One of the things that was spoken about regarding the 2023 World Series of Poker was the constant commentary regarding the number of players who were taking part. Yes, the $10,000 WSOP Championship Event drew in a record, 10,043 PLAYERS (not entries, folks…PLAYERS), and other events that traditionally had smaller numbers (RE: non-Texas Hold’em tournaments) proved to be blockbusters. But is this REALLY the second coming of the “poker boom?” Let’s take an honest look at the issue.
YES! Poker is BOOMING AGAIN!
Since 2021, the world of poker has seen an unprecedented increase in the tournament poker world. Worldwide, events have brought in massive numbers of players that are looking to take part in what was, at one time, a purely “American” game. What is driving this increase in the numbers for the game?
In many cases, the casinos and card rooms that are offering the events have learned about the “re-entry” format. These tournaments will offer a massive prize pool that features unlimited rebuys for the players to take part in (there is a bastard stepchild of this, the multi-Day One format, which is also a cause). Players, either not caring or unsuspecting of these rules, then flock to the tournaments with the opportunity to win big money dancing in their eyes. Try and find a tournament schedule that features an old-fashioned “freezeout” tournament (like the WSOP Championship Event) – you do not see them anymore.
Second, these tournament schedules have become monstrous in their own right. There are the “normal” re-entry tournaments, then the “Big Stack” events, then the “DeepStack” tournaments (bigger than the “Big Stack”). These tournaments also offer big guarantees for lower prices, but the same schtick applies – they need to drive entries to bring players in and the players are quite willing to put up the cash.
Finally, it is entirely possible that poker is finding new relevance. Countries like China and India, only the two largest countries in the world, are finding the pleasures in the game (even if they do not like the “gambling” aspect of it). When you have two countries with nearly a third of the earth’s population taking up the game, then that is going to potentially result in an influx of players to the game.
Let’s Cork the Champagne for A Moment…
Even with these things, you must consider one thing – COVID.
At the start of 2020, the world was shut down because of the COVID pandemic. NOBODY went anywhere, businesses were shut down, and poker went through its “lost year.” We saw at that time a significant increase in online poker around the world and, in the U. S., states were quick to adopt regulations so their citizens could participate in online gaming and poker (and keep pumping the state with that sweet tax revenue). With the lower buy-ins associated with the online game, players were able to bank some money for when the pandemic was over.
That turned out to last a bit longer than many thought it would.
In 2022, the poker world could move back into live action and the tournaments were the beneficiary. We forget that the 2022 WSOP Championship Event came up just short of breaking the record set in 2006, which probably was the spark of genius behind those at Caesars and the WSOP to increase the opportunities to satellite into the Main Event. That push was extremely visible around the Horseshoe and Paris during the WSOP, and it certainly helped get the tournament over the 10K mark.
Even while the WSOP showed a huge outpouring of players, poker rooms are still shutting down at an alarming rate. Across the U. S., there are 559 poker rooms with 5898 poker tables spreading games according to the World Casino Directory. In 2010, Nevada’s poker industry peaked at 920 poker tables in the different casinos across the state – that number is now 440 (up from the COVID-era 313 of 2020), according to Statista.
Why the decrease? It’s simple…the casinos needed to make a buck after being shut down for the pandemic period. Slot machines don’t need time off, don’t need vacations, need very little maintenance and, perhaps most importantly, it was easy to distance people on the machines. Add in the fact that you must pay dealers, managers, cage staff, waiters/waitresses, and various other personnel in a poker room – and you don’t have to pay a slot machine – we can see why the rooms disappeared.
Poker has, however, through the years shown an ebb and flow in its popularity. It was nearly shut down because of the sharps on the Mississippi until the Civil War needed a respite for soldiers between battles and the “Westward Ho” movement of the U. S. opened boomtown casinos. It went back underground during the puritanical temperance movement of the Prohibition Era and SLOWLY grew over the next seventy years until the “Moneymaker Effect” occurred in the early Aughts. And it shrunk again, after the passage of the UIGEA in 2006 and “Black Friday” in 2011. Thus, we should not be so quick to EITHER preach about a “second Poker Boom” or the termination of the game – it will be around long after we have left this mortal coil.
