Many people associate “poker face” with Lady Gaga but this term was around long before the pop singer made it famous. A poker face is one of the most essential and fun features of playing poker but it’s a skill to master and it definitely requires practise. Novice players struggle to contain their expressions when they get a good or bad hand and this makes them an easy target for professionals.

Part of playing poker is observing your opponents and in order to beat them you need to be able to read their body language. From a subtle raised eyebrow to a faint smile, one of the most valuable lessons in poker is watching the players around you. However, bear in mind that you’re also under scrutiny. For this reasons it’s important to develop a good poker face so that regardless of your hand, your expression remains neutral. Everyone uses different tactics but the essential trick is to control your entire body. It’s no good perfecting the poker face if your voice goes up an octave when you have a winning hand. As with any skill, the more you practise, the better you’ll play.

Variations of poker are played throughout the world and the three most popular types are: Draw, Stud and Community Card Poker. Of these, the most frequently played is the Community Card variant called Texas Hold’em.

Hold’em has simple rules which make it a fairly easy game for beginners to learn. It’s also fast paced and this makes it exciting to watch. It has enjoyed a meteoric rise because it’s featured in movies like Rounders and Casino Royale and it’s the poker variant that’s chosen for the highly televised World Series of Poker Main Event. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker became the first winner who had qualified online and he did so playing Texas Hold’em. This event significantly increased the interest in poker and the number of online poker sites and tournaments exploded.

Another factor which contributed to its popularity was the invention of the hole cam. This small camera showed the face-down cards during recorded poker games and this novel aspect quickly grabbed the attention of the viewers at home. Texas Hold’em is the game that most new poker players want to learn and it has some of the most impressive tournament prizes at both online and land based casinos.

Poker is one of the most popular table games in the world and it’s played at land based casinos, online casinos and in private homes. While there are many poker tournaments worldwide, one stands out as the king of them all – the World Series of Poker. The WSOP is a series of tournaments that are held every year in Sin City. Each tournament winner receives a WSOP bracelet and prize money which is determined by the number of contestants. The last game played is the Main Event and the winner of this final table is judged to be the World Champion.

The tournament began in 1970 at the Horseshoe Casino, where owner Benny Binion organised a contest between about 30 of the best players at that time. Little did he know that it would grow into one of the biggest and most recognised poker tournaments in the world. The inaugural title went to Johnny Moss who was voted “best all-around player”. As the WSOP continues to grow in popularity, the number of contestants increase and so too does the prize money. In 2012 it was won by Greg Merson who walked away with the final pot which totalled $8 531 853.

The history of poker is filled with huge losses and impressive wins but none are as extraordinary as the Big One for One Drop. In 2012, during the World Series of Poker tournament, there was one poker game that had a $1 million buy-in and a winning pot of nearly $19,000,000. The purpose of the game was to make money for a charity – One Drop – which raised funds to supply drinking water to needy countries. From every buy-in, $111,111 went to this charity. One Drop, a non-profit organisation, received a staggering $6 million in donations from the event.

There were 48 players who competed in this high stakes game and they were a combination of poker stars and prosperous businessmen. They played No LimitHold’emand all the action was televised. The record-breaking final table was eventually won by Antonio Esfandiari. Known as The Magician, he pulled the rabbit out of the hat and walked away with poker’s first platinum bracelet, worth $350,000, and $18,346,673 – the single biggest prize in sports history.While he took the main prize, the top nine finishers walked away with a total of over $42,000,000.

Close to 130 000 curious people, from over 90 countries, used the Internet to watch Phil Laak play poker for 115 hours. Nicknamed The Unabomber, Laakhad previously played for 72 uninterrupted hours which he smashed by 43 hours to officially enter into the Guinness Book of Records for the “Longest marathon playing poker by an individual”. His record-breaking feat happened in Sin City at the Bellagio Poker Room. Laak began playing poker on the 2^nd of June 2010 and ended nearly 5 days later on the 7^th June 2010. He ate every five hours and took a 5-minute break every 60 minutes. He banked some of these timeouts to shower and have yoga sessions and he also managed to sleep for a 30-minute period. He claimed that he drank no caffeine products or had any stimulants to prevent him from sleeping.

Unofficially his record has been broken by Barry Denson, a poker player from England, who managed to play nonstop for 120 hours and 20 minutes. Videos and documentation have been submitted to the Guinness Book of Records and a final verdict is still pending. If his record is successful then he would have played poker for five hours longer than Phil Laak.