WPT statement

[MAYHEM45]

WOW.



Arrogant assholes.

[Tony Cheval]

Really, I can personally attest to the slump card games were in before the online/WSOP/WPT explosion, it was the increasing exposure from ALL these things, but mostly from online availability IMO that brought poker to where it is now. Do they really think people will care that much about watching a bunch of guys (and some girls) sitting around a table playing a card game that our fearless leaders tell many of us WE can't play?

[Dodoubled]

These guys ARE fucking arrogant. Shit, they owe ALL of their success on TV to the emergence of online poker. Fuckers.

[Reel Deal]

I only play poker because of those niffty little spot light/search light thingies on the WPT broadcasts... they got me hypnotizzzzzeeeedddd!!!

[Talking Poker]

IMO, you have this completely backwards.

The online poker boom didn't start until the WPT hit the airwaves.

[MAYHEM45]

How long would the ratings have lasted if the fish couldnt play themselves?

[BlibbityBlabbity]

The WPT did get the ball rolling, but....

would poker have gotten as big as it has if there was no poker online? Part of the interest in the big tourneys is the possibility that you could win into them.

For most low limit players (not willing to spend $100+ on a sat) that requires the multi-phase sattellites that are offered online. Also, if people didn't have the ability to learn, practice, and move up in both skill and bankrolls online there would never have been that many people entering the WPT events. Most players don't live close enough to a pokerroom to play live.

[Dodoubled]

OK, I'll give you that. But I don't think the WPT legitimized online poker, and that's the message they were trying to convey. It may have started a fad, but I think the initial Moneymaker run did more to give it staying power than anything else.
And for those guys to spout off about how the supposed demise of online poker in the U.S. isn't going to harm the market here is absurd. The thing that makes online poker great is that it's convenient, accessible and much, much more affordable than taking a trip to the casino. It was also pretty cool being able to qualify online for a lot of these televised tourneys. And that also helped develop a common-man relationship between poker on the computer and poker on TV.
This bill will eliminate all of that, yet the WPT still thinks it can thrive. Do you really think people are going to continue to give a shit about televised poker (other than the WSOP) when that relationship ceases to exist?

[Dodoubled]

Yeah, what Blibbity said.

[Dodoubled]

And Mayhem, too. GOD DAMN, I need to learn to keep things short and simple.

[Talking Poker]

I'm certainly not debating any of this. I'm just saying that I think the WPT is more responsible for the success of online poker than online poker is for the success of the WPT. Frankly, I'm not sure how anyone could even debate that.

[Talking Poker]

Again, I'm not disagreeing with any of this. I think the WPT will greatly suffer from this recent legislation.

But I also can't blame them for making the statement they made. Can you imagine what would happen to their stock if they said the sky was falling? OF COURSE they need to be as "positive" as possible.

[2Tone]

Right.

I’m sure the WPT’s actual sentiment is the exact opposite of this statement. Anything that reduces interest/activity in poker obviously hurts them. More specifically, the fields for their events will get smaller as a result of fewer internet qualifiers, and the many large advertisers on their programs are the dot.net sites.

But they are publicly-traded US-based company. It would do them no good to come out strongly against recently passed legislation. That would only highlight negative impact of this legislation on their business to Wall Street.

Unlike, say, Daniel Negreanu, who is free to call Frist a ‘douche bag’

[Talking Poker]

Agreed.

That said - WPTOnline (or whatever it is) hasn't accepted U.S. players from the start, so, the new legislation helps even out the playing field for their online site, at least as far as overseas players are concerned. When a site like Party poker may have been a lot more attractive to Joe Blow from Germany last week, now WPTOnline is going to look (almost) as good.