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"Poker"

What is the nation's sudden overwhelming fascination with this game?

It's been all over the internet for a few months, and now it's all over the TV in various forms.

I know you can win cash prizes and so on, blah blah ad infinitum. But people have been winning (and losing) fortunes in poker games for decades, if not centuries.

It's not a new game by any stretch of the imagination, so why are we suddenly seeing it everywhere?

What is the nation's sudden overwhelming fascination with this game?

It's been all over the internet for a few months, and now it's all over the TV in various forms.

I know you can win cash prizes and so on, blah blah ad infinitum. But people have been winning (and losing) fortunes in poker games for decades, if not centuries.

It's not a new game by any stretch of the imagination, so why are we suddenly seeing it everywhere?

Because gambling is a mans sport.

Gambling is a mug's game, more like!

It doesn't mean the nation has a fascination with it if it's all over the place - just means the advertising people want you to have a fascination with it. Same with crap comedies on TV - "Best thing ever!" (Little Britain, you know who you are), but it's not really is it, it's rubbish and you're trying to convince me it's good, eh?

Oh, and Lost is rubbish too, but if the TV makes enough of a fuss the idiots will sit and watch it.

Why is the nation so fascinated by football?

Because football is the so-called 'national sport'. Plus, people have always been fascinated by football pretty much since it began.

Not quite the same as poker, which has been around for ages and yet suddenly seems to have grasped peoples interest.

I'm just curious as to what the spark was that made so many people think, "Ooh, this is new/interesting/cool."

The rugby fad after the World Cup I can understand, and the recent interest in cricket because we won the ashes... but poker?!

monkey_man wrote:
> Oh, and Lost is rubbish too, but if the TV makes enough of a fuss the
> idiots will sit and watch it.

Possibly because it's effective marketing?

Channels need ratings, ratings need promotion.

What do you mean by the "idiots"? People who enjoy the show, or is it just your opinion which you think should affect everyone?

"Oh Lost is crap, I watched it once and hated it, everyone else who watches it is an idiot"

Just sounds like

"I hate football, therefore everyone who watches football is an idiot"

Because people are fickle. Take cricket, no-one cares until England do well and then "OMG NICE ONE LADS". If they lose next year we'll never hear about it.

Edit: Newspapers are largely to blame, with all their stupid hype. "The Day Henman Hill became Murray Mount!" and crappy little lines like that. Henman always was crap, yet every year "Can Tiger Tim do it this time?" Tiger Tim, the most feeble nickname ever.

I don't think people are fickle - just happy to see our national teams do well for a change.

I never followed rugby, but was happy we won the World Cup... I didn't take it up as a passtime, though, and I've never watched a game since.

Same with the cricket.

Same every 4 years with the numerous other sports which roll around with the Olympics.

It's just nice to see an English/British team or individual do well in something. We're usually so crap in these things that we take the chance to celebrate whenever we can!

Like everything else, if you keep trying and failing, you eventually get fed up. If rugby and cricket (or any other sport) want to keep the public interest, the national teams need to make sure they win things consistently.

Now if only the useless berks in the footy team could give us something to be proud of for a little while!

I don't play Poker, never have and probably never wil.

But it's a pretty good game to watch on TV late at night...