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| <font color="#888888">Poker's biggest stage </font> |
The phrase "good for poker" is thrown around a lot by people in the poker world.
More frequently than not, we make assumptions about what's good for poker without really considering what that means. The general implication is that something is good for poker if it presents poker - either the game or the community of people who play and follow that game - in a positive light.
There are numerous things that are obviously good for poker by that definition. One of the best examples is the World Series of Poker, an event which is typically well-respected even in places where a majority of people are morally opposed to gambling.
There are far more examples where we assume things are good for poker but they probably have minimal actual impact on the way that the game is viewed.
Specifically, I believe that it's almost always inaccurate to say that a top player player reaching the November 9 of the WSOP Main Event is good for poker.
The impact of past Main Event final tables
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Each time that an individual's Main Event performance actually HAS been substantially good for poker, it seems that the individual has been a largely unknown player. Chris Moneymaker's 2003 WSOP Main Event victory is almost certainly the single most positively impactful tournament result in history - clearly that was good for poker.
Other Main Event winners have had impact in specific regions. Most recently, Pius Heinz' Main Event victory caused poker to receive some positive attention from the German media, and in turn some new players were drawn to the game.
In 2009, Phil Ivey final tabled the Main Event and the poker world went crazy - everyone thought it would be excellent for poker. Even the most casual fans know who Ivey is, and thus it stood to reason that many of them would begin playing more.
Looking at online poker numbers as an indicator of how good for poker Ivey's final table actually was, it turned out that he probably made no real impact. In 2009 between July and November, online poker numbers steadily rose as they do every year during that span.
In January of 2010 - just two months after Ivey's final table appearance - online poker peaked (source: pokerhistory.eu). Traffic has declined ever since.
So to recap what happened - perhaps the single most popular poker player in the world reached the final table of the WSOP Main Event and the television ratings for the table increased... but very little actually happened that could impact players. Most people still said it was good for poker, though.
So what might actually be good for poker?
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| <font color="#888888">Pius Heinz after his victory </font> |
The times when a top player has reached the Main Event final table have perhaps had minimal impact, but we do have some precedent for what may actually be good for poker: We know that it is good for poker when an individual who wins the Main Event represents a group of people who hasn't played much poker before.
In the case of Moneymaker, he represented amateurs who were new to the game and a dream that anyone could start playing and find success. With Heinz and a few others, the media of a specific country took national pride in the world champion, and new poker players were born.
It is easy to conclude by extension that it would be good for poker if this year's Main Event winner comes from a country where poker is not already huge. There may be one more category which would be even better, though.
We should all hope Vanessa Selbst wins the Main Event
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| <font color="#888888">Selbst is quite familiar with winning tournaments </font> |
Wouldn't it be nice if a woman won? Women certainly represent the largest group of players that has not yet seen Main Event success.
Other women may view a female final tablist or Main Event winner as an inspiration. It's also fairly reasonable to assume that women - even those that don't currently understand poker - would be interested in rooting for a female playing against men for the biggest prize in a male-dominated game.
Even better than a random woman making it to the November 9 would be if a professional female player did.
If Vanessa Selbst made the final table, it would be impossible for anyone to dismiss her as a player who simply got lucky to get there. There may only be one person in the world who can confidently say he's a better tournament player than Selbst is, and Phil Ivey tends not to talk much anyway.
I, for one, will be hoping that Vanessa wins the Main Event. Unlike most top players reaching the final table, she would actually be good for poker.
by Matt Kaufman