Leo

Do you remember what exactly you were doing the first time you saw poker being played on television? You were probably just flipping through the channels looking for something to watch. ESPN covering the World Series of Poker is what thrust poker into the main stream.

Soon after this coverage, television networks were all trying to come up with their own poker shows to capture some of the market share. People across the nation were hearing the story of Chris Moneymaker how he turned $40 into millions. We all jumped right onto the band wagon.

Everyone now played poker. We all played online and at home games. We bought the pros poker strategy books to help improve our game. Poker had arrived. Little did we know that some congressmen were already plotting the demise of this wonderful past time.

On October 30, 2006 the UIGEA was passed which pretty much caused the majority of US players to stop playing poker online. It was attached to an unrelated port securities bill and was shoved through congress for approval. A huge debate surrounds this topic and will for years to come.

It seems that the popularity of poker has plateaued. The television networks are no longer ramming it down their viewers throats as much as they were doing. Online poker playing has dropped off significantly due to the UIGEA. We can all thank the WSOP for bringing poker into the mainstream media.

Luckily, not all online poker rooms stopped accepting US players. There is still a small handful of poker rooms that allow us residents to play online.

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