Pokemon: Beyond.

Poker's new upsurge in popularity in is due to televisedshowings of championship poker tournaments, such as The WorldPoker Tour and The World Series of Poker. This has resulted inmillions of people all over the world playing either online orat land based casinos. Even movie stars and professionalathletes are getting into tournament action. This really becameevident when actor Ben Affleck won $356,400 and a tournamenttitle at Commerce Casino's California State Poker Championshipin June 2004.

And big business likes poker too. Bear Stearns estimated thatannual revenue from poker was $4.5 billion in 2003. Anotheranalyst group feels 2005 revenue will exceed $10 billion.PokerPulse.com stated that $200,463,154 .00 was wagered at onlinepoker rooms in a 24 hour period on March 13, 2005.

People see the excitement and money that is involved in pokertournaments by watching poker on TV, which is one reason theperception of poker gambling went from being played in darkrooms to a preferred status. The seasoned professional playersare excited about this as well. They are not winning as manytournaments as they have in the past due to the influx ofmany new players, but they are winning more than even becauseof their levels of expertise at the game.

Plus, the makeup of the top players has been changing. In thepast only people who played for years and built up instinctsfor knowing how to win were champions. Now the newer top playersare highly educated, highly successful and are analytical innature. You will see individuals from top professions likeFinancial Analyst, Rocket Scientist, Attorney, and Mathematicianalong with industry CEO's in the ranks of champion. Peoplelike Phil Ivey and Chris Ferguson who can perform mathematicalcalculations in their heads with ease will be the future.