The game of poker is considered by many casual viewers to be a dull and boring game. When players watch real poker being played and not the heavily edited episodes of the World Series of Poker on ESPN, they see a game that has long periods of inactivity. As such, they tend to get bored and disinterested.
Suddenly, there is a raise at the table and a re-raise by another player. The two see a flop and the initial raiser leads out with a bet. His opponent then shoves his remaining chips in the middle and puts his tournament life at risk. The original raiser calls the all-in bet and suddenly the fans are on their feet.
As the players show their cards, fans begin to cheer in excitement for their player. If their player is ahead, they scream for the hand to hold or a bad card to hit the board. The fans of the player behind in the hand start screaming for a card to hit to help their hand. The crowd watching the game is in a frenzy to see what is going to happen next.
Sounds a lot like baseball doesn’t it. Two teams go at it for several innings with the sides being retired in order and suddenly you have someone on base and a very strong batter at the plate. Fans are now on their feet and cheering for their player in the hopes that their cheers will help their player connect with the ball and drive the runner on base home. Fans are on the edge of their seat and excitement is in the air.
Granted, poker and baseball are very different games. The only real luck involved in baseball is when a ball takes a funny hop or someone makes a miscue in the favor of the other team. Also, poker is an individual game where baseball is really a team game played by individuals. However, both games have a tremendous amount of strategy and both require players to be mentally sharp and capable of adjusting their play on the fly.
On the surface, both baseball and poker appear to be very dull games when the reality is that they are both games with long periods of boredom followed by periods of absolute excitement. It is the times of excitement that draws fans of baseball to the game and why poker has become popular in the last decade.
