Current poker boom - how long can it last?

[Cptkernow]

Euchre ?

Are you serious.

Euchre is a masively common/popular game here in cornwall and knowing how to play the game is a sure sighn of being "proper" cornish. Alot of pubs have a euchre team.

The thing is the Euchre I know is played for points like bridge and dosnt involve rounds of betting like poker.

When gambling on Euchre one of course sets a money amount for each point. Also, like Bridge it is played with a partner.

[Ray Zee]

considering that the game that each of us may play in will rake over 250,000 per year off the table for that particular crew of players, means that the money will run out. it always does and after a year or two those same players begin to accept their sitting in ever increasing smaller stakes games. it always happens in all places.

[astroglide]

the money still gets funneled in from jobs. most people aren't aware of the signifigance of the rake.

[glen]

mike,

they don't have four card triple draw, btu they have 5 card A-5 and 2-7 triple draw at ultimatebet - both very fun games. . .

[midas]

I think the boom will continue because of the following factors:

1. Kids are playing more than ever - my 13 yr old cousin has regular NL games with his buddies.

2. TV coverage will demystify the poker room bringing more walk-ons from the traditional casino games.

3. Internet will continue to hook people who don't have B&M access.

On the flipside - if internet poker is ever shut down in the U.S. - the boom is over.

[scotnt73]

i agree that the boom will be around for a while. i have several friends who frequently goto a new underground(illegal) poker hall for a wed, fri, and sat 50$ buy in tourney. a year ago they laughed at me when i told them it was a beatable game. now theyve all got the bug from watching holdem on tv and im like the big fish in the small pond with my measly 2 years experience. the last 2 christmas my family has played a little 5$(about 10 people) nl holdem tourney. the tourney wasnt even my idea. my cousins newthat id been playing for a while so when i showed up for dinner i had several of them wanting to play. they all suck but we have alot of fun and i play real loose because i feel like an ass playing real tight against them. the older folks(im 31) are real religious and would never goto a casino but they dont bat an eye at us playing poker for money at the dining room tabe thanks to tv.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
1. Kids are playing more than ever - my 13 yr old cousin has regular NL games with his buddies.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a good point. The whole "everyone plays in college now and college kids get jobs" thing is tough to argue against too. Many of those people will stop playing after college, but it's reasonable to assume that some non-trivial percentage of them will continue playing, and for higher stakes.

[J.A.Sucker]

I think that Ray is right here. I made a post last week about the big games that used to be in the Bay Area, and they're all gone now. The rake really adds up, and it grinds down the break-even players. The really rich losers get broke eventually, between the rake and their bad play. Furthermore, the casinos keep raising rakes faster than inflation, which can't be good. Perhaps the only place where poker games will stay good for so long is LA, since there seems to be a huge amount of disposable income around. However, even this has its limits.

If you have a job that pays 100K a year, you really can't afford to lose much more than 20K (post-tax!) dollars. This is 500 a week for a regular player. Not a lot, even in a 20 game. People lose a lot more than this, and I don't think that they can afford it.

[JTG51]

[ QUOTE ]
considering that the game that each of us may play in will rake over 250,000 per year off the table for that particular crew of players, means that the money will run out. it always does and after a year or two those same players begin to accept their sitting in ever increasing smaller stakes games. it always happens in all places.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have the blackjack, craps, and roulette games dried up in casinos around the country?

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
If you have a job that pays 100K a year, you really can't afford to lose much more than 20K (post-tax!) dollars.

[/ QUOTE ]

There it is right there. Which is also why I said I think smaller games will go on for quite some time, but the medium to big games will be much tougher to sustain.

In a 40-80 game where people are paying, say, $15/hr to play, for someone to make $80/hr, someone else has to lose $110/hr. If the winning player wants to play 40hrs/week, people have to lose $4400. Add in a few bucks an hour for tips, food, whatever, and you're talking about $5k that people need to lose to support that one player. At $1000/wk, every week, that's 5 regular $50k/yr losers needed to support that one full-time 40/80 player.

This dynamic is so much better on the Internet and in smaller games where countless numbers of people can lose a couple hundred here and there, plus the huge field low buyin tourneys also help things out a lot.