how can poker be dying...

[Suigin406]

...if the ME had it's biggest draw ever so far?? Or has all this chat been over online play?? Just wondering because a lot people say the boom in poker is over, but with regards to which aspect?? Just throwing this out there...

[SuperUberBob]

It's not that poker is dying. It's the possibility that poker has reached its peak popularity and that there's no place to go but down.

[Dunkman]

It's true that more people are playing online, and that online sites are running more satellites to the ME, that's why the field is bigger. The reason people have said the boom is dying is because TV ratings for poker shows have gone down from a couple years ago. Also, obviously, the pending legislation in Congress would crush the poker movement.

[Thundercat32]

This poker is dying nonsense is just like anything else that gets popular they always predict doom and gloom.

They've been saying for like 20+ years Rap was just a fad and would go away, and nowadays you have a whole generation of 14 year old white girls who don't even know what Rock n Roll is

[DonkeyKongSr]

[ QUOTE ]
This poker is dying nonsense is just like anything else that gets popular they always predict doom and gloom.

They've been saying for like 20+ years Rap was just a fad and would go away, and nowadays you have a whole generation of 14 year old white girls who don't even know what Rock n Roll is

[/ QUOTE ]

Prahlad just killed rap.

[Dynasty]

[ QUOTE ]
This poker is dying nonsense...

[/ QUOTE ]

A year ago posters here were saying that the Main Event had probably peaked and that attendence would go down. Instead, it increased dramatically and actually beat Harrah's estimate of 8,000 players. For 2007, Harrah's is predicting 12,000 players.

[ed8383]

I think some people are confused, TV POKER IS DYING not the game of poker!

Poker as a game and sport is very strong and continues to grow in terms of popularity. TV poker on the other hand is showing signs of dying to the point a lot of poker tv shows we see now might be long gone in a couple of years.

[Kevmath]

As I'm sure Oliver would point out, quite a few of the copycat shows are already gone (Examples would include: Poker Royale, Hollywood Poker, Celebrity Poker Showdown). There's also the shows that were thought up but never made the air (Final Table Challenge, Quest of Champions, Heavyweight Championship of Poker, NAPP Tour probably) Then there's the shows that are on fumes (Ultimate Poker Challenge, Poker Parlor, Small Town Poker Tour (if it ever appears). What's left is the WSOP, WPT (and maybe PPT), Poker Superstars, NBC Heads-Up, Mansion's PokerDome Challenge, High Stakes Poker and whatever live tournament FTP.net can get on FSN.

[olivert]

US and Canada:

2003: WPT airs on Travel Channel (US) and City TV (Canada), Chris Moneymaker wins WSOP. Poker craze starts.

2004: WPT signs big TV rights fee deal, TV ratings peak, WSOP main event triples in field size. DOJ begins advertising crackdown against online poker rooms.

2005: Copycat TV shows flood airwaves, ratings go down. NBC Heads-Up takes over TV ratings lead from WSOP. Online poker "schools" air .NET ads instead of .com ads to get around DOJ ban on TV ads by online gaming businesses.

2006: Ratings for NBC Heads-Up and WSOP flatten. Some copycat TV shows disappear and other projects got killed on launching pad. TV rights fees disappear as time buy TV poker shows dominate airwaves. ESPN no longer pays cash for rights to WSOP Main Event. Two online sportsbook executives arrested in the U.S. Washington state passes draconian law to threaten owners and editors of gambling-related media outlets with arrest if they were to step foot into Washington state.

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European Continent (excluding UK):

2005: EPT hits airwaves in Europe. DSF airs FullTilt Monaco Invitational in Germany.

2006: EPT season 2 hits airwaves with expanded coverage and record ratings. DSF in Germany bought a ton of TV poker from ESPN and FOX Sports and airs poker weekly. Crackdown over online gaming advertising starts in Germany, with bwin taking brunt of crackdown. Arrest of bwin executives in France. Italy gets into the act by blocking Internet traffic to gaming sites.

2007: Copycat TV shows hit airwaves in Europe (French Poker Tour, German Poker Tour, Showdown Poker Tour, Million Dollar Cash Games, etc.) Time buy TV poker begins to displace rights fee deals.

(One would expect TV ratings to peak on the European Continent in 2006, with flattening by 2008, and time buys to displace rights fees by 2008.)

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East Asia:

2006: Wynn Macau opens.

2007: WPT hits airwaves in Macau and Singapore. Venetian Macau, MGM Grand Macau, Crown Casino Macau, and Galaxy Mega Resort Macau (Harrah's?) open.

2008: first WPT event in Macau?

2009: Sands Marina Bay casino opens in Singapore

2010: Sentosa Island casino opens in Singapore

(I expect time buy TV poker to dominate in East Asia as soon as Harrah's buys time to air the WSOP on ESPN STAR Sports. Also, the rumored Pudong casino project in Shanghai is the big unknown for the time being.)

[Black winter day]

[ QUOTE ]
I think some people are confused, TV POKER IS DYING not the game of poker!

Poker as a game and sport is very strong and continues to grow in terms of popularity. TV poker on the other hand is showing signs of dying to the point a lot of poker tv shows we see now might be long gone in a couple of years.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, that's probably it.
I don't see poker ever fading away.
I mean, if Doyle could make big bucks 40 years ago without any internet or poker TV, how could the pros be worried?
Card games have always been popular and there would be enough money for all of us [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]