Poker - The Future ???

ArmaniJeanss

Flipper wrote:

A very well known online player recently to me something that always sticks in my head. He told me that poker will always be there and not to be in any hurry moving up through the levels.

Interesting quote from Flipper on the 'bankroll' thread. Anyone any thoughts on poker, say 15 years from now?

I'd be fairly certain that the Internet will still be with us, and gambling has been going on for a couple of hundred years in one form or other. However, will Online Gambling still be around?

Obviouly theres potential legislative issues.
Is poker just a pasing fad, and will people move their gambling dollar to something else?
Will losing players continue to play?.
Is there a continuous supply of new losing players (e.g, people who are currently under 18)?
I see very few players from Eastern Europe/Asia/Africa playing - is it because these markets are relatively untapped yet, or is gambling just a 'Western Society' thing ?

So basically "Will online poker still be around in 10/15years?"
Obviously no-one can really predict the future, but would be interested to hear if any thoughts about it.

FastMachine

Poker will always be there, but as you say will online poker? It's no good to the vast majority of pros if online dies. There's no way I'd bother playing if it wasn't online. It's too slow, too much hassle traveling around to games and a bad week 4 tabling online would be equivalent to 2 months running bad offline. Nevermind the stakes you'd have to play to be able to make decent money. No thanks.

People say the Middle East/Eastern Europe, etc.... are untapped markets and we'll get an influx of fish when it does take off in these regions but I think that's a little optimistic. Maybe on the .2/.4 tables but I don't see loads of them arriving at .50/1 where one buyin would be their average monthly wage, whatever about the higher levels.

Will there always be as many fish in the sea? Really hard to know. Sometimes I think all the losers will eventually get sick of giving away their cash and that'll be that. On the other hand there are probably a billion people (western civilization) out there with plenty of disposable income so you could argue they're will always be a steady supply of dead money onto the scene.

It's hard to know how long it will last.....a few years......indefinately......i'd be happy if I got 10 years out of it. Sometimes I think I should be playing alot more (and I already play alot) as it's terrible to think this opportunity mighn't exist in a few years.

wayfarer

I don't think it will last.

Compared to other forms of gambling like football or the horses, where people don't mind losing the odd quid here and there because there is a bit of craic and a good sociable atmosphere, online poker offers nothing. Every table you sit at seems to be full of sh*theads just out to give abuse.

The people who lose the most will become fed up and leave and it will be a case of survival of the fittest. The games will become a lot tougher. The introduction of other parts of the world may prolong it but it isn't sustainable in its current form.

Don't know about the casino though, at least there's some banter there.

Lafortezza

Games will become tougher at limits above 2/4NL, the low limits will always have fish because the good players take money from fish and move up.
Far east is a big untapped market. difficult to incorporate languages and GUI's and so on though into the US/euro software.

Marq

The average online poker player plays for six months, deposits some money, wins some money, loses more, and then quits.

The current high level of players has been maintained despite the fact that these fish tend to quit after a relatively short period of time.

What will damage the level of fish is not when they collectively, with one conscience, decide that they're sick of losing money and quit, but when the number of new players that sign up each week starts to decline. I think that this is inevitable, the popularity of televised poker in the U.S. will go into decline at some point, and more importantly its exposure will peak - it is not inconceivable that at some point soon everyone who didn't know about poker but would play if they did, will know about poker and will have already signed up. Once we reach saturation point the level of new players will slowly decrease, but I think that the market will continue to grow at a slower rate.

BigDragon

Marq wrote:

.............the popularity of televised poker in the U.S. will go into decline at some point, and more importantly its exposure will peak

Apparently happened in last 6 months...big time.

bohsman

Heard somewhere that 180 million people play poker worldwide, pokerstars recently signed up their 5 millionth customer, theres a bit of growth left yet, although theres a good chance the game will change as it has done over the years - 7 Card stud, 5 card stud, Omha etc

Imposter

I think the main problem facing online poker is integrity. It is trivially easy to cheat at the moment and none of the noises the poker sites are making give me any confidence in their ability to tackle this issue.

