My personal data base of poker's popularity or lack thereof, goes way back here in the Sin City. All the way back to the days of poker legend Johnny Moss managing a three table room at the old Dunes Casino when live poker was often one table set up in an out of the way corner where you could play nickel ante $1-$3 seven card stud. In fact, most Las Vegas casinos didn't offer poker, even the home of the World Series of Poker, Binion's Horseshoe, didn't have a poker room. Temporary poker tables were set up once a year for a few days in the Spring for the annual WSOP tournament. Poker players were not considered good for the gambling business and a poker room would take away valuable floor space that could be put too much better use making buckets (literally) of money from slot machines.

Poker enjoyed some popularity after the colorful Amarillo Slim won the WSOP in 1972 and was on national TV as the charismatic spokesperson for the "newly rediscovered" parlor game. Vegas casinos built poker rooms and most of us old timers remember the days of the non stop action at the Stardust, Sahara, Riveria, or the downtown 'Nugget. Poker really hit the big time when the Las Vegas Hilton built the first mega-sports and race book that included a twenty-eight table poker room that was the lap of luxury including a close-in parking lot and back entrance that guaranteed the place was always jumping. Then the accountants decided they should turn that convenient parking lot into an outdoor boxing arena and the poker room's base of loyal poker players fled to the new poker room at the just opened Mirage where former WSOP Champion Bobbie Baldwin ran the show and provided players with the largest poker room in Nevada. He even insisted players be accorded the respect and comforts of any other of the resort's guests.

photo by FlipChip/LasVegasVegas.com

Soon, the Hilton's poker room was closed and dismantled. Hilton's poker room became a couple of tables in the middle of the casino floor and live poker quietly disappeared from the property. The loss of the mighty and glamorous Hilton poker room was the beginning of a trend to close rooms and shut down live poker in favor of "Poker Machines." I remember a slot manager telling a group of players that the new poker machines would replace the old, outdated live games. Yeah right...ever try bluffing a slot machine? Poker rooms closed all over town. The once great variety of places was no more and live poker went into a steep decline that lasted for years until TV and the Internet breathed some life into the time honored card game.

Today, rooms are coming online weekly and existing facilities are being expanded to accommodate the new generation of poker players. Tournament poker is not only one of the greatest draws in all of sports attracting a record 8,776 players for one single event, the Main Event of the WSOP but on any given night 50,000 players are filling 5,000 tables at just one online poker room, Party Poker. Can another decline come along to knock poker back down to a table in a back room with a few old guys trading nickels and dimes? Yes, it sure as hell can.

One major scandal will cut the legs from under the live poker and we will again see poker rooms morph into a bank of the more profitable slot machines. With US politicians trying their best to shut down Internet poker rooms we may also see the decline in the new breed of virtual poker players. Has the trend already begun? It would appear that cracks are forming in the both the live and Internet sector of the business. Two very prominent former online gambling site CEO's are cooling their heels under house arrest here in the US while awaiting trials that can result in large fines and probable prison time for breaking US anti-computer gaming laws(?).

photo by FlipChip/LasVegasVegas.com

On the live poker front the most prestigious poker tournament, the WSOP Main Event, was won by someone so marginal they can't even collect their winnings. Jamie Gold seems to be made-to-order for the anti-poker crowd. Here's a guy that continues to stick his foot into his always open mouth. Checking him out on the Internet I found the words most used to describe him were douche bag, egomaniac, liar, and the worst thing you can label a poker player...welcher. Now, the talk is whether he is a cheat and collected the top prize because he knowingly broke the rules. This could be the nucleation point for the crack that will once again place poker in the back room, way back.