Poker's New Generation: Let your game do the screaming.

I recently had a chance to read Donnie Peter’s Pokernews article on “What Happened to Poker?” and I can’t help but disagree with a lot of it. Don’t get me wrong, Donnie is certainly right about at least one thing; Poker definitely isn’t as fun for the players, isn’t as fun for the media, and most likely the same is true for the fans.

It’s his “why” I haven’t yet subscribed to. The industry has changed a ton in just a few short years and losing online poker in the United States has without a doubt been the biggest factor. The game has gotten considerably tougher. Win rates have decreased and thus downswings have become longer and more severe. Professional players on average are making less money and are more miserable than they were a few years earlier. The more withered the pros are, the less likely they are to contribute to table conversation or celebrate winning a hand. Poker is definitely not the dreamy job it was in 2004 and it’s hardly even the “solid” job it was in 2010.

Since the game moved online, there has been a slow transition from the “live” generation to the poker generation you see today. Donnie seems to remember only the good from the old poker crew. Sure, even I enjoy a good Hellmuth rant from time to time, but do we really want to bring poker back to only the obnoxious idiot types just to draw a crowd? Several of these old school “poker pros” (I put it in quotes because most of them are broke degenerates who are certainly not good enough to be poker professionals in today’s game) berated the dealers when they took a beat, asked for a deck change every five minutes because this one is “rigged” or “unlucky”, pointed the finger at amateur players who made mistakes and told them how stupid they were, and constantly angled other players to increase what little edge they had. Yes, we are talking about the same people who believe if red hit the last 4 times at roulette, the next spin is more likely to hit black. Are we sure that casual players and fans would “…much rather see Phil Hellmuth and Beth Shak dancing around the table while Brett Richey contemplates what to do with two kings?” I’m not and the first few comments on that YouTube video aren’t convinced either.  

Since we’ve transitioned to the new poker generation of primarily online grinders the game has certainly quieted down in the live arena. When you’re used to playing most of your hands online, you don’t feel the need to stand up and scream when you suck out nor do you feel obligated to slam the table when you take a beat and yell at the other player. There also used to be a huge advantage to acting up and being obnoxious around TV cameras. Poker players like Hevad Khan knew that’s what it took to get a deal with a poker site. If you’ve noticed, the guy hasn’t made a sound since his first WSOP run and it’s not because his personality changed overnight. Now that dream is dead too.

Does poker really need this behavior to be entertaining? If so, why do recreational players enjoy playing online at all? It's not the obnoxious behavior that brings players to the live tournament arena. It's the dream. It's an accountant from Georgia turning $40 into $2.5m. And it's reality TV at it's finest.

Seems to me that the game has gotten tougher and more competitive and now poker is less about who the loudest and proudest is and instead more about who the best players are and what makes them so good. You can still go to your local casino, sit down at a 1/2 or 2/5 game and expect to have some conversation and fun. But if you want to play on the biggest stage in the biggest poker tournaments, you should expect the field to be tough and serious. After all, everyone is playing for a lot of money and for some of us; our livelihood is at stake too. The game of poker is pretty entertaining in itself; especially tournament poker. The excitement is still there for the middle aged recreational player who won his 10k main event seat from a local card club for $100 and is now playing for 8.5 million. He doesn’t have to have a bunch of clowns screaming and dancing around him to have a good time.

It pains me a bit when people say that the 20-somethings playing in the game today have no personality. Have you ever actually spoken to them? All of them?! Just because we’re not dancing on the table tops and spouting bullshit to the cameras doesn’t make us as boring as “a few cardboard cutouts” as Donnie so eloquently puts it. I can tell you that out of all the live poker tournaments I’ve ever been in, I’ve certainly had better conversation on average with intelligent 20-somethings than with anyone else. So many of these kids are brilliant and have awesome stories and experiences to tell if we’d just give them a chance.

I agree wholeheartedly that we need to do something to make poker more entertaining and continue to spread and grow the game. I, however, don’t think the future of the game hold’s many Phil Hellmuths or Tony Gs and would prefer if it didn't anyway. We need to come up with new innovative ideas to promote the game and the biggest one is getting online poker back in the US. 

Remember, there’s nothing wrong with using your indoor voice and letting your game do the screaming.