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Why did poker explode in 2004? (3 Viewers)

mummel

mummel

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I get it, online gambling, Poker Stars, Full Tilt, WSOP being televised with rags to riches stories etc. All good.

But Im not sure this completely accounts for the explosion of popularity back then. What happened and why?

And in the same light, how come poker has never fully recovered from the collapse in 05/06? It seems like the popularity of the game died just as quickly as it soared.
 
mummel said:
I get it, online gambling, Poker Stars, Full Tilt, WSOP being televised with rags to riches stories etc. All good.

But Im not sure this completely accounts for the explosion of popularity back then. What happened and why?

And in the same light, how come poker has never fully recovered from the collapse in 05/06? It seems like the popularity of the game died just as quickly as it soared.
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If only there was some single event that could essentially prove what caused poker's popularity to rise and fall.

Oh, right: The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006
 
The explosion in popularity has a lot to do with Chris Moneymaker winning the WSOP. He was just a regular guy that won his way through some Poker Stars satellites to earn himself a seat in the Main Event where he proceeded to win with a good everyman type story that played very well on TV.

ETA: Hole cameras changed the way it could be televised which was also a huge help.
 
mummel said:
Yeah but that doesnt explain the downfall of home game popularity.
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I heard somewhere that the TV games quit letting female dealers with low cut blouses on the shows and this was pushed by the religious right and Bush. Kinda sucked but what can you do?
 
mummel said:
Yeah but that doesnt explain the downfall of home game popularity.
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I'd argue that it's the largest contributor to the home game decline. If you play online, and your friends play online, and computers are in our pockets everywhere we go, then it stands to reason that eventually we're all going to want to play in person occasionally to simulate the real thing and/or talk shop in person. Once you take away that capability then it starts to become out of sight, out of mind.

The very public downfall of online poker in the US also left a bad taste in many people's mouths - players and non-players alike. After 2006, plenty of folks once again associated poker with degeneracy and crime vs. success, skill, or fun. When you fracture a community and tag a negative stigma on the remnants it becomes difficult for a game/social activity to survive, let alone thrive.
 
Psypher1000 said:
I'd argue that it's the largest contributor to the home game decline. If you play online, and your friends play online, and computers are in our pockets everywhere we go, then it stands to reason that eventually we're all going to want to play in person occasionally to simulate the real thing and/or talk shop in person. Once you take away that capability then it starts to become out of sight, out of mind.

The very public downfall of online poker in the US also left a bad taste in many people's mouths - players and non-players alike. After 2006, plenty of folks once again associated poker with degeneracy and crime vs. success, skill, or fun. When you fracture a community and tag a negative stigma on the remnants it becomes difficult for a game/social activity to survive, let alone thrive.
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...and you would think that with the politics at the time making the ladies cover up would have had a positive effect on the situation but it just never happened.
 
detroitdad said:
I'm thankful to be in South East Michigan. There is a home game to hit almost every weekend. Hell, I think I've played for two months straight. Wife hasn't commented on it yet so I'm going to keep playing until it happens :)
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Just keep taking her on a early date night and a couple of those massive beers pregame. She won't know you were gone.
 
tommythecat said:
The explosion in popularity has a lot to do with Chris Moneymaker winning the WSOP. He was just a regular guy that won his way through some Poker Stars satellites to earn himself a seat in the Main Event where he proceeded to win with a good everyman type story that played very well on TV.
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^^^^ This.

Poker, for some time, was seen as a game for "math wizards" and "pros" that took incredible "skill" to beat/win. Chris Moneymaker was essentially a "nobody," and his rags-to-riches WSOP win, along with the televised hype, made winning the WSOP seem like a possible dream for every average Joe in the country (regardless of the actual odds).

Then people started playing and realized just how f*cking hard it is to pull off a tournament win like that. That, along with the 2006 legislation, the bad reputation (cheating?) of online websites, black friday, etc., made people rethink investing good time, money, and energy into a hobby/game like poker.

