[hachkc]

1. Are we currently in the golden era of poker?
2. Has poker been bigger before now?
3. Can it get much bigger?

Just curious to folks thoughts.

My answers are: 1) yes, 2) no but I could be wrong, 3) a bit but not too much

[99%evil]

I think we are going over the peak of the golden era. I think we'll start to see the WSOP ME attendance drop in a couple of years. It may hit 10k entries next year, but the fad may staart to flatten if something else comes along. I'll keep playing and gambling, because I love it. Even people I know like my father and brother got caught up in the euphoria a few years ago, they've since lost interest...as mine has ramped up as I've tried to learn to be a better player and not just play top ten hands.

It'll be big for years to come but I think you'll see a drop off, casinos will shut down poker rooms, some wil stay open. It's cyclical, but it will be a constant iin casinos as it always has been.

[jamby]

I don't think we're in the golden era of poker mainly because I don't associate popularity with what it takes to qualify as a golden era. I associate 'golden era' with 'golden age'. For me, a golden age is when things are in an ideal or utopic state. Kind of like the late 50s and early 60s for rock 'n roll. Not when rock became absolutely huge in the late 60s and 70s, but the earlier time when it was in a very pure and idealic state. Another analogy would be Las Vegas - for me the golden era was the 60s and the time of the Rat-pack when Frank and friends would headline a show and then go to a nightclub to party and put on another impromptu show late night. Not now when it's become almost a caricature of it's former self.

I think that the golden age or era of poker would be when Doyle and Slim and the rest were playing in their prime. When Slim won the WSOP and went on the Tonight Show and told America all about poker.

To answer your other questions - no it hasn't been bigger and I think it's probably already peaked.

-jamby

[rolandshoffinc]

I am sure that there will be more players next year after everyone sees who won this year.

[7thSeat]

Originally Posted by hachkc

1. Are we currently in the golden era of poker?
2. Has poker been bigger before now?
3. Can it get much bigger?

Just curious to folks thoughts.

My answers are: 1) yes, 2) no but I could be wrong, 3) a bit but not too much

I agree with you on all parts. How ever I think poker has been a bit to cosmetic in the last years. I remember playing tourneys in basments with scratched cards and filthy chips (well almost anyway ). Today poker has been such a big fly and all the cebs are playing it now and it has become important how to look around the table. To much glamour in my taste.

So I do agree with you but a big part of me are missing the "old" days.

[tikipirate]

Originally Posted by hachkc

1. Are we currently in the golden era of poker?
2. Has poker been bigger before now?
3. Can it get much bigger?

Just curious to folks thoughts.

My answers are: 1) yes, 2) no but I could be wrong, 3) a bit but not too much

1. Yes. We are in -a- Golden Age...no doubt it will fall out of favor and be re-adopted several more times.
2.Maybe during the late 19th Century (don't really know).
3. I think this is it, poker will probably shrink somewhat until some new and dynamic player/event/game comes along and you will see an uptick in popularity again.

[gagners]

I don't see how it can get much bigger... I remember two years ago at my father's weekly get-together (which used to be darts-nite) introducing everyone to a little game called "texas hold 'em". We were using dice chips and I "ran" every game and hand, b/c noone knew how much they could bet, etc... Now, everyone who plays there on Thursdays has their own games and there's three of us who dominate the local "Elk's Lodge - type" charity tourneys (50% of proceeds go to winnings - only thing that's legal in VT).

I mean, poker will get bigger, but only at the rate that the population increases. I think the playing-age population is pretty well saturated...

I think the next big thing will be other games, like Omaha. They're already being played by us purists (read: fanatics), but they're penetrating the mainstream. (I said "penetrating" ... hehe)

Just my $.02.

[panthershutch15]

I think popularity will remain at or above the level it is now for a few more years, then slowly decline...

[hachkc]

I've been playing poker all my life; at varying levels from recreational to serious. In the last 2 years its not hard to find a couple of games a week. Prior to that, it was hard to find a game a month; nowadays its everywhere (TV, news, congress, internet, billboards, bars, charity events, etc)

[jdunford]

Well, in Canada (especially in Southern Ontario), poker definitely peaked during the NHL lock-out... when, instead of hockey on 24/7 (well, every night on at least a couple of channels), it was poker followed by another brand of poker followed by another brand of poker followed by... Even my father, who is completely against any form of gambling (voted against the casino that now resides in his town) got into watching WSOP and WPT during the lock-out! Now everytime I visit, he makes me play him heads-up (with the chips I bought him for his birthday... so I obviously don't mind).

Even this summer, I've noticed attendence dropping off as hockey season is coming back. The group I started playing with regularly a couple of years ago has broken up. A guy who was playing 2-3 games a week (and trying to drag me to many of them) recently returned from South America (where he was forced to go cold-turkey) and declared he's off poker completely, never to play again, which came as quite the shock to me.

This is by no means an international generalization, but just what I've noticed around here.