The Rise and Fall and Rise of Poker

Poker had entered its second wind for popularity nation wide. Back in 2003, after amateur Chris Moneymaker won the first televised World Series of Poker Main Event.


ESPN's ratings went through the roof for this event. They televised it with personalities: the hilarious Norman Chad and straight-man Lon McEachern. They taught the game's rules before every episode and for the first time showed the players' cards, thus engaging the viewer. Poker went from a back room type of game to a huge online craze. Sites began surfacing all over the internet from offshore locations such as ultimatebet, pokerstars, partypoker, full-tilt poker, and absolute poker. These sites originally offered only gambling, but adapted free versions with "play-money" as well. Online poker flourished and poker was at an all time high. The 2004 Main Event tripled the number of the entries of the 2003 one with 2,576.

The poker players became celebrities. In his 2004 blog, poker-pro Daniel Negreanu said he is constantly harassed for autographs wherever he goes, even more so than his sports athlete friends. The online poker game continued to increase as did the world championship tournaments. In 2005, 5,619 people went to the main event, fighting for a top prize of 7.5 million dollars, the largest prize in television history. Then, in 2006 around 9,000 players entered for a top prize of 12 million dollars!

However, then poker seemed to have peaked. It suddenly decreased in popularity. Maybe it was the fact that the "stars" fans seemed to get to know on the TV became unnoticible within the giant tournaments always won by amateurs (a pro has never won the televised championship). Maybe it was that it just had to peak at some point; that poker could only get so high. Maybe it was a law in 2007 limiting internet gambling sites' ability to purchase championship seats. Maybe people got sick of losing money. Whatever the reason, the poker craze stopped. I stopped playing at around the same time. Poker was still played, but it was no longer huge.

Now, it has returned again. Many internet sites are booming again. At school a game including 10-15 players had started and is played daily. The 2009 World Series of Poker looks to be the biggest yet. I question why this has happened. Perhaps it is the recession and people seeing it as an easy way to get money in the case of the gaming sites. Perhaps it is the fun coverage of the 2008 World Series of Poker on tv that brought it back. At school it just seems to be that some people thought it seemed like a fun game. I do know for sure that it is back. I hear about it at school, at the Marshall Chess Club, even on the news now. Whether or not it is good for a failing economy (maybe good for Vagas'), poker is back and looks to stay for awhile, at least until another peak.