Texes Hold ’em Origins
Texas Hold ’Em, aka hold’em, holdem; is the community card game, meaning that a group of people is involved in playing the game and the competition is an essential part of the experience.
Today the holdem is the most popular poker game in Europe and North America in casinos and poker rooms.
The popularity of this poker game was growing steadily throughout 20th century and escalated greatly in 2000s. This was mainly due to the huge TV exposure that started about that time, reinforced by the Internet and some rich literature content that started being released on a regular basis for those who wanted to play poker professionally.
Very little is known about the origins of the game, but according to the Texas State Legislature, the early version of holdem was invented in Robstown, Texas, which is where the name comes from.
Las Vegas was the next destination of holdem, which happened roughly in 1967, as a result of a group of gamblers that travelled to Vegas and “infected” the city with the new and exciting concept in gambling. The three friends were Crandell Addington, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim.
Apparently the name of the game did not include “Texas”. This is what Addington said about this: "They didn't call it Texas hold 'em at the time, they just called it hold 'em... I thought then that if it were to catch on, it would become the game. Draw poker, you only bet twice; hold 'em, you bet four times. That meant you could play strategically. This was more of a thinking man's game."
Europe was first introduced to the “thinking man’s game” by two bookmakers, Terry Rogers and Liam Flood. Nevertheless, it did not become popular in Vegas straight away, as for some years to come the only casino patrons could enjoy the game at was Lucky Nugget Casino in Downtown Las Vegas. The casino was not very elite and due to its décor and interior, there were no “big fish” interested in trying the game or the casino out.
The launch of the World Series of Poker, which was initially called Second Annual Gambling Fraternity Convention, was indeed the beginning of the worldwide popularity of Texas Hold ‘em game, due to the steadily growing interest in the Main Event.
