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the whole Poker craze hype
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| dEsidEL |
the game has been around for years, but if you haven't already noticed, there's been a surge of popularity from television, internet, pubs, to your friend's local basement on weekends.
played out yet ?
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World-class poker faces belong to Canadians
Mar. 18, 2006. 01:00 AM
SAN GREWAL
LIFE WRITER
Forget hockey players and comedians. Canada's coolest cultural exports right now are a bet-it-all billionaire playboy, a sexy card shark and the world's best Texas Hold'em player.
Gamblers Calvin Ayre, Evelyn Ng and Daniel Negreanu are part of a wave of Canadians taking over the hottest industry in the world.
"It's the weather," says Ayre, explaining the popularity of gambling in Canada. The small-town kid from Saskatchewan recently made the cover of Forbes magazine, which announced his entry into the billionaires' club.
He's the self-described party animal and "heavily single" founder and CEO of Bodog.com, an online sports betting, poker and gaming site based in Costa Rica and valued at more than $1 billion (U.S.).
Ayre says he's not joking about his theory. "You can see the difference between the seasons. We even see spikes during large winter snowstorms. People are forced indoors. In terms of why so many Canadians gamble or play online I don't think there are any other cultural explanations than that."
Negreanu, who cut his teeth playing poker at charity casinos around Toronto as a 19 year-old, before being named the World Poker Tour's player of the year in 2005 and making millions on the professional poker circuit, says the city produces some of the best players in the world.
"There was more poker going on in Toronto (during the '90s) than most places in the world, other than California. There were 20 to 30 charity casinos to play poker at any time."
He offers the same explanation for the game's popularity here as Ayre: "A lot of places in Canada are pretty cold."
When escaping the cold, many Canadians chase their favourite pastime down to the gambling mecca of the world, Negreanu says. "Ever since I've been going to Vegas (where he's now based) I've always found a high percentage of the poker players were Canadians."
Other than the weather, Negreanu says the popularity of gambling in Canada is linked to the government's involvement in running casinos, lotteries and video gaming terminals.
"Canadians don't really have a taboo about gambling," he says. "I mean, the government's part of the culture too."
Ng, a Toronto native also based in Las Vegas, is the undisputed femme fatale of professional poker. She's one of the top three female players in the world, a cold-blooded poker assassin who's notched many top-10 finishes around the globe.
At 5-foot-11 and with smouldering looks, Ng intimidates many of the men she comes up against, standing out in a world where many players aren't exactly easy on the eyes.
Ng has won many large pots. One of her biggest was $65,000 in the 2005 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open.
It's not just high rollers who make the connection between Canadians and gambling.
"We're certainly up there among the esteemed group of countries that gamble a lot," says Nigel Turner, a gambling researcher at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
A 2001 survey of Ontarians showed that 84 per cent of adults had gambled within the previous year, he says.
But what's surprised him most recently are data suggesting Ontarians gamble online at a much higher rate than most other people in the developed world.
"Five per cent of adults in Ontario report gambling online," Turner says, compared to a rate, for example, of one to two per cent in England.
Don't blame the weather for this, he says.
"A British counterpart of mine has put it down to the idea that Canadians are more comfortable with technology and have more access to it."
Whether it's the climate or our technological advantage, online card sites such as PokerRoom.com confirm the large numbers of Canadians seeking out the adrenaline speedball rush of a huge poker rake.
Canada has more players on PokerRoom.com per capita than any country other than the U.S. But with the popularity of charismatic personalities such as Ayre and Negreanu, who has helped Citytv's World Poker Tour show become one of the top five rated programs in its time slot, the gap between the two countries is closing.
And the trend in Canada is spreading from the flashy high-stakes world of televised professional poker and online gambling to live games.
The Red Hot Poker Tour was started by Toronto's Dean MacNeil to promote live tournament-style poker, the way it's played on television, in bars across Ontario. Amateurs can play for non-money prizes almost any night of the week.
Another Torontonian, Joel Krass, hopes to follow Ayre's lead as a superstar of the online gaming world.
Krass is co-owner of HomePoker.com which allows beginners to sharpen their skills and organize private online games.
He says in the 15 years he's been playing poker he's never seen the kind of numbers recorded at Ontario casinos.
"At (Casino) Rama, at (the charity casino in) Brantford you can't even get a seat at the tables. I don't know if it's the weather that started the craze, but now it's bigger than anything else that people want to do."
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source:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...72154&t=TS_Home
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| arek |
played last night.
great game. |
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| ** TigerLily ** |
| i find this whole craze a little annoying - maybe it's because i'm not a gambler. i'm sick of flipping channels and seeing it on TV and damn internet ads for casinos and seeing my 10 yr old cousin playing at home. he's not even earning money and trying to hustle it from family members... lol. Seriously, i think it just promotes and glamourizes gambling which is quite a serious addiction. |
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| nusty |
In my opinion hockey taking a break for a year is partly to blame.
