Televised tournaments, strategy books, online gaming sites and even references in commercial music have led to a parabolic explosion in the popularity of the poker game No-Limit Texas Hold-Em.
Where in the early part of the last decade you would have had to ask casino staff for directions to the dingy card closet, today poker rooms have become posh and ubiquitous draws used to lure gamers and their families to book at major resort hotels.
Nowhere is that phenomenon more evident than on the Las Vegas strip, and particularly during long holiday weekends.
For the uninitiated, poker players can be divided into "sharks" and "fish." As in the animal kingdom, poker sharks eat poker fish, or at least their chips and money. The trick for good poker players is to find lots of fish and get fat.
Enter the Las Vegas strip.
Las Vegas hosts nearly 40 million visitors each year. Many are among the growing number of players who carefully study the World Series of Poker on ESPN and can't wait to try out their newly learned techniques in cash home games, on online poker sites or at the smattering of legal gaming spots around the country.
But no matter where a poker player goes, nothing compares to testing your mettle amid the glitz, glamour and energy of Las Vegas, home of the WSOP and many of the game's other biggest tournaments.
According to the British site onlinepokerrealmoney.co.uk, consensus says the strip is among the best places to find fish.
There, you'll find the tourist from Iowa who has never played against any serious poker competitors. You'll also find players who've spent all day drinking and partying before deciding it a great idea to buy $1,000 or more in chips to cap off a fantastic day by tossing cards across the green felt.
These types of players are much less likely to turn up at the smaller, nondescript poker rooms at downtown or off-strip casinos, or during a non-holiday Wednesday afternoon.
But before pushing all of your chips into the center and declaring yourself "all in," remember a key axiom of poker: If you sit at the table and can't immediately pick out the fish, then the fish is probably you.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
