I have witnessed one or two poker events and mostly here in the forum and to a good extent it was all enjoyable to both the players and those who watched that happen, and reason for such satisfaction is because of the nature of poker games which is skill-based and needing a lot of input from the player at some point.
That is why winning a poker game will not just happen by luck or chance but mostly by the consistent input and contribution of the players involved and that the reason why most time, they record more loses and at the same time winning without any much possible manipulations of the game by the house.
So to win a poker game, one need a good strategy and handful of skills to meet u with the game's technicality and ability to beat the system to a win.
There's a possibility of manipulation in poker too and that is if there's an insider that's playing on the table or that someone is conniving with the dealer that's giving out the cards, a lot of people has done this before, trying to cheat their way by having a partner in crime or that they can change or illegally peek at the cards but besides that I do agree that poker is exhilarating both for the player and the audience because each role is experiencing something different, the audience most of the time knows the cards dealt so they're excited at how the players will deal with the hand that they've dealt and the audiences are left to imagine what could they do if they were in that position, the players experience mostly stress because they're trying to think hard without making it obvious and at the same time don't create a pattern in their bluffs, calls, and checks. I want to try playing poker again so it's a bit of a blessing that this thread popped up when I needed it the most, I plan to check the sites that are mentioned soon and on my free time.