How hard is poker now compared to the past?

I've only started playing poker a year ago and am interested in how the level of play has changed over the years.
I've heard some people say it is easier now as there are more donks than ever, and some people say it is harder.
For instance how tough would an online sit n go be now compared to a few years ago?

Well, in online poker it is much much easier. But, if you are talking about live games....Way harder imo.

According to my cousin who played online before the Moneymaker boom--online has gotten significantly harder for stakes in the $1/$2 and $2/4 NL games because there are so many good players these days.

My guesstimate is there are more donks, and more good players.

IMO, about 1/2 of all the players in any tourney don't have a clue, and the other half are much better than average.

Incidentally, I put myself in the middle half.........

In the days when PartyPoker accepted American players and around the time of Moneymaker's win, playing on PartyPoker was like having a money printing press.

I agree very much with Jilly. Plus, there is another difference....the specials, bonuses, added money, real money possible to win in freerolls, and so on used to be a lot better in the early days online (roughly definied as after Moneymaker, and before UIGEA laws). Regardless of how relatively good/bad the PLAYERS were, the DEALS we so good that you could make money from that in spite of the play.

The first PartyPoker bonus was so much easier to clear than today. It was a SURE $200 profit from a $600 deposit.

Pokerstars, you had like $120 bonus that needed only 5 points per dollar to clear, as as well you frequently had weeks they would have "double points" weeks where for the same exact play you got double every point earned.

I don't know all the current deals, but I don't think anything close to that easy to clear exist much.

And before the laws changed, there was much more competition for USA players, meaning good deals to try and outdo each other. That for sure does not exist like that anymore.

My vote is for harder, both online and live. So many wannabes getting lucky on one end then on the other end so many people who actually study the game now, so much more info available out there making for tougher competition. So yes, I agree with dj, more donks and more good players.

. . . doing my best to make it easier . . .

I have been playing poker for 7 months so I dont have big experience but I feel that there are more and more players online. It's because of the media. TV channels are full of poker advertisements (escecially PS and FT). So I agree with StormRaven. More good players and bad players are playing at the tables both online and live.

DANNNNNG lol why was i not around then?!?!? lol i wish.

Yeah. I wish I had been too.

Poker is harder these days i think.With the % of luck there is in poker and the number of players playing and the amount of information out there today,it is much harder to win. .

Lazmansa

Surely there was always luck in poker, and more players playing will mean more donks will make it easier.

As long as you have hyper aggressive cosmonauts playing cash online, one has nothing to worry about.

I gotta go completely opposite on this. Online was wayyyyyyyyy softer before UIGEA. Live games are still wicked tasty.

I guess it got harder because of the fact that there are a lot of pros now, and a lot of scandals with poker hackers who can see people's cards... I would much rather play live then online, but what are you gonna do you know

Just avoid stupid sounding sites like pitbullpoker...you wont have to worry bout people seeing your hole cards

In terms of difficulty, its about the same as it has always been.

There is more information available these days so the game has become more complex, but in terms of difficulty, its a hard game. Its always been a hard game. The key has always been to know more than your opponents.

Years ago, less was known, but as infomation was less readily availiable, you had to figure it out for yourself. So the difficulty level dosen't really change. Now the game is more complex, but the tradeoff is that infomation is more readily availiable.

Its defiently a lot more aggressive. Depending on how you see that, it's either easier or harder.

i think pokers soooo much tougher to play now than it was back in 2002-03, the players are constantly getting smarter, and more aggressive