The poker boom

Nowadays it's quite evident how hugely the poker phenomenon is spreading all over the world.
Thanks to televised tournaments, tens of thousands of new players are eager to claim their share of poker glory. Books and journals multiply.

More and more young players dream their seat at the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) or at the European Poker Tour (EPT), wearing their sunglasses and facing pros like Chris Moneymaker, Greg Fossilman Raymer, Phil Helmutt or Howard Lederer, with the dream and the hope to take home the loot, just like Jamie Gold did in 2006, when he won the incredible amount of $12,000,000.

Like all "stories", also the story of poker gets lost in the legend, from which stand out eccentric characters of genius, deep-seated and sometimes justified prejudices, bizarre situations, that in a whole, have contributed to make the "planet poker" a world in itself, multicoloured and picturesque. "Stories" like the one which tells that in the summer of 1949 the heavy gambler Nicholas "Nick the Greek" Dandolos approached Benny Binion with the request to challenge the best in a high-stakes poker marathon. Dandolos and the legendary Johnny Moss fought for five consecutive months with breaks only for sleeping. Moss eventually won "the biggest game in town" and an estimated $2 million. When the Greek lost his last pot, he stood up, bowed slightly and uttered the now-famous words, "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go".

For decades this fascinating world has been related to smoky and shady images. But in the last years things are changing.
In 80s and at the beginning of 90s the poker, above all the Texas Hold'em, was still a game for a few pioneers who participated to big live tournaments.
But since poker went online the game literally exploded, from United States to Canada, from Europe to Australia and today when you play online poker it's easy to find people from Russia, China or Thailand, sharing the same passion and the same dream.