Poker is Big and Getting Bigger

Author's note: Last time I checked, I owned this magazine. So, who's a guy gotta know to get good placement? I stop writing for a couple of months and they bury me on Page 18. I guess that Dangerfield guy's on to something with that "No Respect" bit.

Poker is big and growing so fast that it is becoming mainstream. We all have heard about Chris Moneymaker's win in the championship event of the 34th annual World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas. He parlayed a $40 tournament entry on PokerStars.com into $2.5 million.

But the real industry story at the WSOP was that the number of entrants went from 631 in 2002 to 839 in 2003. We can all thank the World Poker Tour for that increase, along with the many online poker rooms that put players into the event.

My goodness. This came just a month after Bellagio had 111 entrants in its $25,000 championship event, which a year ago we were hoping would have 75.

Poker strategy books are selling more every day, and Jim McManus' book Positively Fifth Street is a bona fide bestseller. Plus, Amarillo Slim's all over television promoting his book.

Everyone who reads that wonderful Chris Moneymaker story thinks, "Hmm, if that average guy can do it, why can't I? I'm going to try some of those online tournaments." Online poker rooms are just going to grow. Another boost to this growth was the tremendous World Poker Tour win of Finn Juha Helppi, who won the UltimateBet.com Ultimate Poker Classic in Aruba, which also started with an online poker tournament.

Speaking of booming, the entire poker community has noticed how PartyPoker.com has become the busiest online site in just two years. No small part of this has been how they have gone to great lengths to attract Card Player readers – who they know are a solid core of players – with lots of specials. Now you, our readers, are the beneficiaries of all of that, as other sites try to keep up.

Card Player and our newsletters are right in the middle of all of this growth. Our readers are the dedicated players, the online and brick-and-mortar casino winners. And our readers and subscribers to these newsletters are getting some fantastic deals.

Commerce Casino gave two of our subscribers, at random, $330 buy-in tournament seats. Bellagio contributed 10 weekends for two. The Aviation Club contributed two €500 buy-ins.

Another example is that our new sponsor 24hPOKER is trying to attract American players by offering a $10,000 freeroll. Not too many players have found their way to this site yet, so this offers a tremendous overlay for savvy readers. And a big welcome also goes to new sponsor InterCasinoPoker. They'll give you a $20 bonus just for playing one free-money hand, and an additional $30 bonus every month after playing 200 real-money hands. Getting paid to play – what a concept!

PlanetPoker is offering 1,000 Planet points just for signing up through CardPlayer.com.

Card Player Cruises gives a $100 discount, and the World Poker Players Conference gives a $50 discount for our subscribers.

In the meantime, though, our own sponsors keep offering great deals, so be sure to check them all out.