a view on poker from a dodgy position
You cannot be surprised that the recession has hit the poker industry in the UK with the live poker game suffering the most according to Mintel, the market research company.
According to the report under the provocative heading ‘Poker…a busted flush?’ Mintel state that gross gaming yield dropped from £265 million in 2008 to £247 million in 2009. With almost a third admitting to have changed their playing habits due to the recession.
The biggest loser has been live poker which has been labelled as boring. Which surprises me because my live pub games have been said to have resembled the decadence during the fall of the Roman Empire.
I think the problem with the live game is that there is nothing to do if you get knocked out early, also, most casino frown on table banter. The reason for this is that it can get out of hand and turn into abuse. Depending on the persons involved this can lead to fights. The trick is keeping it sweet, which is quite hard since people hate to lose even if its for small stakes or even play chips. I think I may have cracked the problem of boring live games, since my versions of live poker do seem to be popular.
With the online game it is well overdue for Poker 2,0 or even 3.0 if you take 3D poker and social networks as Poker 2.0. As you may have read me go on about it, ad nauseum <LINK 1>, <LINK 2>,online poker needs a new technological bounce to put fresh impetus into the game. There are people working on it and soon I maybe able to send out some good news on that front.
In the end the popularity of poker is like losing your virginity once you have done it you will always go back for seconds.