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April 18, 2005
This one's for Mark
Saying Texas Hold'em poker is "growing in popularity" is like saying Wal-Mart experienced a minor growth spurt in the last 20 years. Poker isn't just becoming popular, it's becoming a cultural fad, a decade-defining movement. And while I'm usually very reluctant to openly swim in the mainstream, this is one bandwagon I am not ashamed to have jumped on.
Hold'em poker is the ultimate sport, minus the exercise. It combines the intellectual stimulation of chess with last-minute excitement of March Madness basketball. With professional baseball being dragged through the mud over steroid scandals, Texas Hold'em is America's new pastime. What could be more American than a game with "Texas" in its name?
Cleverly marketed Internet poker sites and dozens of timeslots for poker tournaments on cable (most notably, the World Series of Poker) have given Texas Hold'em more cool points than Jon Stewart. It seems like only a matter of time before the honeymoon ends and it all comes crashing down. I didn't really want to bring politics into a poker post, but with social conservatives in charge of every branch of government imaginable, I don't expect gambling to remain a cultural icon for very long without taking some heat.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the government is too concerned with nipple flashes and feeding tubes and poker will fly quietly under the radar. Personally, I hope this is one fad that sticks around for a long time, and I take comfort in knowing that we now have one less reason to be ashamed of the species:
"There are few things that are so unpardonably neglected in our country as poker. The upper class knows very little about it. Now and then you find ambassadors who have sort of a general knowledge of the game, but the ignorance of the people is fearful. Why, I have known clergymen, good men, kind-hearted, liberal, sincere, and all that, who did not know the meaning of a "flush." It is enough to make one ashamed of the species." -Mark Twain
Posted by Elyas at 01:24 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Comments
Ok Poker is nice, but lets get back to the issues. Specifically why can't I get my cheese filled hot dogs at the Local Kroger? WTF man? The Pennsylvania Dutch also make this concoction named Scrapple (Kudos to W.T. Flip Mode for that). Google or yahoo or [insert contemporary internet verb] to find out how wholesome Scrapple is...
Oh yeah Poker. Um well, I was hoping that if anybody was reading this blog and you know....maybe wanted to get a game going...give me a hollar. You Better. Better do it before the governator takes it away. I'll bring the cheese hotdogs and my main ablogistani can bring the pickles. I'm out.
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