The Year In Poker: 2008

It's been an eventful year in poker with online poker rooms continuing to attract millions of fans all over the world. Players now have more choice than ever before, check out our poker room reviews to see the online poker stars of 2008.

The World Series of Poker had its youngest ever winner, Texas Hold 'em continued its increasing popularity world-wide, and U.S. legislators continued to crack down on the game. We bring you the highs and lows of the last 12 months in poker.

Highs
Peter Eastgate wins World Series of Poker Main Event: 22-year-old Dane, Peter Eastgate became the youngest winner at a World Series of Poker Main event, beating Russian Ivan Demidov in Las Vegas to take away over $9 million and a gold bracelet for his efforts. And with age on his side, this won't be the last we hear of Peter Eastgate.

The increasing global popularity of poker - and in particular the American version Texas Hold 'em - was highlighted by new initiatives in Russia and China. PokerStars, the largest online poker site in the world, announced a new Russian poker tour in December. A month earlier, Chinese television began broadcasting Traktor Poker, a World Poker Tour-sponsored series sanctioned by Beijing.

TV ratings went through the roof at this year's WSOP main event. Around 1.9 million U.S. households watched the Eastgate-Demidov final, which was aired closer to the real-life event than usual, resulting in a 50 percent increase in viewers on last year.

Lows
Anurag Dikshit's guilty plea in a U.S. federal court for violating the federal wire act while running online gaming site PartyGaming, will unfairly turn attention on the large majority of people who manage to practice their passion for poker without violating the law.

The controversial UIGEA legislation continued to make headlines in the poker world throughout 2008. Pro-gambing legislators have so far found no way to push back the 2006 bill, which effectively imposes a ban on all forms of Internet gambling.