The Place of Poker, circa 2011

Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 12 August 2011 / Leave a Comment

They have played down from 137 to the final six-handed table at the first-ever $20K buy-in main event for the newly-launched Epic Poker League. With $400,000 having been added to the prize pool, that means more than $2.46 million awaits those six who remain. And thanks to an agreement by the players early on to move $17,340 from the second-place prize to that of the winner, the player finishing on top will be earning an even $1 million. (See Matthew Pitt's report on yesterday's action and preview of this afternoon's final table.)

The much-anticipated launch of the EPL has generated a great deal of buzz in the poker community, both because of the close concentration of high-profile players participating and the fact that we find ourselves in a relatively quiet period poker-wise during these first few weeks post-WSOP. The merits of having a professional poker league and its prospects for future success are among the many items being discussed.

One EPL-qualified player who is not participating this week, Daniel Negreanu, penned a blog post yesterday explaining "Why I Didn't Play the EPL." As generally happens whenever the highly-opinionated Canadian pro speaks out on topics of interest, his comments have already received a lot of attention and response.

While Negreanu says he has "a laundry list of reasons" for not playing, he highlights one in particular in his post, namely, his belief that the league isn't likely to succeed beyond a year or two unless the U.S. passes legislation to regulate online poker, at which point he believes the EPL plans to jump into the online game and perhaps have a shot at raising the revenue to continue further.

Not everyone has agreed with Negreanu's reasoning, with some pointing out that even if the EPL is doomed to last a short while, that doesn't seem to warrant refusing opportunities to play tourneys with such significant prize pools (and overlays).

Others have noted that given Negreanu's status as a high-profile player of considerable influence, his playing might actually help the league's chances for success. One who did is Gavin Griffin, an EPL-qualified player who did participate in this week's main event. Responding to the post written by the man ranked #7 in the 2011 BLUFF Magazine Power 20 ranking the most influential people in poker, Griffin yesterday tweeted "@RealKidPoker at the risk of boosting [your] ridiculous ego even more, you don't think that you being associated with the league might help it?"

Looking beyond Negreanu's argument and position on the Epic Poker League specifically, I found most intriguing -- and persuasive -- his broader statements about the current state of poker in American culture, and thus thought I'd highlight those here. (Also, as someone who has been invited to contribute to the EPL blog, I'm stepping aside from debates about its merits.)

I've mentioned here before how I teach a college course in American studies called "Poker in American Film and Culture." The class is about to start back up in a couple of weeks, and so anytime anyone addresses the topic of poker's place in the U.S. I'm usually listening intently, gathering thoughts and ideas to share with my class. From Negreanu's post, I'm gathering three primary observations about poker in America, ca. late summer 2011.

1. No second "poker boom" is coming in the U.S. anytime soon.

Negreanu says that rather than expect any sort of reprise of the "boom" that saw poker's popularity dramatically increase during 2003-2006 -- following Chris Moneymaker's WSOP win, the WPT/WSOP taking off on television, and the rise of online poker -- "the more realistic view sees poker as a popular niche sport followed religiously by die hards." He adds that it will "never quite regain the popularity it once enjoyed" in the U.S.

I would say that even through those peak years of the recent "boom" poker always was a "niche" activity (or "sport," if one wishes to call it such). Like other "niche" activities, poker could be said to have momentarily transcended its status to attract others outside of its immediate circle -- such as chess did in the U.S. during early 1970s. While I wouldn't say poker will "never" bounce back to reclaim its level of popularity, the current legal/political climate in the U.S. seems stacked against such a recovery coming anytime soon.

2. Poker's "niche" status means there exists a wide divide between the interests of the "die hards" and mainstream culture.

Here Negreanu is commenting on the relative marketability of EPL-qualified players, noting how there really only exist a small number of faces/players the mainstream acknowledges enough to prove influential. (Of course, Negreanu himself belongs into that small category.) "While the 2+2 crowd may love a featured table with online pros they adore," says Negreanu, "the mainstream public wants to see Sammy Farha bluff Phil Hellmuth and watch him go on a tirade!"

While I do think it remains possible for poker -- and perhaps even the Epic Poker League -- to produce new celebrities going forward, the obstacles to doing so are certainly much greater today than they were back when the World Poker Tour debuted in 2003.

3. The era of sponsorships, particularly from online sites, is no more.

This third point by Negreanu reflects the new reality following Black Friday and the now much-weakened link between online poker and television in the U.S. "That ship has sailed in the U.S.," notes Negreanu, calling it a "fallacy" to believe that any future exposure on television will translate directly into further financial reward for players via sponsorship dollars.

From a cultural standpoint, there was a short period there where some have argued that sponsorships seemed to "legitimize" the career of "professional poker player" in the eyes of the public. (Brandon Adams -- one such sponsored pro -- made this observation not long ago.) Negreanu (also a sponsored pro) is obviously correct to say that time has passed.

Of course, the EPL itself might be viewed as also attempting to "legitimize" poker in American culture -- to try to make it appear more like golf or other sports where one really can play a game well enough to turn "pro" and thus gain both financial reward and respect from others for one's achievements.

All food for thought for my class this fall, I think, as we again consider both the history of poker in the U.S. and its cultural relevance today.

Join Betfair Poker Now.