If you cant understand why darvin moon winning the ME is a good thing, i would like you to win it aswell.

People really think Darvin Moon winning is gonna have a Monkeymaker effect?
I just don't see it. The next best step for poker right now is for online poker to get legalized. It'd be nice for a pro like Phil Ivey to win this year, but I don't think who wins is gonna have any significant effect on where poker is headed.

Please, everybody stop saying that this year's Main Event will either "prove" poker is a game of luck or a game of skill. Sample size, folks: one tournament. If it comes down to a heads-up AK vs. QQ all-in between Moon and Ivey, do you really think that proves anything?

+1

The only real Poker Boom v.2 will happen with online legalization. If Moon wins, the only people that would attract are the same people who were already around when Moneymaker won. That was only six years ago.

Do you really think the general public cares/knows about anything outside of the main event? That's all they see... It proves everything to them, because they don't see anything else.

I don't think the general public cares about the Main Event. And what somebody who watches poker once a year isn't really the issue. I'm just suggesting that people who might actually know better, on this site, stop saying it.

Does anybody know if any of the November 9 are scheduled to appear on any network talk show, or other major media spots, over the next two weeks?

It would be truly awful if Moon wins.
1 reason - He wont put f all back into the poker community.
can you see moon playing online and donating? Dont thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink sooooooooooo

I'd personally like to see Akenhead win it, he's a nice young likeable guy and it would be great for poker in the uk. Aside from him, obviously Phil Ivey is the man, and would also be great for poker, but apart from those two I think another chris moneymaker type figure in Darvin Moon wouldn't be so bad.

Which of the Nov 9 can you see playing online and donating?

darvin moon wins = more fish

So for everyone saying Moon will be the next moneymaker, explain to me why the 2004-2007 winners didn't create a second poker boom already? None of those winners were professional poker players and half of them were working class people who got luckier like Moon did.

I think it could potentially have a similar affect to what happened when Chris Moneymaker won it in 2003. This would bring a Lot more EZ money to tables online/B&M.

greg raymer's backstory: white collar worker with years of studying poker
joe hachem's backstory: annoying australian
jamie gold's backstory: annoying media type impossible to empathise with
jerry yang's backstory: weirdo christian
peter eastgate backstory: young scandie charisma bypass

i love fossilman, and think he's been great for poker, but its silly to argue that moon winning wouldn't eclipse all of these guys, in terms of having a great story like moneymaker. eclipse, geddit?

and as i said before, if you yanks manage to sort out your legislation, a Moon win would give poker some real rocket fuel. last year they changed the main event radically to try and boost interest, and it was a total let down - eastgate didn't even give the slightest hint of emotion when he won. moon taking it down, especially if its in some epic heads up vs ivey say, is exactly the kind of scenario ESPN, and indeed everyone in poker, should be rooting for.

True, Raymer, Hachem, Gold, and Yang were in a similar category as Moon is now. But Moon is being advertised just as Moneymaker was. Blue collar, hard working, middle class citizen.

bad because it means phil didnt win

Never knew that was in the contract when you sign you sign up to play the ME.

Ivey's appearing on E:60 November 3rd, and will also have the cover on the next ESPN magazine.

I didn't vote because I don't think it will make a difference either way. There won't be another Moneymaker effect (whether Moon or Ivey wins) because there already was one and all the ppl that would even have had interest and dreams of winning the big one already is either still playing or already went Busto. Not to mention the world economy sucks and ppl are broke. So you can all keep dreaming and hoping but it wont make a difference.

The only surge that is going to go on in Poker is the college kids/Math nerds because they are already smart and aggressive. It is like college kids trying drugs and partying except they aren't putting that No Fear mentality into Drugs but instead poker where they actually have an edge because all of the math is still fresh in there head and they have no worries about going bust because they can reload. Hey it's one night of thirsty Thursday or a weekend. And if all else fails they have a degree to fall back on.

Poker is no more just a game for degenerate gamblers and old men and woman and it wont go back to that. I also don't think a repeal of the UIGA will make difference neither. Well this may make a little bit of a difference but not as much as most poker players are hoping

I may just be pessimistic but I think it's just the way it is.

This is very smart.

it would be awesome if darvin is leveling everyone and is some online mtt pro
i could dream..

I voted bad because of the reason someone else stated, **** like that kinda proves poker isn't a skill game.

I think James Akenhead would, he's no Ivey but he's got potential

It may not "prove" anything, but it doesn't hurt the "poker-is-a-game-of-skill" argument to have to best player in the game play his way through the minefield that is the ME to claim poker's most prestigious title.

Moon seems like a decent enough guy, but best case scenario is that he doubles up Ivey early and then loses to Ivey heads-up for the bracelet. Poker (in the sense that it is mostly a game of skill) benefits from having Ivey win.

So if Ivey goes on a sick heater and wins, it changes the perception of luck in the game?