Does it seem to anyone else that there are way too many tournaments? Every week my phone ...

Does it seem to anyone else that there are way too many tournaments? Every week my phone rings and someone wants me to go to another poker tournament. I don't know how the poker community can continue to sustain all these events. All the known players keep going from town to town but seldom winning or even finishing high in the tournaments. Unknown players seem to win almost all of them and huge amounts of money leave the poker community due to travel, entrance fees, and expenses that are necessary. The cash games are down by 50% or more than they used to be. I think so many tournaments are really hurting our game.

I have decided that I am going to play fewer tournaments and try to promote the cash games. The better poker players will make more money and have a better life if they will do the same. If the tournaments are in Vegas and perhaps California, I will play in most of them but the long distance traveling is about over for me.

I also feel that my game has really suffered the past few years because of tournaments. They take a lot of the skill factor out of poker. Because the tournaments have to finish, the blinds and antes go up so fast the luck element becomes much greater. I like the tournaments that last several days and are played much slower.

The plus factor of the tournaments is that it does make the game more popular and the players well known. It is gratifying to see the public look favorably on poker after what I went through the first half of my life. -DB