Toss in the nature of social trends with the American public (feathered hair, jazzercise, jordache, crossfit, etc.) and the rise/fall becomes self evident.
 
Generally, it was 2 main things happening "at the same time" (within months of each other ..)
The Start of the World Poker Tour, on "mainstream" TV ( The Travel Channel), & having their table have "hole Card Cams" that actually made poker interesting to watch ..... , And Chris Moneymaker, the home town satellite entry underdog winning the Televised WSOP ....
 
mummel said:
Yeah but that doesnt explain the downfall of home game popularity.
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Downfall? My weekly home game is often 2 tables and could probably go twice a week if I wanted. There are two other weekly games, two additional monthly games, plus 3 others who occasionally host. And that's within my immediate circle of friends. If I had to seek out games there are also other options. Poker didn't die. It got kicked in the nuts.
 
courage said:
Downfall? My weekly home game is often 2 tables and could probably go twice a week if I wanted. There are two other weekly games, two additional monthly games, plus 3 others who occasionally host. And that's within my immediate circle of friends. If I had to seek out games there are also other options. Poker didn't die. It got kicked in the nuts.
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I've got a fifty + person long Rolodex of folks just in the Atlanta area.... And that's only folks I like! Now I have built that up over six years but still I can get games together. Poker is very much not dead but it's not a fad anymore either.
 
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I don't know I think they are still alive, you just have to work a lot harder to find a game. It's more of what @jbutler said that the marketing isn't there and it's not on TV every hour so people are not talking about it nearly as much. It use to be common discussion and would easily roll of the tongue, next thing you know you're getting invited to a game.

edit: guess I took too long typing as the previous two posts stated something very similar.
 
courage said:
Downfall? My weekly home game is often 2 tables and could probably go twice a week if I wanted. There are two other weekly games, two additional monthly games, plus 3 others who occasionally host. And that's within my immediate circle of friends. If I had to seek out games there are also other options. Poker didn't die. It got kicked in the nuts.
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Same here...haven't been able to take advantage of it very much, but there is always a game around me somewhere (with some of the best damn custom chips around!!).
 
courage said:
Downfall? My weekly home game is often 2 tables and could probably go twice a week if I wanted. There are two other weekly games, two additional monthly games, plus 3 others who occasionally host. And that's within my immediate circle of friends. If I had to seek out games there are also other options. Poker didn't die. It got kicked in the nuts.
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Its awesome isn't it. I can send out invites. Usually within an hour or two I'll have 8-10 commitments.
 
slisk250 said:
I'm telling you. If they would just bring back the cleavage...
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tilly.jpg
 
courage said:
Downfall? My weekly home game is often 2 tables and could probably go twice a week if I wanted. There are two other weekly games, two additional monthly games, plus 3 others who occasionally host. And that's within my immediate circle of friends. If I had to seek out games there are also other options. Poker didn't die. It got kicked in the nuts.
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Yes downfall. Check Google Trends. It shows how many people are searching for poker chips online. You can see this slow bleed over many years, looking like near death. I'm very surprised to see poker isn't more popular.

upload_2016-5-18_11-47-49.png
 
Poker Chips and Poker is two different things. More than half of my group could give a shit what chips we use. Probably wouldn't know the difference between high end/low end chips.
 
mummel said:
Yes downfall. Check Google Trends. It shows how many people are searching for poker chips online. You can see this slow bleed over many years, looking like near death. I'm very surprised to see poker isn't more popular.

View attachment 41857
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Don't look now, but we're in the midst of the downfall of the refrigerator.

fridge.png
 
detroitdad said:
Poker Chips and Poker is two different things. More than half of my group could give a shit what chips we use. Probably wouldn't know the difference between high end/low end chips.
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Yeah but we can infer that if more and more home games are getting established, people need poker chips, or poker tables etc. Use these keywords. Popularity is abysmal.

Same for just poker in general, although whats interesting is to see its popularity peaking a couple of years after the 2006 regulations.

upload_2016-5-18_11-51-57.png
 
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