The game of Texas Holdem has been around quite probably before even the territory of Texas was discovered. The game was most likely invented elsewhere and brought to Texas by traveling soldiers, who most likely participated in the playing of Texas Holdem, or whatever it was originally know as, in an effort to alleviate boredom on the trail. It isn't hard to imagine soldiers traveling and trading and wagering on the duties and details each soldier was responsible for as a routine course of events, the winner requiring the loser to attend to the multitude of duties required of the soldier in those days. Whatever the form the game originally took, it is likely that traveling soldiers carried the tradition of gambling and playing Texas Holdem to new areas and lands as they traveled, just as they had other games of chance over the centuries of world history.

The game of Texas Holdem, or something similar was no doubt practiced by foreign sailors as well, British, French and Spanish sailing crews that clashed with each other in great and carnage filled battles among the waves of the world's oceans. These crews no doubt would have carried a multitude of gambling traditions with them as they traveled, teaching and learning with new outposts and areas as well as trading furs, blankets and jewelry up and down the available navigable coast lines. These sailors managed to get everywhere in the days of river and inland water navigation and utilization, and their cultures and customs went with them, to be passed on to the natives or other indigent residents. This is likely the very same method in which the game of Texas Holdem got spread around and became a staple of the gambler's traditional repertoire around the world.

The difference between Texas Holdem is likely only in the fact that the game was likely renamed and adapted to it's Texas Holdem namesake as it spread, becoming more and more commonly known as the game of Texas Holdem wherever it was played and known. While many other games of chance have enjoyed a similar world wide or regional notoriety, few games are as well known or well recognized as Texas Holdem around the world. The game is unique in that it can result in the loss of a player's entire bankroll in one hand, hence the term no limit Texas Holdem. But even when the limiting system of playing is implemented, the practice of playing Texas Holdem is unabated and brings players from far and wide to try their luck at big winnings.

This popularity has made Texas Holdem a prime example of the hold that gambling has on the world, as Texas Holdem alone attracts hundreds of thousands of players around the world every year through annual events and other, more subdued activities. Today, the practice of playing Texas Holdem is as common as any other form of gambling nearly anywhere on Earth that gambling takes place, out stripping many competing forms of card based gambling as one of the most popular forms of gambling on the planet.