Ever since 2003, the game of poker seems to have grown to epic proportions with each passing year.  Not only has the number of players entering poker shot up but so have the amount of TV shows dedicated to it.  But this growth seems to have really slowed as of late in both the online and TV sector and many people around the industry are starting to worry.

For instance, the 8th annual Full Tilt Online Poker Series just finished up on Sunday and perhaps the most telling numbers of the event were that the highest number of participants in a single tourney was 5,090 and the amount of people in the Main Event was 4,750. 

These numbers certainly indicate that poker is still popular enough to where people will pay $100 to $500 to buy-in to major online tournaments but contrast the FTOPS 8 figures with that of FTOPS 7.  In the 7th annual Full Tilt Online Poker Series, the stats were significantly higher as the biggest tournament featured 6,000 people in it while the Main Event had 5,291 people in it. 

Looking at the Main Event, this means that 541 more people chose to play in 2007 than did this year.  And it can’t be blamed on the buy-ins either as both years they were set at $500 +$35 (maybe 541 people just didn’t like Jennifer Harman as the host).  The prize pool was down too from $2,645,000 to $2,375,000.   

And while the FTOPS Main Event is just a single online tournament, it is one of the biggest and most publicized on the net and definitely deserves a look.   It also prompts one to question whether the popularity of poker as a whole is going downhill.  Thursday, I’ll talk about some of the TV trends as well in order to bring this into a bigger perspective.

I’ve heard of the states that are extremely strict on people who participate in home poker games.  Oklahoma is one that comes to mind right away as this state declares that anyone caught playing at a home-based poker game where money is exchanged is subject to a misdemeanor.  It’s even worse for the host as they could be charged with a felony and could wind up in jail or even prison depending on the case.

However, I wasn’t aware there were states that declared online poker a felony.  That is until I came across a recent story about how the state of Washington has this type of law in effect and refuses to overturn it despite pressure from many different sources.

In Washington, the state’s law says that online poker is illegal and anyone caught playing is subject to a $10,000 fine and up to 5 years in prison.  This has been in effect since 2006 and has caused plenty of outcry.

And justifiably so too as it’s a little hard to reason that putting an online poker player in the same cell with a rapist or murderer makes sense.  Luckily, most other people in the state see how stupid Washington’s government is in allowing this kind of legislature.

Former Washington governor candidate and current lawyer Lee Rousso has sprearheaded the charge to rid the state of their outrageous online poker law.  Rousso has been arguing that it is unconstitutional to have such a law and it is only in place to protect the state’s lotteries and live card rooms.  Member of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) such as Barry Greenstein have also made efforts to get the state to overturn its law but Washington refuses. 

It’s difficult for me to imagine living in a place like Washington where I could go to prison for playing poker for money over the Internet.  It would be like living in a different country from a law stand point and what kind of poker player would want to live in such a place?  Hopefully the Washington government will ask themselves the same thing and overturn this ridiculous law.

If there’s anything that can ruin poker for me, it’s catching a ton of bad cards in a row.  It’s almost like the slump that people who play other games and sports experience but it is even worse.  You can’t control the cards that you’re dealt and worse yet, you might try to force things as the bad cards keep piling up.

I know that when I’m stuck in this bad stretch of cards, I start to play tight when I should be playing more aggressive or even revert to the opposite and play too aggressive when I should be reigning things in more. 

But in my opinion, the worst thing one can do if they truly like playing poker is lose their liking for the game.  I’ve known a few people who’ve soured on Hold’em after experiencing a bad run with what’s in their hand.  I’ve always tried to look at it as if everything will even out in the end and the good cards will eventually come.

There’s been times when I don’t want to wait though and this has always been a good opportunity to switch from playing Hold’em all the time to something else like Omaha.  I may not be that great at Omaha but it’s a nice break from the norm.  Sometimes I’ll switch the limits that I play in Hold’em as well to change things up a bit and hopefully get away from the bad cards.

Sometimes stepping down to a lower limit and playing with people who aren’t as serious about the game can be a big relief from getting bad cards.  The bottom line is though that I try to do anything to avoid just stopping my poker playing period.  If I just stop playing because of some bad cards, then I’m not having fun with poker.

BodogLife.com has made a habit recently of giving gamblers betting odds on some pretty obscure things.  The latest odds I’ve seen Bodog cook up was for who will win the fourth season of Hell’s Kitchen.  To be honest, I’ve only seen the previews for the show and a screaming chef isn’t enough to entice me to waste an hour of my life every Tuesday. 

But one set of odds that I did find interesting were the latest ones on which celebrity will have the biggest cash out at the upcoming 2008 WSOP Main Event.  Now these odds are interesting for two reasons:
1. It’s odds on which celebrities will make the most money 
2. Who Bodog lists at the top of their list.

Coming in at the top are Daniel Negreanu at 5/2 odds and newly signed Team Bodog member Justin Bonomo at 3/1.  My question is; How does Bodog think that these two players belong in the celebrity odds line?  Sure Negreanu is a huge celebrity in poker (and even beyond) while Bonomo is becoming more popular but these two are also pros as well.

I mean if Bodog signed Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash to promote their basketball betting section, would if be fair to hold a celebrity three-point competition, throw these two in there, and declare them the odds-on-favorites to win the contest?

Anyways, getting to the rest of the odds, Shannon Elizabeth, James Woods, and Jennifer Tilly check in next at 5/1 odds.  Montel Williams is sitting pretty good at 13/2 while Ben Affleck, Don Cheadle, Boris Becker, and even Norm MacDonald (I didn’t even now he played) have 9/1 odds at bringing home the most cash from the WSOP.

Getting to the people that Bodog has very little faith in (and for good reason), Hank Azaria, Penn Gillette, Lennox Lewis, and Jose Canseco are in the cellar of the odds list at 30/1.  But on a good note for Lennox and Jose, they will be heavily favored by Bodog to win any future celebrity boxing or baseball contests.

I can’t help but thinking what life would be like to have the luck of Jamie Gold.  And no, I’m not just talking about the time he won $12 million using some of the luckiest bluff in the history of the WSOP.  Instead I’m talking about how he has the good fortune of co-hosting the third annual Celebrity Poker Tournament at the Playboy Mansion. 

Gold will host the event which takes place on May 17th with Khloe Kardashian from “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”.  Not only will Jamie have Khloe by his side as long as she can stand him but he will also be amidst the usual crowd of curvy Playboy Bunnies.  It’s almost enough to make a man jealous.

But not jealous in the sense that Gold actually has a chance with Khloe or the Bunnies (unless he brings some of his 2006 winnings along).  More so of the simple fact that Gold, despite his consistently average poker ability, seems to remain one of the stars of the poker world.

Anyways, for all of you West Coast people, the Celebrity Poker Tournament is a fund raiser as well for the Urban Health Institute which means it’s general admission.  The general admission is a little pricey at $500 and so is the buy-in for the tourney as it’s $1,500. 

Obviously though, this isn’t your average $1,500 buy-in ($2,000 counting admission) considering that you’d be inches away from the Bunnies and will get to see celebrities such as Phil Ivey, comedian Anthony Anderson, Phil Laak, Super Bowl Champ and Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce, and others listed that I have no idea of who they are.

Plus anyone who attends can participate in a silent auction where one of the items up for bids is private poker lessons from Jamie Gold.  Now this must be the real reason everyone is going.  Expect some fierce bidding.