The Evolution of the Amateur Everything

By Bobostonepony

The end of the road is near. It was a good run. I, like millions of others, got hooked on this great game. 3 years ago TV catapulted poker into the mainstream. Shows like ESPN’s World Series of Poker coverage, The World Poker Tour and Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown relentlessly pulverized poker into our living rooms. The frenzy began with a gentleman named Moneymaker. When ESPN televised Chris Moneymaker winning the 2003 World Series of Poker every has-been jock, every math geek, every local chess champ, every college sophomore living in a dorm, and every married man looking for an excuse to get out of the house one night a week all bought a poker book and decided to learn the game. Why? Because if an average schmuck could win it so could we!

What did we do? We bought poker books, we watched the reruns of the WPT and the WSOP, we spent thousands of dollars playing on internet poker sites, we organized weekly poker games and poker leagues, we bought our own poker chips, we bought table tops, we spent hours communicating with other wannabe poker players via chat sites, poker blogs, and newsgroups, and we took an occasional trip to Las Vegas to justify our investments.

Millions of dollars have been generated. Casinos, not only in Vegas, but in other states as well have rearranged entire floorplans in order accommodate the game. 5 years ago, you were lucky to find a poker room in a casino….. and even then, you were damn lucky to find a hold’em game.

The poker boom has made a handful of people millionaires and some of those have rock star fame as well. The rest of us hold on tight and try our damndest to reach the very next level. However, we are dangerously close to being oversaturated. There are now new poker television shows popping up weekly. Every household in American has purchased a 500 piece chipset. There are thousands of online poker rooms and we see advertisements for them everywhere we look.

The downfall is near. Now, in no way do I feel like people are just gonna stop playing poker all together. However, I think people are going to stop buying poker supplies, drastically reduce their online play, tune in less to the 20 poker shows that are now televised, and visit casinos to play poker less. Why? Here’s why:

1. Online poker is rigged. Period.
2. The WPT replacedwith
3. and Celebrity Poker replacedwith

I know the last two reasons seem minimal but here’s my point. We were used to seeing Shana Hiatt on the WPT and now we have a new face. It is the same phenomena as when a sit-com replaces one of the actors with a new face but we are supposed to act like we didn’t notice (ex: when Darlene got replaced on Rosanne). The new face happens to not be as attractive, as witty, and appears to not have any personality.

Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown now has Phil Helmuth as it’s co-host. This is quite possibly the worst selection Bravo could have made. They may have been better off choosing an amateur unknown player. Helmuth is quite possibly the least likeable person in the game. Why would you have him as your co-host? Look, the show wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. I know that. However, it did have a role in the poker explosion. The truth is, those celebrities are like MOST of us. They are terrible and they are acting like they know the game. This show is highly responsible for bringing NEW players to the game. The show is very entertaining, we like to see famous people playing the same game we play. We like criticizing them for their horrible play. But now, with such a terrible choice as a co-host, many of us will stop watching this show. More importantly, potential new poker players will start watching that show and quickly lose interest.

However, in my opinion, the biggest factor that will be responsible for the demise of the poker boom:

ONLINE POKER IS RIGGED. You may critisize me until your fingers are sore, however I am as convinced about this as I am that there is no Santa Clause.

What the future holds?

• Less poker on TV
• Many many online poker sites are going to fold
• Eventually, the government is going to outlaw online gambling
• Manufacturers of poker tables will make a lot of money when people migrate from online to home games. Not because they want to, but because that will be their only venue.
• Many casinos will reclaim floor space from the newly built poker rooms and replace them with table games and slot machines
• Many of the poker celebrities will disappear from the limelight and will have to go back to grinding it out night after night.
• The WSOP will peak and we will see the attendance go from 8 thousand players this next year to less and less until it finally settles down at around 1000 in 4 or 5 years.

I, for one, hate to see it go. I still have dreams of being one of the great ones. I have already began construction of my own 10 person poker table. I have made an executive decision to not spend another dime online until either there is a regulatory commitee that can officially protect us from being cheated or I have undeniable evidence that there is a site out there that has a TRULY random card generator. You may ask “why would they cheat us?”. To that, I respond “WHY WOULDN’T THEY?” Even casinos have an eye in the sky. Online, we are expected to simply have faith and trust. Unfortunately, I am not a religious man. Therefore, that is not enough for me.