Poker = Dying Fad

The New York Post had a pretty stupid article up today with the headline "Pepsi's Poker Ad Dooms Fad". In it, the writer talks about how the over-commercialization of poker is the start of the fad dying. He quotes a "creative director of buzz" named Ryan Berger.

"Poker was a real underground trend, but now it has become so commercialized that the game's lost the gritty flavor that made it attractive," said Ryan Berger, Euro RSCG's creative director of buzz.

I don't know what the guy is talking about, because I think poker is so much more attractive now then it was back when it had "the gritty flavor". I don't think people are getting into poker now because they have this Roundersesque idea of the experience. No. People are getting into poker now because the successful players (which are not as few and far between anymore) are making sick money and living like rockstars.

I remember back when it was gritty. Pros would lie about what they did for a living. If you were trying to pick up a girl, being a poker player would kill the deal right off the bat. I knew guys who told their parents that they were "investment consultants". It wasn't a cool thing to do.

Enter online poker. Enter ESPN and the WPT. Enter the whole final table of the WSOP making a million. Enter Pepsi.

It's not going to be too long before you see nike swoops all over the top names and hearing about eight-figure endorsement deals. I predict in the future more people will play poker than the stock market. We're not talking pogs here, people. Poker is not a fad.