Why televised cash games died?

[Spaceman]

When I was new to poker, I was watching all these cool and exciting poker videos with legends like Negreanu, Ivey, Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Patrick Antonius, Dwan and so many I cant mention them all.

Nowadays when searching for new poker videos and its like I am finding only the old ones. Why is that happening?

Does poker stopped being fun with all that gto stuff? Marketing doesnt care to make poker attractive the old way? Or they still make those cool cash games of the past and I cant find them? Do you miss them too?

 

[Deeznutzzzz]

Poker Black Friday April 15, 2011. That day sites in US were more or less shut down by Government. Television shows like Poker after Dark and others were to follow as they were sponsored by the major sites. The Money Maker affect still exists especially with the wsop and you can still find great feeds from the annual tourney. It's just that shows that could be found easily daily on cable are no more. Today, the live feeds from the Bicycle room and others have a growing following but nothing compares to the great videos you mentioned in your post.

 

[TulasMoreno]

Maybe one of the reasons is the internet, nowadays more people watch content on the internet than watching a program in a tv.

 

[DS3]

Plus, other modern content is now largely behind the PokerGo pay wall.

I have no issue with original content produced by PokerGo being behind such a paywall. But I do think it was stupidly short sighted of the WSOP to strike an agreement as they did with PokerGo to show their content exclusively. The WSOP built their own brand and it was free to air for decades. The WSOP also then allowed PokerGo to remove all historical WSOP footage off the internet (You Tube) and place that behind their paywall - content created before PokerGo even existed.


I presume that PokerGo also bought the rights to Poker After Dark, because this is also now their 'production'.

Its frustrating because I think poker is growing in an organic sense (as witnessed by record live events around the world) but that has little to do with poker media itself. I wish entities such as ESPN or Fox Sports would have an enlightened executive authorize some new poker series that could rival PokerGo, but nothing seems to be on the horizon.

 

[Nathan Williams]

I think it just moved online to places like YouTube or other streaming Apps. I still watch high stakes games all the time such as Triton poker in Asia with huge big name pros like Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey.

 

[619Leafs]

Cash games on tv faded because in my opinion the pace of play is stalled to a snail.

 

[diego farfan]

apparently on demand or marketing since I was also a fan of watching those live broadcasts on ESPN, but unfortunately there are no longer live poker broadcasts

 

[manzanillo53]

I did not even know it was disappearing. I have not watched TV in years. My TV is my computer screen and most live events are pay channels I think, so I do not bother. Love to watch some live games, so if anyone knows of good sites to see live games, let me know.

 

[Deeznutzzzz]

I did not even know it was disappearing. I have not watched TV in years. My TV is my computer screen and most live events are pay channels I think, so I do not bother. Love to watch some live games, so if anyone knows of good sites to see live games, let me know.

Same here. I cord cut many years ago and couldn't name a current show from the networks. Check out Twitch poker for some current action and several channels run all the favorites non stop.

 

[manzanillo53]

Thank you I will. I really miss watching live poker

 

[Deeznutzzzz]

Thank you I will. I really miss watching live poker

Just to let you know Moneymakers Tour Dublin Day A1 is on right now with Fintan in the booth with the commentary.
edit..They came back from break with Moneymaker on the featured table fyi

 

[Deedgee]

Good question. I especially miss the EPT events, which used to air here, in canada, every week but have disappeared. I'm talking, specifically, about the John Duthie-hosted broadcasts. To answer the question, I think the decline is due to poor scheduling and a lack of of compelling drama. When I started watching the WPT, in the early 2000s, the WPT broadcasts ran two hours, instead of one, which made for much more enjoyable viewing. With the one-hour format, there's very little suspense, especially during the last ten or fifteen minutes when the format dictates that the tournament must end. Regarding scheduling, it takes forever, at least where I live, for new WPT shows to air. The repetition is maddening.

 

[DS3]

I think it just moved online to places like YouTube or other streaming apps. I still watch high stakes games all the time such as Triton poker in Asia with huge big name pros like Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey.

Yes, correct. But Triton was formed by a couple of Asian billionaires who want to show/feature themselves and friends/pro's etc. playing to an international audience. Its a vanity project, a very welcome one, but a vanity project nonetheless.

