What got everyone here started with poker? (1 Viewer)

[Ipuntchips]

Just wondering what got everyone here into poker! For me it was a family friend who reached out about a year ago, they had a last minute drop out in a tournament, I had a vague idea how to play so I got a 30 minute advance notice/invite, and I've been hooked ever since!

 

[Eriks]

Chris Moneymaker and those 2003-2005 WSOP ESPN shows as well as the WPT from the same era. Good times!

 

[Poker Zombie]

Poker Boom.

I already enjoy gaming, poker just became popular during the Moneymaker era with multiple TV shows geared toward beginning/casual players and legal online poker that wasn't just blind shove-fests. So I hade semi-custom chips made and invited people over to play this "new" game everyone now had at least some exposure to, and thus some curiosity.


Now if we could only get some Robo Rally on TV...

 

[Colquhoun]

That original WSOP coverage on ESPN with Lon McEachern and Norman Chad was great. It was approachable enough that a beginner that had never seen it could watch along with a seasoned player and both still enjoy the program.
Chris Moneymaker lit the spark, but that ESPN coverage really opened up the game for everyone…me included.

 

[raynmanas]

moneymaker, twoplustwo, and the wild west early days of online poker

 

[Mushmanchuman]

Moneymaker got me into playing poker and Dutch Boyd along w/ WSOP chips got me hooked on chips. Even though I didn’t really start chipping until 2018.

I just got out of the Army and was working at Trader Joe’s. A dude over heard me talking bout cards and invited me to his game. 20 person, $20 tourney, every Friday.

Then I ended up living there and was the only studied player. I even went full nerd and took pics of the winners with the disposable camera.

 

[LotsOfChips]

Playing in the hallways of high school between classes and during lunch breaks for nickels and quarters.

That was over 50 years ago. There were many years in the middle where the games thinned out or disappeared, but about 6 years ago my life evolved to allow me to get back into the game.

The main difference between then and now is the dominance of NLHE, which didn't really exist back then. In many ways, I prefer the mixed games/dealers choice of the past. The poker boom seems to have killed that, in that most players who began in the last 20 years or so only seem to know (and want to play) NLHE. That's a shame IMO

 

[legend672]

Legend has it that it was the first word I ever spoke. Wish I was as good at it as I am at cribbage or Gin rummy. Prefer 7 stud and 5 card draw to hold’em . It’s rough getting old