I feel the poker boom and the popularity of poker will decline to some degree. There was a point where it had no where to go but down. I believe Chris Moneymaker said in a playboy interview a while back that he predicted the interest in poker to eventually decline. He stated that people would eventually get tired of watching the same hands race over and over at these final tables. To some degree, I think he was correct. Poker has saturated television to the point that even a poker enthusiast gets tired of seeing it. The bad poker coverage does not help either.

Also, people with high hopes of becoming the next millionaire, player of the year, or WPT champ quickly realized poker is not easy. They rushed out to buy books and videos to discover once more...poker is not easy.

Obviously, the people truly interested in poker and do well are not going anywhere. The WPT fans or the fans who show some interest during WSOP time eventually do fall off. I believe that's what we are seeing. ALLin and Bluff (horrible mag) tried to appeal to the general public and their love of the stars of the game. If you pick up a copy, you see there is not much to offer a serious player. Player bios and tournament coverage of the same poker you have seen all week loses its appeal over time.

I would say it will decline, but the interest levels will never drop below the pre-Moneymaker period. As new players discover they suck, new hotshot kids will take their place in line to try their own shot at glory.