The Texas Holdem poker phenomenon has taken the country by storm. There are reportedly over 100 million active poker players worldwide. Poker’s popularity is largely the byproduct of technology and several recent trends: 1) online gaming, where players engage and socialize in real-time over the Internet, and 2) the broad publicity created by high profile TV shows like the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and World Poker Tour (WPT).

With all the poker-mania, there’s a modern day "gold rush" underway today. Analyst estimates are a bit sketchy, but some estimate that people will spend up to $4.5 billion U.S. in 2005 on poker-related items of every kind, including:

* Online poker room play

* Poker tournaments

* Online poker room financial brokers (e.g., Firepay, NetTeller, Citadel and others)

* Casino poker rooms

* Game units for your TV

* Poker chip sets and dealer buttons (you can even get "collector" edition dealer buttons signed by the pros - got some as Christmas presents this year!)

* Poker tables and instructions for how to build poker tables