What is a Poker Room?
Say poker room, and most people will conjure up images of a dim and smoky back room, with a faded green felt table, and a circle of slightly disreputable folks around it, hunched over their cards and guarding their chips. In fact, most people will picture that famous cheesy painting, Dogs Playing Poker, but with people in the place of the dogs. Its an old clich.
And like most clichs, theres a touch of truth to it. You can find poker rooms like that in the backs of bars, or in guys basements and bachelor pads, or anywhere that a regular game is going strong. But thats not all there is to poker rooms.
Over the last few years, as martini bars, cigars, and rockabilly swing music have made a comeback, poker rooms have come along with them. In some ways, its a natural marriage; some things just fit together well. Poker and martinis are among them.
Not surprisingly, the rise in pokers popularity has also marched hand-in-hand with the rising popularity of online gaming. Games of chance, even skill-based games of chance like poker, have done well on the Internet, and poker is not exception. Most of the bigger online casinos have...