Poker is Meant to be Fun

With the recent explosion of interest in poker, it's easy to forget that poker is a social game. We see the high stakes World Series of Poker episodes replayed over and over on ESPN. The Travel Channel features regular showings of The World Poker Tour. The shows are filled with sunglasses and stone cold stare downs. Watching pros such as Doyle Brunson and Howard Lederer make studied moves on the felt is great fun. We secretly dream of bluffing Johnny Chan out of a massive pot.

The great news is, there is a place that we can attempt such feats of derring do. That place is appropriate here-the internet. There are online game rooms of every shape and size. It is no problem finding a game.

The bad news for many of us is, this exploration is taking a lot of the pleasure from playing poker. Sure, it's easy to get a game online. Trouble is there's simply not much interaction with the other players at a typical online table. The other players are anonymous. This can lead to a quiet table at best and a downright obnoxious table at worst.

For almost all of us playing poker is meant to be a relaxing pastime. You knowa Friday night with friends after the work week. A number of sites are trying to place this social aspect back into internet poker. For instance, Home Run Poker, is a website where fans of baseball that like to play poker can meet and arrange private games at set times. This way you get to meet and become friends with people from all around the world that share a common interest with you.

If making poker fun again seems good to you there are a lot of actions you can take. Find a neighborhood, such as Home Run Poker, where others that share your interest gather. A great place to locate such websites is in the blogging community. If you can not locate such a group, you may want to start participating with a group whose interests are somewhat similar to yours. By way of example, any sports website would be a great match if you are a sports fan. You'd probably soon find people that enjoy your favorite game, too.

If all else fails, start up your own community. It is easy to do with a little time and research. You will be rewarded with many new friends and you will always have a fun game of poker to look forward too. Let us make online poker fun again.