Poker Popularity A Pros Perception

Basically, if the online (poker) sites were able to send the players like they did last year, we would have been well over 10,000 players this year," Phil Gordon told USA Today. Gordon functioned as the color commentator on ESPN's live pay-per-view telecast of the 2007 World Series Of Poker main event. "This isn't a down year when you take into account the regulatory climate. Every single sign I see says the game is growing in popularity. There are more people than ever that have played this game this year at the World Series of Poker.

The government action referred to by Gordon was the enactment of the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which prohibited financial transaction companies from making U.S. customer payments to online gambling sites illegal under U.S. law, including online poker. Passed in October 2006, the UIGEA has forced many companies out of the US market altogether, and limited the in home private activities of many United States citizens.

Though this was the first regression in over a decade for the World Series of Poker, 2007 also marked the second largest turnout. Gordon's comments imply that the new law has done little to stump poker's growing popularity, beyond cutting down the numbers entering the World Series Of Poker.

This year, a social worker from Temecula, California took home over $8 million in prize money from the WSOP. The Main Event Champion is 39-year-old Jerry Yang, who has only been playing poker for two years. Continuing to prove the popularity of Poker is on the rise and not decline.