[Shoe]

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Hi Mike:

I'm not sure poker is losing its popularity at all. What may be happening is that the "poker pie" is now being split into more and more pieces, thus you see things like decline in TV show ratings and poor turn outs for some tournaments.

I do agree that if the decline has not yet started, there will be a decline sometime in the future.

Best wishes,
Mason

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Hi Mason:

I completely agree with you. I don't think poker is declining in popularity at all, just that there every new poker venture might not be successful, and some exisiting TV shows/tournaments that have been popping up like crazy might not be able to survive.

I think their is one exception to all of this: The WSOP Main Event. This is the one, single, premier event that practically EVERYONE wants to play in. This is the event that I am always going to try to qualify for, every year. If I don't make some other tournaments every year, no big deal, but this is the big one, and will always continue to draw a large crowd (pending some drastic changes to the tournament format or new U.S. regulations).