Poker is perhaps one of the most strategic games on the casino floor. Poker’s popularity increased manyfold between the 1980s through the early 2000s where casinos installed plush poker rooms to accommodate the massive inflow of enthusiastic punters looking to try their hands at the game.
However, the tide has turned at least for now. Where once these poker rooms had waiting periods extending over an hour, they are now struggling to find players. Online poker arrived in 2003, and with the subsequent popularity of the World Series of Poker, a chunk of the enthusiastic fanbase moved online.
Where it All Began
Poker has always had intriguing personalities, but for the first time, these personalities were there in our living rooms, thanks to technology. The 2003 WSOP Main event was another turning point for the game’s popularity as millions of enthusiastic amateurs signed up on online poker rooms. A lot of new casinos have been offering various poker types ever since. And Casino Bee also has covered most of them in its new casino reviews.
Almost every retail store and gas station in the country had a DIY poker set, complete with chips, cards, dealer and blinds buttons, and table felt. Poker was everywhere, and people seemed to not get enough of it. Pokerstars was one of, if not the biggest platform of the era before the ban, and tens of millions of dollars were being exchanged on the platform every day.
Even though the enthusiasm has slightly dwindled, it’s by no means the end of the game. You can walk into any casino and find punters at the table or register online on some of the more popular casino websites to get started. With the rise of online poker, a leading number of the elite population moved to the internet and destroyed the amateurs. So, most of them left as quickly as they had arrived and the cash cow began to dwindle, and the competition went back to pro vs pro.
What Does the Future Look Like?
As the US gambling regulations continue to evolve, poker could make an astounding comeback as a leading number of people are suddenly on the lookout for entertainment at home. In fact, the demand has been brewing in the US for the past half-a-decade. Moreover, poker is just as popular in the country today as it was two decades ago, and the operators simply cannot wait to capitalize on the opportunity.
People love a great story, and the right balance between background and personality could easily restart a poker revolution of sorts. The struggle, however, is locating a personality. Youngsters today are cool and calculated, and you’ll rarely come across emotional outbursts and trash-talking.
There’s still hope even without yesteryear personalities as a growing number of punters become experts in their preferred games. And while the poker dream subsided to a certain extent, the possibility of reigniting the passion among younger generations isn’t farfetched.
So, to answer the original question, “Is the US poker boom dead”? We believe the game is pretty much alive and kicking. And it won’t come as a surprise to witness a significant boom in the next few years.