Is the boom over or just a down turn

[StevieG]

The rapid expansion may be done, but the residual effects will likely last.

There will be some consolidation of rooms, but that's good for eliminating poor management and dealers. There will be more games, though, than pre-boom.

Long term it looks good. There is a whole generation of young men in high school and college right now who have been introduced to poker and play it regularly.

As they get into their 20s and have disposable income, assuming poker remains their gambling game of choice, there should be plenty of players for a while.

[jjshabado]

This is probably a stupid question, but what games are likely to replace NL Hold 'em. Or if not replace, at least supplant as the most popular games.

I haven't been playing NL live for very long, but the bad players really do lose their money WAY faster then in limit games. At a 3/6 or 4/8 limit game there'd often be at least one or two players with no concept of basic poker theory. I'd say I rarely see one of those people at a NL table, because they just can't avoid going broke very quickly.

[Jack Bando]

Some say PLO is the next game.

I compare the poker boom to the boom chess had in the 70's-80's. Now less focus is on chess and their boom is over, yet the amount of players in orignized events crushes pre-boom and even boom numbers.

[Milo]

Waits at CP on Fri/Sat nights used to be 1-2 hours, now no wait longer than 10-20 mins. Open tables on weeknights were rare, now are typical. Sometimes there are even open tables on Fri/Sat nights. No new competition for 50 miles in any direction with the exception of TI, which draws little business.

Cliff notes: Boom ever.

[CORed]

[ QUOTE ]
If there were several people who had to sit around for a long time and wait for their name to come up on the list then their experience isn't going to be as enjoyable and they will be less likely to come running back the following week.

[/ QUOTE ]

"Nobody goes there anymore; It's too crowded." --Yogi Bera.

[Photoc]

[ QUOTE ]
Some say PLO is the next game.


[/ QUOTE ]

They said the same thing about O8 when it started gaining popularity in the 90's. We all know how that turned out.

Recreational players, as a whole, don't want to do THAT much thinking in a game such as Pot Limit. That's why No Limit is so popular. Poke and hope baby!

[FireStorm]

Boom's been over for the better part of a year and is going nowhere but further down, sorry to say.

[pig4bill]

[ QUOTE ]
But now Bill Frist and the Republicans have put the hammer down, killed neteller, made the majority of the sites leave the US, and you have to jump through so many time consuming hoops to even TRY to get money online even if you want to try to after you hear on the news that Online poker is Illegal, and that the FBI is warning people not to play poker online.

[/ QUOTE ]

What probably has almost as much to do with it is many people (I am one of them) don't trust online sites to deal a square game.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been pointing out that as far as I can see business at CAZ has been down for a couple of years. Firstly, I remember when they went from a total $4 to a $5 drop years back and I told ppl that I thought that was a bad move. Then they got blackjack and I think that is what has affected the poker room more than anything else. It's drawn some players away from poker and broken many, many others who are now staying away from the casino altogether. You mention empty tables on a Friday night? How about empty tables on football promotion Sundays? (one of the best promotions I've ever seen anywhere). Only a couple of years ago if you didn't have a seat a couple of hours before game time you might as well not go play until the games were over. Now there are empty tables. Too bad. You'd think that the casinos would want to be more like leaches and let the victim live but apparently they'd rather be vampires.

[/ QUOTE ]


don't know when they got BJ.
But if they didn't have BJ before and then recently got it then I would HAVE to think this would have a huge impact on the poker-games.

[Percula]

[ QUOTE ]
don't know when they got BJ.
But if they didn't have BJ before and then recently got it then I would HAVE to think this would have a huge impact on the poker-games.

[/ QUOTE ]

They signed the compact about three or four years ago, and it really kicked poker in the ass back then. There was a regular 400 game at the Fort, that went to 4000 about once a month, had pretty regular black chip NL game a CAZ, green chip running often too.

Two years ago on a Friday night around 10pm at CAZ, there would be 50+ names on the 5/150 list, as many or more for low stakes limit games, and anywhere from 10-50+ for the mid stakes games. The 20 game damn near ran 24x7x365.

I am still seeing new faces, but wow, it sure has slowed down around here, and it sounds like this is what is happening elsewhere too.