Hachem: Poker is Dying

[Leprekahn]

Even if poker was outlawed in very country in the world, it would still be played everywhere.

After BF, I originally felt that poker would be legalized in about 2 years and we would see another huge poker boom. Now, 3 years later with the Lock Withdrawal fiasco and the everleaf shutdown and other countless negative happenings in online poker, I know feel BF has hurt online poker more then originally thought.

I think a lot more people have turned into casual players compared to pre BF....myself included. However time heals almost everything and if it does finally get legalized across the board then eventually with the help of a lot of positive withdrawal stories....it will get back to pre BF.

 

[Ronoh]

Isn't pokerstars still breaking records even now without us Americans at the tables? Yeah, pretty sure the game we love is alive and well.

 

[redwhitealex]

number of people playing poker is growing, but most of them play online and therefore lost the atmosphere itself Plays and intensity that were ranshe.plyus distrust of some payment systems

 

[rawone]

Here's the thing: if you haven't been around all that long, things seem pretty good. Online has stabilized, it looks like some places in the US have legal online gaming, and there are casinos pretty much all over the world with poker. In fact, there is probably thousands of tables open now all over the world playing the game. With them rose tinted glasses on, everything looks good.

However, Hachem is right, and there are two ways to explain it.

First, listen to his words and what he generally is calling out: Boring poker. You know, those players with the hoodies up, the headphones and sunglasses on, saying nothing, doing nothing, playing almost with sign language and with absolutely no emotion. They don't make for good TV, they don't make for a good live game, and they are insanely boring to play against.

These also tend to be the same players who aren't helpful with the new fish in the game. They auto-bot their way through them, taking all their money without even as much as a "how do you do", turning the experience of sitting at a table with them into something less desirable than betting on one of those big spinning wheels.

If you want to see what is happening with poker, go back and look at 9 ball pool about 15 years ago. It went from background noise "Color of Money" with a few big tournaments a year to suddenly a game all over TV, played everywhere, leagues, local tournaments, lots of players, lots of new billiard halls... 5 years later, it's gone from TV, the leagues have all fizzled, and it is once again a marginal niche sport that has it's supporters but is no longer ripping the world up.

Poker gets all that 9 ball got, plus a legal hassles, payment issues, and of course Black Friday. In the US, the game has gone from top of the mind awareness on TV every night and so on to a marginal thing once again very rapidly. In the rest of the world it's pretty good, but not what it was. A mid level 2 day tournament in Adelaide this past weekend had a huge field of (are you ready) 57 players. 57.

http://www.pokerasiapacific.com/rocco-illuminato-wins-poker-sa-diamond-event-41436.html

Anyway, it's just to say that things aren't as good as they were, the money is bigger but that is only because on the very top end, the buy-ins have gotten stupid in an attempt to keep things interesting. Million dollar buy ins are just to me an indication of how disconnected the big games are from reality, and another reason why things are falling apart.

On that note, anyone going to Macau this weekend for the PS event?

 

[OldDog456]

I think online poker in usa has definately been dying, although other countries and live poker is booming everywhere. There is less televised poker since there are different players and you have no one to constantly root for as any other pro event where they have teams and such. Poker is very much alive and growing as a whole.

 

[jazzaxe]

The only reason poker may be dying is the skill gap has diminished. Despite, what you read and hear, Texas Hold'em is not a technical skill which can only be understood by math geniuses. A reasonably intelligent person can grasp the techniques and strategies necessary to win. Hachem can include himself among the one time winners and a certain amount of luck propelled him into the winner's circle. The level of play is about as high as it can get.

 

[BadB420]

Yea I dont think poker is dying, black friday hurt really hurt the poker world but eventually online poker will be legalized in all of the USA and the new poker boom will start all over again! Every game has ups and downs but poker will be back and better than ever in the next 10-15 years!

 

[credsfan03]

Poker is dying because of a lot of what you all mentioned.

Re-entries are terrible after a certain amount. I think 1 re-entry should be the max. People will huge bankrolls are obviously favored in this type of tourney, and personally, the guy who enters 5 times and wins to me is not a winner.

Online regulations in the states has def. diminished poker.

Once the US figures out a federal bill, there will be another poker boom.

The reason poker took off in 03 - 06 was because a bunch of random people to the general public were winning. Poker was new and exciting for all and gave the image that anyone can win. Now with recent years of hoodies + big headphones and no talking, it is less appealing to the general public. If it wants to gain mainstream success ever again, we will need it to be more of a casual but still competitive game which I do not see happening.

Very good point. I am in favor of limited re entries but the games where people are buying in 5+ times need to be gone. I like the re entry format where you can buy in on a day 1 and if you get knocked out wait until the next day and you can re enter one more time.