As for the eastern Europe and Asion market these suffer from low incomes as well as high levels of Credit Card fraud. It'd be a brave company that takes the risk in a lot of these countries. Undoubtedly this situation will change but that may be too late for online poker.

ionapaul

I definitely feel that there is a 'poker craze' in evidence at the moment, and like all crazes (see the bowling craze in 1950s America), it will run out of steam in a few years and gradually become less popular. How much of an untapped market is left in North America and Western Europe? Probably not much. A lot of the losing college studies / young professionals will simply quit one of these days and the online game will get much tougher. I doubt there will be so many online pros around in 10 years. I don't think it will be increased legislation that sinks the poker craze (though, as Imposter notes above, the problems with cheating might), but a much simpler reason - poker becomes less cool, people stop playing, and young people looking for a fun activity choose the next hot thing.........extreme shuffleboard!

5starpool

I think there is a world market for maybe 5 computers in total. Also, I cannot see why anyone would ever want one in their home.

On the poker front I think all this crap with legislation and legality in most countries will decide the future path it goes. If it is illegal and blocked to US customers then we will see a dramatic shift in the landscape online.

smurph

God im going to show my age big time, but I started playing texas holdem in 1990. My uncle ran a 5 card draw game every Saturday night In local Hall of OLV on Ballymun Road, and when people got knocked out of that there was a game of Texas Holdem game.

When I think back on it now it was real amateur stuff, but great fun. Mrs blah blah would sit beside mrs X cause they were good friends, drawing for seats was unheard of, in fact they would have been offended. The same 1 or 2 people would deal, cause Mr. Jones has a terrible shake in his hand and would mess up dealing.

I feel that the popularity might die out a little bit, but the Clubs will remain, Fitz, Merrion etc., etc., God I remember the first time I went to the Merrion and played a tournament it was a whole new world, dealers, My god. Won a big pot and proceeded to drag the chips in myself, nearly got red carded for that offense..

One thing I have noticed, slightly off the point is generally that people are a little bit more rude than they used to. I know when i get beaten by a muppet call that I just want to kill a small animal, but I just tap the table, and bite my tongue. God i now know im sounding ancient. I am not talking about younger players or older players, im talking about both. People pay the money and can play whatever two cards they want, thats the beauty of the game.

Poker will have its 15 mins of fame and then go back to a more even keel. There a so many tournaments now, every night of the week, its like overkill. That said, they must be getting the numbers. I will definitely play in the WSOP once, by hook or by crook, and absolutely love watching the big names playing cards on telly (Thank god for satellite), and get a buzz when there are professional players at my table in tournaments.

ps do you remember line dancing????

roryc

I think real poker will always be around, but the online ''''poker'''' craze, will (hopefully) not last forever.

As many people have pointed out, there isin't an unlimited amount of people willing to lose money. Most will probably give it up if they are consistently losing, because online poker is not an enjoyable hobby.

Unlike betting on horses, or playing real poker in a casino, there is no positive side of losing at online poker. Even if you lose money at the horses, or the dogs you can still enjoy yourself, because for most people it can still be a social activity. The same goes for live poker games. Even if you lose you may still enjoy yourself, talking to friends, having a drink etc...

Online poker is highly, highly unsocial, and no-one enjoys losing money at it. As most people know, I cannot stand online poker, and dream of the day when it is either made illegal, or simply runs out of steam...

I would be surprised if it was still going strong in 10 years. I think the amount of poker rooms will start to decline soon, a sort of 'survival of the fittest'.

ecksor

Haha, I remember the first live game I played last year, I sat down not having a clue what to do until I finally got a bit of composure and decided to get a bit more involved and won a pot off of smurph. After I showed the hand she turned to Doc Farrell and whispered "He raises with the ace six of diamonds!".

Personally I reckon I have another year or two before I stop obsessing about the game and move onto something else so as long as it lasts that long I don't mind!

smurph

ecksor wrote:

Haha, I remember the first live game I played last year, I sat down not having a clue what to do until I finally got a bit of composure and decided to get a bit more involved and won a pot off of smurph. After I showed the hand she turned to Doc Farrell and whispered "He raises with the ace six of diamonds!".

Personally I reckon I have another year or two before I stop obsessing about the game and move onto something else so as long as it lasts that long I don't mind!

But they were sooooooted, lmao...... better than some of the hands I raise with.