Many are weighing in on the current affairs for poker in America, and for poker globally.
Galfond is correct, that various casino attempts at creating added revenue, have resulted in less amateur players, as well as lower numbers of smalltime recreational players.
But poker has been decimated by far more than just tournaments trying to make a bigger profit.
Poker has been crushed by "rip-off" professionals like Tom Dwan and Erick Lindgren, poker has been bullied by the government, and poker has been ignored by elitist politicians who are reluctant to legislate for such an "unworthy" cause. The public has also been influenced by the history of poker, as a "cheater's game." And that cheating is front and center even today.
As we know, In April of 2011, the American government seized online poker, simultaneously exposing fraud while eliminating recreational poker. The U.S. feds raided online poker sites FullTiltPoker, Pokerstars, and Absolute Poker, shutting the sites down and seizing their assets.
FullTilt, an American company founded by poker pros, was found to have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars in player deposits. Most of those players were Americans, and mostly consisted of small bankroll recreational players.
In the two years since the seizure, varying stories about who was to blame for the theft of close to 350 million in player funds, ran rampant in the poker world. Some blamed poor management and some blamed greedy professionals. Essentially, many of the pros we see on TV, were also the players at FullTilt that had a freeride on player funds.
In a prior story, I wrote about how "I miss playing micro-stakes poker on FullTilt," and what I meant was, that when I had played there I had fun playing while I also thought the game was safe. PokerStars, for example, operated legitimately, and cashed out its players when the U.S. Justice Department got involved. PokerStars simply pulled out of the U.S. market and continues to operate a legitimate, safe, fun, and profitable online poker site.
FullTilt was later sold, in a deal with the U.S. feds, and as of this writing, most players have not been paid back, which was included in the "terms" of the buyout deal. PokerStars was the buyer, and the U.S. Judicial Office was the supposed distributor of the buyout funds. Why the U.S. is dragging its heels is beyond me.
In the wake of FullTilt's collapse, tempers and opinions were sometimes public. Phil Ivey, considered the best poker player in the world, was critical of the pros and sat out WSOP events in protest.
Howard Lederer, renowned pro and one of the FullTilt CEOs, reported a staggering number of unpaid loans to professional players that were associated with the poker site. Lederer stated that media darlings Erick Lindgren and Tom Dwan, were among those who did not repay loans.
The government's scrutiny in regards to the matters of player deposits at FullTilt, have led directly to a painfully slow process of legalizing online poker. For players like me, the effect has been essentially eliminating. For myself, the situation seems similar to Galfond's blog, and Phil nails it. I hated rebuy tourneys in bigger online tournaments. And I hated "multiple entry" even more. It was hardly fair to players in my realm(at the time), to see seats in $215 "main events," formerly won in $20 buy-in tourneys, only to realize that the $20 satellite was no longer was playable, because the won seat was now a seat into a multiple entry tournament. Like the Galfond blog discusses, the casinos do this to add revenue, and the effect on player diversity, so to speak, is a reason for discussion. The effect will never be like mine, with a zero hands played this week...but all of these factors, have helped the government's case against poker, remain a reality.
And it's not just online poker, or even poker in casinos. Our local governments have been medieval in their approach to recreational poker in the form of ring games. Poker rooms face incredible scrutiny in my home state, unless of course, the game is state-run "video poker," which is in no form, a poker game. Zero poker rooms exist in Albany, where I live, but Oregon Lottery Video Poker "cafes" are everywhere.
There are too many of these so-called cafes to count...
In Portland, attempts at creating ordinances to eliminate poker rooms, received much media exposure and debate, both locally and nationally.
In the end, poker in America will be legal, and safe for all players, at all stakes. Even for guys like me, who racked up a few hands playing one cent-two cent no-limit triple draw.
An online hand.
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