Poker Owes it to the Non Pros

July 20, 2008

One of the reasons that poker is so popular today is because of those that can’t play it. It’s true. Poker is the game that people who can’t play, think that they stand a chance of learning how to play it, and thus work at it until they can. Then their friends see that they can now play poker, and they want to learn how to as well because it really does seem like all the cool kids are playing.

This is much the way it goes with poker. When Chris Moneymaker went from unknown poker player to World Series of Poker champion, he simply confirmed what all the amateurs thought – that they could be WSOP champions as well.

Moneymaker won his $10,000 buy in to the 2003 Main Event by winning an online poker tournament that cost him $40 to enter. Then, one by one, he eliminated names like Phil Ivey and Dan Harrington, and roughly 820 other poker players to win the poker championship. He walked away with the bracelet and $2.5 million richer. Not bad for an amateur.

After that, everyone thought they had a chance to win the WSOP and the popularity of poker grew exponentially. Now, not as many people want to watch poker on TV anymore, but they are playing the game in bars, basements and anywhere they can set up a table with some cards. It has taken it out of the TV and into the living room – and there poker is to stay.