Poker’s changing of the guard

When I began playing poker in 2001 card-rooms had a vastly different feel than today’s bustling poker Mecca’s. I was about 25 years old, and I generally brought the average age of the table down a good 20 years. I played at Foxwoods quite a bit, and on a good day you had your choice of about 20 different tables, usually it was far less.

Anyone who has walked into a poker-room in the last 5 years knows those days are long gone. The retiree’s have been replaced 10 fold by college kids, and the once popular limit Hold’ Em and Stud tables have been pushed aside to make room for the juggernaught that is No Limit Hold’ Em.

Before Chris Moneymaker changed the face of poker-rooms across the world with his 2003 WSOP win, poker was an afterthought, relegated to the back of casino. Most players would call me crazy, but I miss those days.

I miss being one of the handful of players who ever read a poker book.

I miss the days when casino patrons played every single hand they were dealt, the same way they were taught at the kitchen table.

I miss being familiar with 75% of the players at the table; and knowing exactly how they would play their hands.

I know, I sound nostalgic, but it’s not the nostalgia I miss. I miss the surefire wins, and the ease I used to make money.  The young guns will talk all day about the number of fish the ‘poker boom’ has brought to the game: I say rubbish, those fish were always there. Back in the day they didn’t come 200 at a time like they do now, but you could be certain there would be a few of them at every table.

I don’t need 100 bad players in the poker-room; I simply need enough to fill the table I’m at! I used to have that. I used to be able to play cards in the backroom of bars, against the worst players you have ever seen. Nowadays, even the biggest donkey knows the general strategies of the game.

Don’t get me wrong, there is still a lot of money to be made at the poker tables, but now you have to work for it. Back in 2001 it was as if players were allergic to money, it was thrown at you. It was rare to book a loss, and the wins were bigger. No one ever caught on that you knew what you were doing on the felt, so they just kept handing you money.