People needed something to do with the guys if the game wasn't on and poker was in the right place at the right time already slowly rising in popularity.
I have a few friends that are pretty into it and I view them as increasingly uncool. Some nights are just a waste of my time to even hang out with them anymore... similar to when a friend gets hooked on video games or starts smoking a lot of pot, unless you're really into it too, its not that much fun to be around.
I don't care what your 'image' is, no one really looks cool throwing down cards and money trying to impress someone. Recite some bit of interesting knowledge (non-poker related) or show an altheltic interest in something. Poker has the same appeal of becoming a more interesting person by reading family circus once a week. (I don't care what you say, that comic strip/ circle sucks)
I'm sure guys (or increasingly, gals) nights could be better spent through much more rewarding activities.
In the end, to each their own.
These guys making millions (or even billions) are the vast exception. |
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| Euphorica |
Fun game for sure and its been around for years. I even played online years ago on partypoker, before the huge craze. I find the whole fad annoying myself. On sports channels everywhere. They even have a show that watches people play online and announcers critic it. WTF?!
Now every highschool kid everywhere has their persona and wears sunglasses and think they are hard cause they play mad poker. Its LAME.
Im all for having fun and doing your own thing but its just another bandwagon and a really ghey one at that imo. |
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| Endlesswave |
| quote: | Originally posted by ** TigerLily **
i find this whole craze a little annoying - maybe it's because i'm not a gambler. i'm sick of flipping channels and seeing it on TV and damn internet ads for casinos and seeing my 10 yr old cousin playing at home. he's not even earning money and trying to hustle it from family members... lol. Seriously, i think it just promotes and glamourizes gambling which is quite a serious addiction. |
It's fun, as for glamorizing gambling, it's like any addiction, those who are into it moderately should have restraint. Who's to say that partying to electronic music is not the same? (ok we're a bit biased...) lol. As for a 10 year old cousin gambling, that is ty...although it could be a phase, if not, obviously I recommend help. |
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| Dj Smitty20 |
it's fun to plaly once in awhile....but my god, they are just beating it to death in every medium...tv, internet, celebrities, etc.
Celebrity poker? I mean does anybody watch that ? And why the hell is poker on tv when the Montreal Canadiens or Toronto Raptors are playing, for example? I know networks have to cash in, but showing poker primetime on a sports channel is going way too far. We might as well start having Dart Night on TSN on friday nights instead of real sports.
When did people lose interest in the traditional games, I wonder? |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by nusty
In my opinion hockey taking a break for a year is partly to blame.
People needed something to do with the guys if the game wasn't on and poker was in the right place at the right time already slowly rising in popularity.
I have a few friends that are pretty into it and I view them as increasingly uncool. Some nights are just a waste of my time to even hang out with them anymore... similar to when a friend gets hooked on video games or starts smoking a lot of pot, unless you're really into it too, its not that much fun to be around.
I don't care what your 'image' is, no one really looks cool throwing down cards and money trying to impress someone. Recite some bit of interesting knowledge (non-poker related) or show an altheltic interest in something. Poker has the same appeal of becoming a more interesting person by reading family circus once a week. (I don't care what you say, that comic strip/ circle sucks)
I'm sure guys (or increasingly, gals) nights could be better spent through much more rewarding activities.
In the end, to each their own.
These guys making millions (or even billions) are the vast exception. |
totally agree with the said above by brother nusty..
my younger brother and his friends started playing it in the last 12 months or so, albeit due to all the hype surrounding the game and the increased exposure it's gotten lately. i'm just glad that he doesn't play it as regularly as some of his other friends (he and a few others got a poker set for a friend's birthday not too long ago).
i'm curious, for those who play, how many here played it regularly before this whole craze started and how many took it up just recently due to all the hype (or aren't afraid of saying so?) ;)
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| riskytrader |
| I've been playing for years...the first time I knew about hold em was back in grade 9 or so ...WOW...that's 13 years ago. Actually I find it irritating now that the craze did take over the game and everyone thinks they are the . I went to vegas last week and destroyed these newbies but I am more of a recreational player that wants to have a good time. I don't mind having the occasional game with friends but know people that are totally addicted and it's screwed up their life...they were also into it BEFORE the craze so I don't know if it's just that certain personalities have a tendency to become addicts (regardless of the vice) or it's just that it's a fun game. |
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| ChemEnhanced |
| I pretty much play every day |
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| l]evil |
| its a fun game, plus im asian its in our blood to gamble |
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| TO guy |
Poker is a skill, its not GAMBLING!!!
and as for the hockey strike thing, I think you're right, as far as Canada goes. But most Americans didn't even know that hockey went on strike, and that is where poker is most popular. |
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