather variance, and should reasonably expect to lose 3 or 4 buy ins in a session: that though can kill games. As **Turble** has pointed out. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/37 "2020-05-28T16:37:55Z")
Casinos are filthy. They are filthy at the best of times. As much as I love poker, casinos are the second to last thing that should be opened up during this pandemic, the last being nursing homes. If gamblers wanna risk their own lives that’s up to them, but the thing is they don’t stay in the casino. They then leave and transmit the germs elsewhere. A casino is Virus Grand Central Station. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/38 "2020-05-31T17:51:27Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > **Sitchensis** , Hold’em in and of itself isn’t a bad game. The more skill based variants, which HE and Stud are, are going to be tougher for newcomers than variants with a lot of wild cards and much more luck required, but that by itself shouldn’t kill a game. The No-Limit part of it, for people who don’t realize that a player needs 20-25 buy-ins or more in their bankroll to weather variance, and should reasonably expect to lose 3 or 4 buy ins in a session: that though can kill games. As **Turble** has pointed out. I don’t think it was the game per se, and I agree that having lot’s of buy-ins could fix the issue. It was the attitude. If you play an aggressive no-limit game in a friendly poker night. You’re not really playing the odds, you’re really playing that persons desire to spend time with their friends. We used to play a lot of Pineapple, which is a hold’em variant. The added discard improved the quality of the hands just enough that it could stand on it’s own and wasn’t just a fold and bluff fest. High Chicago was a split game that payed half to the highest spade in the hole. You never really knew why someone was in the action and the split pot moved money around. Any of the high/low splits put just about everyone in the action depending on the hand. Maybe instead of a 100$ buy-in you play 10, 10$ buy-ins and it works. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/39 "2020-05-31T19:05:17Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > I don’t think it was the game per se, and I agree that having lot’s of buy-ins could fix the issue. It was the attitude. If you play an aggressive no-limit game in a friendly poker night. You’re not really playing the odds, you’re really playing that persons desire to spend time with their friends. > We used to play a lot of Pineapple, which is a hold’em variant. The added discard improved the quality of the hands just enough that it could stand on it’s own and wasn’t just a fold and bluff fest. > High Chicago was a split game that payed half to the highest spade in the hole. You never really knew why someone was in the action and the split pot moved money around. > Any of the high/low splits put just about everyone in the action depending on the hand. > Maybe instead of a 100$ buy-in you play 10, 10$ buy-ins and it works. I don’t know. It may just be that those people you played Hold 'Em with had a much more aggressive mindset than those you played other poker variants with. HE, and NLHE especially, are tremendously dependent on the position of the player in relation to the action. It can be incredibly frustrating sitting in front of a loose aggressive player, and because relative position doesn’t change other than the one time a cycle that you get the button, it can be really annoying. In Stud, the position changes from hand to hand. You’re not always watching Mr. Aggro raise every hand you try to play with. Winning poker is a game of aggression though. It’s inherent to the game. Even in friendly games. If Mr. Aggro is playing too many hands, then get into it with him when you’re likely to have a superior range. You don’t always have to have QQ+ when re-raising into his aggression. 77+, Axo, would be fine. Stuff that you really don’t want to take a flop with, but does well heads-up against the garbage he likely has. Semi-bluff more if you think he’s paying attention to what you have and what you likely think he has. If you want to see five anyway with your hand and preserve your equity, when you’ve something like an OESD, 4 to a flush, especially with a suited ace, why not get it in first? At least he’ll likely stop picking on you,. ---
**Author:** ![str8cashhomie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@str8cashhomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/str8cashhomie)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116/40 "2020-06-01T03:47:36Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > It may just be that those people you played Hold 'Em with had a much more aggressive mindset than those you played other poker variants with. HE, and NLHE especially, are tremendously dependent on the position of the player in relation to the action. It can be incredibly frustrating sitting in front of a loose aggressive player, and because relative position doesn’t change other than the one time a cycle that you get the button, it can be really annoying. > > In Stud, the position changes from hand to hand. You’re not always watching Mr. Aggro raise every hand you try to play with. > > Winning poker is a game of aggression though. It’s inherent to the game. Even in friendly games. > > If Mr. Aggro is playing too many hands, then get into it with him when you’re likely to have a superior range. You don’t always have to have QQ+ when re-raising into his aggression. 77+, Axo, would be fine. Stuff that you really don’t want to take a flop with, but does well heads-up against the garbage he likely has. Semi-bluff more if you think he’s paying attention to what you have and what you likely think he has. If you want to see five anyway with your hand and preserve your equity, when you’ve something like an OESD, 4 to a flush, especially with a suited ace, why not get it in first? At least he’ll likely stop picking on you,. I agree that the aggression thing is more of an aspect of poker in general. The betting math means that with conventional bet sizes of 1/2 to 3/4 of the pot, value bets, bluffs and calls are breaking even if you’re wrong the majority of the time. And when multiple rounds of betting factor into the equation, if you call without a plan of betting or raising at some point on a later street it becomes less profitable, which skews the game even more towards aggressively bluffing and going for thin value. As someone who has played a lot of Hold’Em home games and has some interest in the more advanced theoretical side of it as a byproduct of watching pros, I think most very casual players don’t realize how many bluffs should exist in a balanced strategy, and they don’t understand how many strategic concepts go into being able to outplay an opponent (especially an aggressive one). I think the thought process of most casual/new poker players when someone else is betting into them is “do they have it or not” and they don’t realize that when you call on early streets it needs to be with a plan that incorporates your equity, what your opponent could be repping, and what you have the ability to rep on later streets. I do think the Hold’Em is a great game for encouraging new players to start thinking about the right things, because when you share the visible cards with everyone else at the table, it almost forces you to start comparing how likely your opponent is to have a flush to how likely you are to have a flush from their perspective which is a great starting point down the path of taking more of a strategic approach to the game than “I think he’s bluffing so I’m going to call.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-texas-holdem-become-synonymous-with-poker/854116.md?page=3)