 What does the future have in store for our favorite passtime?
Will the masses still bring their hard earned cash to the tables, just for a shot at riches and entertainment. Or is poker indeed a bubble that will burst just as quickly and unexpectedly as it has grown in popularity these last few years.
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To answer these questions, we need to find out what we can compare poker too. Surely if poker is like Bingo or Blackjack, the mere fact that some people keep loosing won’t bring an end to the game. As long as Lottery games are well advertised, suckers will loose their money. And poker is at present by far the most advertised game of the bunch.
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Yet that isn’t the complete picture, although poker shares some characteristic with the aforementioned games of chance, I think it differs at some points. Sure some people are drawn to the game in the same way they would be drawn to games of chance, hoping for a big win and paying for that dream one minute at a time.
Others however I think are playing poker for other reasons. They truely try to play well, because they want to win. They have seen or read or heard of the possibility of an easy living. Making tons of money at the tables, playing a game they love for a living. What I think this aspect of poker shares some traits with is pyramid schemes. I don’t think those players play for the thrill or the dream of winning. They play because they understand the possibility of winning in poker. What I don’t know is if most of them will come to the conclusion that they’ll never be part of that small percentage at the top and quit the game for good.
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I have read quite a few articles about the issue, and the opinions vary from each new reading. Some think the game will only get bigger, others are sure of an impending doom. A few oracles say that Hold’em might fade a bit, but Stud or Omaha will take its place as the mainstay both online and live. One argument is that Asia and South America will propell the game to levels far above its current popularity, all it takes is advertising.
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I know that I will try to get the most out of my time at the top of the pyramid. For although I do not think that the game will die, it might get harder to make this easy living.
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