With the in depth amount of research and development dollars and surveys that are conducted on an international level, the last thing that comes to mind might be poker or the poker variation of Texas Hold'em.  With the extreme popularity of poker tournaments such as the World Series of poker tournament in Las Vegas, the game of poker is seeping into all elements of everyday life and attracting all manner of new players and users from all over the world.  But the need for extensive research into the area of games such as Texas Hold'em is largely a gray area for many poker players.  But scientists and researchers have identified some interesting trends in the game of poker.  Some of these facts are well-known and hardly deserve any specific research on their own, but combined with all the other information revealed from the ongoing research and development engineered by scientists and firms hired for the task, much of the information regarding poker in the way it's played around the world is somewhat surprising.

First and foremost, what has been learned from these surveys is that Texas Hold'em is the most popular form of poker overall around the world.  While this is not news to most players, what is interesting to note is that, not only is Texas Hold'em one of the most popular forms of poker tournament and cash games around the world, it is more popular by orders of magnitude, making up more than 80% of all hands of poker played.  Attempting to estimate the amount of cash that has been played in hands of Texas Hold'em poker tournaments and cash games is an exercise in futility, but it is clear to see that there is no lack of interest in the game and specific variation of Texas Hold'em.  Even in online poker rooms and casinos such as Fulltiltpoker.com, Texas Hold'em is wildly popular and played by nearly everyone who frequents the site in general.  Staff at online poker rooms and casinos such as Fulltiltpoker.com confirm the accuracy of this type of research.  Reporting that Texas Hold'em makes up a whopping 89% of all online poker room games played at sites such as Fulltiltpoker.com leads to all manner of surprising information.  This overwhelming popularity should be an indication to poker room and casino proprietors of which game they should be catering to overall.

While plenty of money exists to be made at Omaha and stud poker, it is easy to see that the big money is in Texas Hold'em poker tournaments and cash games.  After all, if you are a professional poker player, would you not focus on the game that comprises more than 80% of all games played?