by Rodney Sanders
Most people have played card games and know the rules of at least one or two, with a lot of people familiar with some popular games even if they haven’t played these games themselves. While this is in part due to the appealing nature of the games themselves, a lot of it is due to the influence of them on various forms of modern media and entertainment. Considering poker as an example, here’s what this influence looks like!
1. Participation increases immersion and relatability
People love to participate in things. One reason soccer is so widely adored as a pastime is that everyone watching it from the couch has played it at least once in their life. They understand the rules, they know how tricky or complicated a certain move is, and while playing, they can (just for a moment) pretend to be their favourite player.
It’s no different with poker.
With access to so many online casinos, you can watch a movie about poker players or watch your favourite streamer playing an incredibly risky hand and then just hop onto your app/site and play a hand yourself. This increases the immersion and your investment in the whole matter.
Needless to say, with the recent popularity of these games in Australia, they are becoming even more prominent than before. All you have to do is grab your phone and pick among the top poker sites in AU. In other words, you could be playing a hand in a matter of seconds.
This is not endemic to soccer or poker. The same goes for video games, as well. Just think about it. The number of players and viewers of a certain game category on platforms like Twitch and Kick is directly proportional. This is because the most dedicated watchers of the game are, as a rule, also players. Sure, it’s nowhere near this level, but they still feel more relatable to the characters they see on the screen.
Not to mention that poker is one of the best-known casino games. It’s not a luck-based game (but a skill-based one in equal measure), which is why it’s legal and allowed even in areas where luck-based games are prohibited.
2. Poker in cinematography
Poker is a common theme in many movies and TV shows. For instance, everyone wanted to play poker when Rounders (1998) first came out. The resurgence of the popularity of poker in modern cinematography came out with Casino Royale (2006).
Still, what makes poker so great for big screens?
The simplest way to explain it would be to say that it serves as a perfect vessel for the protagonist’s characterization. Here, you can see just how brutal, cold, and calculated James Bond is. The hand itself has that perfect progression of tension build-up that serves as a foreshadowing of the final confrontation between the main character and their protagonist. They face off at a poker table far before they meet in a duel or a final battle.
Also, as mentioned in the previous section, everyone understands the rules, making it easy for the general audience to follow.
3. Poker in streaming and social media
Social media did its part in popularising and glamourizing poker in the digital era.
Everyone wanted a life like Dan Bilzerian. Many people now see him as a synonym of an Instagram high-life. However, many people forget that he played in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event and that this was his ticket to worldwide brand recognition. So, what kind of message does this send? Play poker, and you can have the same life! How do poker players live? Well, some of them do live like Dan!
Poker streamers pulled some incredible numbers. The thing is that a game like poker (much like chess and other competitive games) has infinite replayability. Although incredibly fun, a game like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is primarily a single-player experience. In other words, it pulls huge numbers in weeks after it comes out and then falls off. This is never the case with games like poker.
Lastly, online casinos, including poker, sparked the birth of a platform like Kick. There was a huge market for casino game spectating, and Twitch introduced strict policies regarding it. So, all the streamers with this interest migrated to Kick. A lot of their audience followed them there. Kick has since diversified but this was its origin.
4. Use of poker terminology in real-life
One of the best examples of just how deep the penetration of pokers’ influence on our popular culture is the use of poker terminology in common vernacular.
Funnily enough, even people who have never played much poker in real life regularly use poker-related terminology. How? Well, they’ve seen it in movies and thought it sounded cool. They also may have heard it from others who consumed it through media.
In other words, when they encounter it in popular culture, people understand the language, and they can keep track of what’s going on.
