Explained: Why do people say poker is dead?

For new people coming into the game we explain why some members of the poker community are often all doom and gloom.

We have a lot of new players at PokerStrategy.com and we have to therefore remember that a lot of the conversations that experienced players take for granted will sometimes go over their head. So when stories in the poker world come up that only make sense to experienced poker players, I am going to spell out what we are talking about for the newbies.

If you have been around poker long enough you will have heard somebody declare that 'poker is dead'. It can be for any number of reasons, including the advent of poker software, the growth of solvers, low numbers in a tournament, high numbers of professionals in a tournament, players being boring on TV - the list is endless. 

You'll be pleased to know that not only is poker not dead, people have been saying that it is for years and it is still here, and in many ways it is thriving (for example as we speak, the biggest online tournament in history is taking place). But why does everyone say poker is dying?

The Good Old Days

The simple answer is nostalgia. If you are new to the game you have unfortunately missed what was known as the 'glory years' of poker. This was around 2003-2006 (then to a lesser extent all the way up to Black Friday in 2011) when the online game took off just at the same time as Chris Moneymaker winning the WSOP Main Event. Poker was huge, there was a massive influx of new (and bad) players and it was easy for anyone with a bit of effort to win big at the game. 

Poker was so new that the landscape was very competitive, there were a lot of online poker rooms and nobody had a huge market share. TV companies and sponsors were really interested in poker so there was a lot of money being introduced to the industry, while at the same time starry eyed amateurs were happy to deposit money hoping to be the next Chris Moneymaker. 

The general strategy of the players was very poor because there were very few training sites and books available (and there certainly wasn't YouTube or Twitch). So the new players coming in had no idea what they were doing. Just check out Lex Veldhuis's videos from those days to get an idea of how different it was.  

Poker was also widely available around the world. It was so new that regulators from each country had not imposed any rules on who can provide poker games and who couldn't. In particular American players had free reign to play where they wanted. 

The Internet was new too

Don't forget that not only was online poker new in 2003, the Internet itself was in its early stages. Most people didn't have online access yet and certainly didn't have smartphones in their pockets with all the information in the world. It was very much the Wild West with a lot of opportunity for smart people with a bit of drive. If you are keeping up with Crypto it's a similar sort of feel, it's all still very new with lots possibilities, but it won't stay like that forever. 

99% of the time when somebody complains that 'poker is dead' they are referring to their idealised memory of the game back when it was still in its infancy. The average player is much much tougher these days because there is so much information available to get better. There was also a lot more new players coming into the game because poker was the hip new thing, regulators were not clamping down and the industry was much more competitive. 

It is undeniable that it's harder to make a living as a poker player these days, there are less amateur players, the professionals are much better and the VIP deals are much lower for high volume players (in fact a lot of players were able to make a living off rakeback alone back in the day).

Poker is not dead, it's just different. No longer can people print money and it is a rarity to see an amateur take down big events. But live event numbers are increasing, online MTTs are getting bigger, new formats are being created, Twitch and YouTube are bringing poker to new audiences, gamers are discovering poker, Super High Roller events are creating enormous prize pools and a lot of time and attention is being spent to make the game more enjoyable. 

The rumours of poker's demise has been greatly exagerrated. 

What poker rules or concepts do you not understand? Let us know in the comments:

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