promos

The Colorful History of Poker: The Future History of Poker

The professional gamblers who brought poker into the maritime gambling rooms of New Orleans of the early 1800’s might recognize the basic game today, but they probably wouldn’t believe the mass popularity the game has achieved. Will we similarly suffer from disbelief if, chilled into a timeless sleep and thawed out in two hundred years, we were to see the Poker of the future?
One direction, which will probably happen well before most of us chill out, is wireless poker. Widespread, live, multiplayer experiences using handheld, portable devices are likely to grow … and gives new meaning to the term “poker hand.” And Webcams, both at home and in portable devices, are beginning to create a more widespread need for poker faces, even when online.
One blog writer has suggested that poker chips will get embedded RFID chips—small, unique identifiers that continually transmit their identity and location. Apparently, such an idea has already been patented, and it would allow poker rooms to track chips and monitor table activity in real-time.
Some observers are wondering if Poker, along with bridge and chess, should become an Olympic event. They are games of skill, a kind of sport, they argue, and preconceived notions about the Olympics being only for outstanding physical feats are defeated by the mention of, say, the Olympic events of curling and rifle shooting. If ESPN can cover the World Series of Poker, it would appear to be a sport.
Certainly, that would complete the remarkable history of the game, a rags-to-riches tale from pickup games and backrooms, to casinos, TV and the Internet--and, finally, perhaps, to the world’s best Poker players standing in the stadium as the torch is brought into the opening ceremonies.