Is the pool of tourney players almost endless?
I'm not a tourney guy at all, will play my first one in the Wounded Warrior WSOP,
but that's just as a bucket list thing and since my kid joined the Army National Guard

As Seinfeld would say, "what's the deal with all these tournament series overlapping each other?"

Doesn't seem super complicated tbh.

Tens of thousands of people come to Vegas to play poker every summer.

It's a good time for venues to capitalize on that.

They are trying to make it seem like poker is not dead.

And Seinfeld would never say that.

If poker was dead these series would all be unprofitable and be cancelled very quickly. The fact that these series keep going en mass is proof that live poker is alive and well.

Online is the same. There used to be a few series a year (which were something to look forward to) but now the main series ends and a week later there's a turbo series, then a BH series. I remember pads saying a few years ago that this was unsustainable but it doesn't seem to be the case. It's just capitalists trying to suck every last penny from the consumer. If you accept american culture then you get exploited.

It's almost like people can choose to play or not play.

That's true on a personal level but what is actually happening is that money is funneling upwards and the race to the bottom is accelerated. Nobodies experience is enhanced but the rich get richer. It's a microcosm of capitalism.

people who enjoy playing poker tournaments are having their experience enhanced.

I don't like tournaments so I almost never play them.
Simple.

Right. It was a joke.

A lot of people genuinely seem to think "poker is dying" so I didnt catch it

It’s 100% dying. You think any of these other tournaments would be happening if WSOP suddenly vanished? The WSOP is the only draw for poker in Vegas in summer. Every other poker series revolves around the WSOP and their schedule. They offer cheaper buy-ins to try to lure in the rec players there taking a shot at a bracelet.

Poker is on life support and that life support is called WSOP.

To be clear, obviously poker will never disappear completely. But it’s certainly going the way of Bridge in terms of relevant card games for the general public.

Anyone who doesn’t see this is either blind or lying to themselves.

Ok Chicken Little, the sky is not falling!

WSOP had record numbers last year, and a record Main Event. How you can square that with "poker is on life support" is pretty laughable.

WSOP Bahamas was pretty successful as well.

I'd venture that the series' at Venetian, Aria, Wynn, Bellagio, etc. do quite well too.

As far as the "smaller series" around Vegas, I think it's more a case of the casual tourist player (guy in for a convention that has a day off) just wanting 1-day events, which is what these series mostly are.

Chicken little was afraid the sky was falling. I’m not afraid. I just don’t bury my head in the sand like you and others. It’s ok to accept reality, you don’t have to fear it.

Also, my post clearly says WSOP is the only thing propping it up still then you proceed to use WSOP as the example of your counter argument? Cool story, bro (does anyone still say that or is that expression as dead as poker?)

Sure but it's 2024. While other series revolve around wsop -the summer of Las Vegas poker (which is filled with nits) isn't the gauge of poker health.

FWIW, Wynn absolutely smashed it in December with their WPT stuff. Their $1.1k got 10,000+ entries. Nearly 4,000 entries in their $10k main event.

It felt like December was a second summer with all the tournaments running. Spillover to other venues was strong.

I don't think there's much objective evidence for poker dying out, other than random hunches and vibes.

I wouldn't make the mistake of generalizing my own personal feelings to the greater poker-playing population.

Ah yes because massive overlays, record number of poker rooms and card rooms closing, lower online poker participation, and a lack of enthusiasm for poker is all based on my own hunches and vibes 🙄

Look, there used to be 20 ships in the sea of poker. All but 2 have sunk to the bottom and taken most passengers with them. The surviving passengers are piling onto the ships that are still afloat and that gives the perception that things are booming because the existing boats are now more crowded.

An argument can be made that the sea was over saturated with boats and was eventually going to balance itself out, which is what is happening. But let’s not pretend that that means everything is booming and healthy.

If there was a metric to look at the overall gross revenue of poker, adjusted for inflation, do you honestly think it would be increasing rather than decreasing? Come on, man.

I still love the game but inflation, greedy cheats and scammers, and over saturation by venues trying to capitalize on poker have all caused the game to eat itself.

It will never disappear completely but, as I said, it’s on life support.

I feel like most major poker rooms used to have ~$200 daily tournaments, with a $500-$1000 regularly scheduled tournament at least weekly. I think these constant small tournament series have largely replaced the midstakes dailies, as most dailies are now $100 or less.

It's the rake that the tournament runners take. No matter who wins 1st place the house wins second. They crush it on "dealer appreciation" and "add on" before registration ends. Tournaments are extremely profitable to the house.

Very few tournaments that are part of a series have an “add on” or “dealer appreciation” in my experience. There’s certainly merit to complaints about increased rake overall, but I do think this has at least gotten more straightforward and transparent in recent years, with structure sheets always specifying rake and dealer portions.

If poker really is dying, no one has told all the people trying to play in my local cardroom on a Saturday night.

You are right. It is OK to accept reality. Try it sometimes.

There is literally no objective metric that shows poker is dying. None.

Pick one and quote it if you want to reply.

Every single poker series in Vegas is going to crush it this summer and see record numbers.

How someone can see this and think poker is dying is mind boggling.

The idea is there are a ton of people not quite rolled for the WSOP who come out to play 1-2 events but want to play a bunch of smaller buy in side events while in Vegas

So a lot of other venues hold series so they can do so

The series overlap because so many poker players are in town and when you bust one tourney you can go to another venue and reg a different one if you want to, plus some people prefer to play whatever variant of poker, so having a ton of variants at a ton of buy-in levels on around the place caters to everyone.

Berkey had a discussion about this on one of his pods a while back. The of it was he hates all the little events and wonders if they actually bring anything to the poker economy because the people entering them are the types that will probably never play poker again. Plus he hates having to wade through the large crowds.

It helps to read the thread and see the point I made about how there are fewer venues and events now so, naturally, the remaining ones will seem more crowded because there are fewer options.