Poker has become among the hottest programming on television, from The Travel Channel's World Poker Tour, Fox Sports' Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament, Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown, NBC's Battle of Champions and National Heads-Up Poker Championship, to ESPN's World Series of Poker.

Over the past few years, the popularity of poker (specifically Texas Hold'em) has exploded nation-wide thanks to increasing television coverage and ratings.

Social
Everyone enjoys a traditional home game, where one can hang out with friends or meet new friends. If you like to socialize over card tables, you will definitely enjoy a lower stake poker game. It is more fun and friendly for players to engage in.

Entertainment
Poker is a very exciting game. It is not just based on chances; like sports, it requires skills and a bit of luck to control and win a game. Players enjoy the competitiveness in a game just like they would in any other sport.

Education
As stated previously, poker is not a game based purely on luck. You will need knowledge and skill to win the game. The skills that you learn in poker can be applied in life. You will be able to improve your skill on reading people. Also, you will apply more logic since you practice strategy plays in your game.

Incentive
Majority of people start out by playing poker for fun while making a small amount of cash from a friendly game of poker. Not everyone wins his or her first game. However, the possibility of winning will increase once you improve your poker skills. Comparing to other type of betting, poker is one of the forms where it requires your skills to win the game. Thus, it is more likely to actually win a game in poker by being good at the game.