By now, everyone who plays poker either at home with friends or through the good offices of Juicy Stakes Poker, has played Texas Holdem. Before Texas Holdem became so popular, seven card stud was the most popular game. So, what is it about Holdem that has catapulted it into the popularity stratosphere?
Juicy Stakes Poker Remains at the Top of Online Poker Rooms
Before we dive into the popularity of Texas Holdem, we would like to acknowledge that Juicy Stakes Poker has also become one of the most popular online poker rooms. Many sites perform a Juicy Stakes Poker review and we uniformly come out well.
We offer a great poker platform; we take very little rake; and we publish interesting and informative articles like this one. As you will soon see, the history and popularity of Texas Holden are not just history and popularity. There is a lot beneath the surface that has contributed to Holdem’s rise.
Let’s Compare Texas Holdem and Seven Card Stud
Both games use seven cards. Players make the best hand from any five cards. In seven-card stud, each player uses only his or her cards. Since there are up to seven cards per player, only 7 players can play a hand of seven card stud.
In Texas Holdem, there are five community cards and the players have only two dedicated cards of their own. So, theoretically, 23 players could play a hand of Texas Holdem.
We think that the existence of community cards has led to Holdem’s great popularity. Since every player has equal access to the community cards, players only have to try to figure out what a player still in the hand has in the hole. This is quite complicated but it probably seems less complicated than trying to figure out the three hole cards in seven-card stud.
The Flop Draws in a Lot of Bets
This is at the same time one of the main reasons why Texas Holdem is so popular and also a source of many players throwing good money after bad. A lot of players, especially at low stakes and following small bets before the flop, will call with “nothing” just to see the flop. After all, they have seen on YouTube that sometimes a player with pocket 4’s will flop a great hand. In seven-card stud, there is betting on the deal which is two cards down and one card up, then another round of betting on the next up card, and so on as the cards are dealt individually.
Thus, in seven card stud, there are five rounds of betting and a player who is beaten on the board will likely drop out and have to sit the hand out. In Texas Holdem there are only four rounds of betting. This “helps” players who like poker but are afraid of the betting aspect of the game.
Why are Players “Afraid” of the Betting Side of Poker?
The single most common reason is that players are afraid that they are being bluffed. Especially newer poker players are afraid of being bluffed, afraid of misreading the hand when the opponent simply has a better hand, and are not experienced enough to know when to bluff themselves.
In fact, as popular as Texas Holdem is, there are plenty of players who should be playing video poker instead, a game that Juicy Stakes also offers in the casino side of our site. Video poker has a huge return-to-player rate of about 99.5% if you play every hand correctly. And there is no bluffing at all in video poker!
There is No Ante in Texas Holdem
As much as many players are tempted to stay in a hand to see the flop, many players like Holdem because they can fold out of any hand before the flop at zero cost to themselves if they are not one of the blinds. A lot of players see this feature of Texas Holdem as a kind of insurance policy against having a very bad hand on the deal.
In seven card stud, everybody antes before the deal. Even if the ante is small, it is still money that you lose if you feel that you have to fold on the first round of betting.
In Holdem, there are books that attempt to teach the game to new players. One of the first lessons is the range of hands you can stay in the hand with if you're in an early position. This advice is often broken in low-stakes games but, when you get to higher stakes with higher blinds, a lot of players are happy to fold in early position if they don’t have that small handful of hands that they are told they can bet with.
This can also be a drawback since if you stay in hands only with a small range of hands, everyone will know “what you have” when you do call or raise before the flop. Therefore, some players feel the need to mix it up sometimes and call with a minimal hand to see the flop.
It Seems Like Texas Holdem is Very Complicated
It is quite complicated. That would seem to indicate to some players that a game like seven-card stud should be more popular than it is. The real point is that poker is a complicated game with many twists and turns. The challenge to conquer the many twists and turns and win at Texas Holdem is one of the reasons why the game is so popular.
Be aware that seven card stud is also very complicated!
Texas Holdem is Also Popular Because it Came out of Texas
Texas Holdem was the variation of poker that was played in the wildcatting oil country of West Texas. It was a local variation of poker for several decades until four top poker players “brought” it to Las Vegas. These four players were Corky McCorquodale, who is generally credited with being the first to teach players the game in Las Vegas, Amarillo Slim, Crandell Addington, and Doyle Brunson.
The World Series of Poker started in the 1960s and when the tournament became a televised event, the game they played became immensely popular.
Juicy Stakes Poker Offers Texas Holdem and More
Poker players love Holdem, of course. Many also love Omaha which we also offer. We offer many promotions and sponsor many tournaments. Many thousands of poker players have found a poker home here at Juicy Stakes Poker.
