With the world seeing an amateur player winning against some of the best players in the world, the popularity of poker has took off like a rocket.

Thanks to a few inventions and a clever player, this game is more popular today than ever before.

Poker has been on television since the late seventies but never managed to gain much popularity. One simple invention changed everything in the nineties, when - thanks to technological advances made around that period - it has become possible to use small sized unobtrusive cameras to show viewers the hole cards of the contestants while the hands were being played out.

The invention of the so called pocket cam made watching poker on TV much more interesting thus broadening the public appeal. Up until this point, viewers could only guess what's been happening in the game.

Another important step was the opening of the first online poker room where players could play for real money. Free poker online was played as early as the late 1990s in the IRC chatrooms, but the first real money poker game was dealt on a dedicated online poker website in 1998.

Poker players have finally found the right medium that could get as many players involved as possible, from the furthest corners of the world.

The final step was, when a realtively unknown player called Chris Moneymaker surprised the world by winning the WSOP World Championship of Poker in 2003. Chris got his seat by winning a $40 online satellite tournament.

Since then, online poker exploded. Winning tournaments like this is no longer the privilege of the elite. With the right skills, everyone can be a winner and this appeals to a lot of new and prospective poker players.