So Many Places To Play Poker Online

By Author: Ray Smith
Total Articles: 6
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Not too many years ago, it was difficult to find a place to play legal poker. Of course, thousands played poker at home with friends and family. Many others played in private clubs. Poker was a favorite pastime just about everywhere, in spite of the regulations on the books.
At some point in the last couple of decades this changed. There are still laws against playing the classic game. People still play at home and in private clubs, but most people live within driving distance of a casino that offers poker in a perfectly legal setting. In the 1980s and early 1990s, state and local lawmakers in the United States, for example, began to pave the way for legal gambling far from the lights and action of Las Vegas and Reno.
The growth of poker, thanks to Texas Hold ‘Em and television, has now reached around the globe, with tournaments set in major cities such as London and Paris as well as on Caribbean islands. Casinos that used to be riverboats have, with time and major investment, become land-based enterprises catering to poker players as well as those who enjoy craps, slots, roulette and blackjack.
A case ...
... in point is the area known as the Quad Cities on the Mississippi River between Iowa and Illinois. Beginning from one small ferry that traveled across the river and back, the poker/casino industry on the upper Mississippi has moved up in the world, right along with the industry itself. In a fascinating book entitled Temples of Chance David Johnston told the story of how this one tiny corner of the U.S. landscape joined the world of modern gambling.
Using the marketing ploy of creating jobs in an area devastated by factory closings and unemployment, casino developers concentrated on getting small riverboats approved. These floating poker and slot machine parlors were quite popular, catering to hundreds of local residents as well as to those who traveled to the big river to experience gambling in a riverboat setting.
Until recently, poker players could participate in tournaments and seven-card stud cash games in a real riverboat. Though small, with only half a dozen tables, Catfish Bend Casino was a well-preserved example of earlier times on the Mississippi. In 2007 this craft was still moving between Fort Madison, Iowa and Burlington, Iowa.
But now, Catfish Bend is a casino, a hotel, a waterpark and an entertainment complex. Gone is the walk up a small ramp, across the murky river waters, to a wide, carpeted stairway that led up to the dining room on the second level. Under that stairway was an opening that took the visitor into the main deck, which was filled with slot machines, a bar and gift shop.
In one corner, the owners had placed a few new tables expressly for playing poker. One of these was usually occupied by eight to ten middle-age or older men who still enjoyed the classic game of seven-card stud. The rest were sometimes taken up by the 30 or so folks who were trying to win the small Hold ‘Em tournament scheduled for every weekend afternoon.
What is the old saying - you never know what you've got ‘til it's gone?

Ray S. publishes articles to help improve play for poker players at online casinos or playing live tournaments. His humor makes it fun to learn the art of poker: www.win247.co.uk