With the pandemic momentarily setting back what was starting as a poker boom in the early 2000s, the card game is starting to stage a comeback lately with the threat of Covid-19 on the decline.
Poker was introduced to the Philippine market in 2006 and has since evolved tremendously over the years. At the onset of the pandemic, players shifted their focus to online poker as they spent much more time at home. The popularity of the game, whether we like it or not, actually started from there.
Post-pandemic, it was the turn of live poker to enjoy a boom here with various card rooms trying to outdo each other in enticing the poker community with bigger and bigger guaranteed prizes.
It started with one poker room offering Texas Hold ‘em at Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation’s Airport Casino. After the Metro Card Club opened as the first brick & mortar poker room in the country, numerous rooms followed suit.
Real popularity was gained after the launch of the Filipino Poker Tour, a local circuit sponsored by PokerStars. Seeing the reaction and the number of poker players in the country, the international brands decided to hold the inaugural tournament of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour at the Hyatt Regency Hotel & Casino in Manila in August 2007. This event placed the Philippines on the global map as a poker destination.
What makes poker popular among Filipinos?
The poker scene here only follows the trend worldwide. The latest numbers say that there are around 60 million poker players in the US alone and more than 100 million worldwide. Most players in the US play it on some of the best poker sites hereabouts.
When these numbers are considered, there are more poker players in the world than players of some very popular sports like golf or tennis.
Adrianne Sterne, chief editor of top10pokersites.net , listed six reasons why poker has become popular around the world.
The convenience of Online poker
Poker has always been quite popular, but never more so than today. One of the main reasons for that is online poker and how accessible it is to people worldwide. Millions of people are playing poker variations like Texas Hold’em and Omaha, both of which are available online. The best part is that these games are exactly the same online as they are in real life.
The only downside of online poker is that you don’t get the same thrills you feel while playing on a true poker table with cards you can touch, surrounded by real players. Things like bluffing and body language play a big part here, all of which are not present in online poker. This is unfortunate but necessary, and most players don’t mind playing online poker as the main parts of poker are still there. The game is still played live, and you’re still playing with real players — that’s what matters.
Skills matter, not luck
Many people believe that poker is all about luck, just like most other games of chance. However, poker was explicitly designed to make it more about the skills of each player and only partly about luck. What’s more, if you look at the long run, poker is completely skill-based.
A significant amount of luck is involved in the short run, but professional players deal with that by learning the best poker strategies they can. You can do the same, and the better skills you get, the more you’ll be able to win. That’s precisely why the players who win the most in poker in tournaments and other major events are those with the most skills.
Professional players know that poker is all about maths and odds. To win, you need to invest more when you have a statistical advantage and invest less when you have a disadvantage. Naturally, there’s a lot more to it than that, but this is the gist of things, and you need to be aware of it before you start playing poker as a real professional.
Overwhelming competitiveness and desire to win
All games in the world are played to win, and poker is no different. However, many believe that most players play the game only to win money, and they forget that the main goal of many professional players is the win itself. It’s true that money is a powerful motivator, but as is usually the case with games and sports, people usually start playing them for the sake of winning.
Poker is exciting and makes you incredibly competitive, which is the main motive of many players. Naturally, they know the money won’t hurt, but the competitiveness is often so overwhelming that you’re ready to invest a lot just to win. The rush of adrenaline you get when you’re playing and when you win is intoxicating, and anyone who has ever played poker knows that.
Poker is very social
Poker is so popular because it’s a social activity. Unlike many other games of chance, you play poker with other people. What’s more, you play against each other, which is rarely the case with other social games of chance, like blackjack.
This fact makes poker a perfect game for friends and tournaments. That’s precisely why many people often play poker at their homes with friends or family and why so many tournaments exist. The popularity of poker tournaments is so overwhelming that the prize pools often range in the millions of dollars.
The popularity of legal games of chance is inevitable
The importance of skills is not the only factor that separates poker from other games of chance — the legality matters as well. Unlike many other casino games that are often illegal, the rules around poker are often less stringent. This essentially has to do with the fact that poker is mostly a game of skill, and games like that are outlawed to a much lesser extent than games of pure chance like slots.
Naturally, in the US, poker is still mostly illegal, especially online poker. However, four states have made online poker legal — New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware and Pennsylvania. That, combined with the fact that players join offshore sites, is more than enough to warrant the high number of poker players in the US.
All in all, thanks to the legality of poker all around the globe, the game is consequently more accessible to regular people than other games of chance. What’s more, many countries are looking to legalize poker, including many states in the US. This is enough to make the game a lot more popular than other casino games.
Poker is a big part of our culture
In the end, poker’s popularity is connected to its place in our culture. Even certain phrases from the everyday speech are influenced by poker. Common phrases like “the chips are down”, “wild card” and “folded” all come from poker. And how can we forget poker face, a massively popular idiom in the English-speaking world, the origin of which is definitely clear.
All in all, when we consider all these reasons, it becomes quite clear why poker is popular in today’s world. Now you know what makes it so attractive.
