The Tipping Point of Poker

Everyone knows that poker has exploded, and can attribute it to various people and events, but let's examine how it really happened, and in my next column, I'll examine if it will last.

Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point (Little, Brown, 2000) examines why social epidemics take off. In determining how poker tipped, I think you have to go back to the famed match between Johnny Moss and Nick the Greek in 1951 in Las Vegas. After all, it was Benny Binion's vision to turn poker into a spectator event that led to his creation of the World Series of Poker in 1970. Moreover, while Amarillo Slim was the front man, it was Benny's idea to turn Slim into a touring ambassador for poker. When Slim first appeared on The Tonight Show in the early '70s, poker was on its way to gaining respectability.

But even with Slim's notoriety in the '70s, poker's growth was relatively stagnant in the '90s. When Brad Daugherty won the main event of the WSOP in 1991, first-place prize money was $1 million. When Noel Furlong won it eight years later in 1999, first prize was still $1 million. It wasn't until the new millennium that the prize pool increased, as Chris Ferguson won $1.5 million in 2000 and Chris Moneymaker won $2.5 million in 2003. And, incidentally, if anyone wants to bet the under on 1,400 participants in the 2004 WSOP, you can call me – collect.

You have to look at Corky McQuorcodale bringing Texas hold'em to Vegas in 1963 as a key moment. While McQuorcodale didn't invent the game, think about watching five-card stud on TV before underestimating just how important hold'em has been to the emergence of poker. Hold'em, of course, was the game of choice in Rounders, the 1998 film starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton. The next big moment for poker came in December 2000, when Jim McManus, a journalist who made it to the final table at the WSOP in 2000, wrote about his experience in the largest feature story ever to run in Harper's magazine. And while many people will point to his book Positively Fifth Street hitting the New York Times bestseller list in April 2003, I think the Harper's column was a much bigger moment. Because McManus' story ran in a "literary" magazine, it legitimized poker and effectively gave the country at large permission to play poker. In April 2002, Andy Bellin's Poker Nation was reviewed in the New York Times and the New Yorker, and Bellin appeared on National Public Radio. Again, this was telling the upper crust of society that poker wasn't just for outlaws.

Beyond looking at events, the three other factors that enabled poker to take off were legislation, the Internet, and television – in that chronological order. In 1990, former California Assemblyman Richard Floyd introduced the law that legalized all forms of poker in California, leading to a boom of poker in the Golden State. Don't forget, Foxwoods didn't open until 1992, and it wasn't until 1993 that you could play poker in Atlantic City. Prior to 1993, beyond Nevada and California and a few smaller states in the West, there simply weren't that many places to find a legal game. So, while poker on television created interest in poker, it was the legislation in the early '90s that gave people an opportunity to have a place to play.

As for the Internet, online poker has brought thousands of players to the game, and the creation of PlanetPoker by Randy Blumer on Jan. 1, 1998, has led to a multimillion-dollar industry. You also can't underestimate the impact of all the content on the Internet that makes the game so accessible. The genesis of RGP in 1995 gave poker players an online community to discuss strategy and issues related to poker.

As for poker on television, it really began in the mid-'90s when Late Night Poker became a hit in the UK, using under-the-table cameras that allowed viewers to see the holecards. The final of the first series attracted an audience of 1.3 million despite being broadcast after midnight. The World Poker Tour's debut combined with ESPN's expanded programming in 2003 improved on the technology with lipstick cameras that also revealed holecards. And, of course, the game's popularity has never been greater.

A big part of the WPT's marketing message is that anyone can win. When Robert Varkonyi, an amateur, won $2 million in the 2002 WSOP, it sent a message to existing poker players that anyone can win. When tournament novice Chris Moneymaker parlayed $40 into $2.5 million, it sent a message to the entire world that anyone can win. Tip, tip, tip, tip, tip.

Poker is running hot right now, and only time will tell if it will continue. Check out my next column to see if poker's future can be compared more accurately to the plight of the cigar or the game of golf. Until then, thank Binion, Floyd, McManus, Moneymaker, and company for providing you with a venue to play and live ones to fleece.

Writer's note: Many thanks to Roy Cooke, whose "Hall of Fame" column facilitated my research. Like his poker play, Roy's columns remain amazingly consistent and his great perspective on poker and life has been a boon to the game.

Greg Dinkin is the author of three books, including The Poker MBA and Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People. He is also the co-founder of Venture Literary, www.ventureliterary.com.