The causes of the rise in popularity of poker in Ireland and across the whole of Europe are the subject of much debate. Some put it down to the televising of major poker tournaments, which brought this casino game to the attention of the general public in much the same way as Pot Black achieved with snooker. Others believe that it is entirely due to the arrival of the online casinos and the increased access to a variety of poker games they were able to offer us. Either way online poker is now many peoples casino game of choice. There is also no doubt that the most popular poker format played at the online casinos is Texas Hold’em, probably because Texas Hold’em is the poker format used at almost all the major poker tournaments throughout the world and therefore has a certain amount of Kudos amongst serious poker players. The appeal of Texas Hold’em for ardent tournament poker players and online poker players is easy to see, and results from the use of community cards. Each player is dealt two cards face down after which five community cards are dealt face up, one at a time with a betting round between each card being dealt. The result is that the pot grows very quickly if there are several players who fancy their chances and stay in the game, and because each player effective has seven cards available to make up their final hand instead of five, the hands are likely to be better than some other forms of the game. We have detailed all the rules of Texas Hold’em in our casino games pages, including a few essential strategies, but we should also add a word of warning for those who have never played Texas Hold’em poker. Poker, and in particularly Texas Hold’em poker is a casino game which almost always favours the more experienced player in the long run, so be careful when playing on any of the online casino forums because you generally do not know how experienced your opponents might be. You must also be prepared to gamble far more than the initial table stake to stay in the game, so think twice if your budget is limited, Texas Hold’em may not be the casino game for you.