And, to underline the point I made above, PokerGo is obviously trying to find an inroad with the Triton series as well. They co-streamed it and seemed to be giving their subscribers the impression PokerGo were covering it...when of course it was streamed on You Tube etc. anyways. As Cary Katz plays in the tourneys I would bet the neighbors first born he's pitched the idea of Triton becoming exclusive to PokerGo. I just hope they see it is not in their interests.

The more poker related content is stuffed behind a paywall, the smaller the potential audience. Anyone in poker should understand this does more than kill a casual audience (think hundreds of thousands that used to watch the WSOP- the biggest global poker event of the year). Why would potential sponsors be interested in poker when they can only reach a limited audience rather than the massive potential an interesting series can generate via You Tube etc.?

As for the general decline in poker productions. I think the industry went through a boom (after Moneymaker) and a (semi) bust. The public became fascinated (temporarily) with poker as it appeared easy to make a fortune. They loved seeing wads of cash, hundreds of thousands be slung around a table. Many tried to play, online and in casino and promptly found it to be a skill game and interest gradually faded.

But, interest in poker has been growing with a new generation of players who understand and are driven to study and play- they are ambitious. Registration at live events/championships have been in record numbers over the last few years. So I think the time is ripe for new productions to spring up. For example, I recently watched a few series of Premier League Poker (series 7, Rast, Colman, Seivers, Koon, Selbst, Gross etc,) via You Tube. I would love to see an up to date version of that show with the likes of Schindler, Chidwick, Soverel, Sontheimer produced by an entity such as ESPN.

 

[okeedokalee]

The greedy people like Ivey, Jesus, Lederer and their mates killed poker ripping off FTP and basically driving it into pokerstars rapacious clutches.
From that time onward most of the magic went out of poker for me.

 

[Zvezda kz]

I don’t know about broadcasting poker on television, but some channels have ads. This, of course, is worse than a live broadcast of a poker show to directly attract an audience to poker games.
Most likely, it is the greed of poker sites that reduce advertising funding on television and mainly switch to the Internet (which is cheaper), resources such as Twitch and Discord, and mainly aimed at a young audience, are hoping for a poker boom in the future.
I can not claim to be an expert, this is just my opinion without a deep analysis.

 

[Richard Grant]

I'm not sure why they have died but it is a shame. I did love those Ivey v Dwan match ups, super aggro play that us amateurs really enjoy watching. You've got nothing and your all in for 400K!

 

[LevySystem]

Nowadays when searching for new poker videos and its like I am finding only the old ones. Why is that happening?

Does poker stopped being fun with all that gto stuff? Marketing doesnt care to make poker attractive the old way? Or they still make those cool cash games of the past and I cant find them? Do you miss them too?

Just got to look in the right places. Now apart from what people allready said, that part of the poker content is now behind a paywall such as "PokerGo" you will still find a decent amount of free content on streaming sites such as twitch.tv and thus on the YT-sites of those streamers. (Tritonpoker, partypoker, Liveatthebike, PS, etc) There is even channels that stream the old-schoolstuff 24/7

Also let's not forget it is 2019. The interest of the broad mass off people has gone away. Poker is not mainstream anymore, maybe in asia, but even there not on the levels of 2005 western world. Broadcasting something is a business. And not everyone and his mother is playing poker anymore, like it used to be.

Black Friday has done a lot of damage. First of people don't have the money to gamble now (they never had it, but that's a different story), trust was lost in mayor pokersites (Fulltilt, PS-Rake and VIP changes, etc.) and the overall perception of this game in the mind of most people is not the best.

 

[Pablo22]

Those were the days. Poker was on the rise in popularity and was exciting.

 

[thetzarofpoker]

When I was new to poker, I was watching all these cool and exciting poker videos with legends like Negreanu, Ivey, Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Patrick Antonius, Dwan and so many I cant mention them all.

Nowadays when searching for new poker videos and its like I am finding only the old ones. Why is that happening?

Does poker stopped being fun with all that gto stuff? Marketing doesnt care to make poker attractive the old way? Or they still make those cool cash games of the past and I cant find them? Do you miss them too?

I think as they has no end like a tournament has, they`re not that entertain.. you know media just want to sell.. the sell the emotion ti win something else than money, the bracellet, etc..

 

[dregan]

I also watched the game of professional players in my youth. In all likelihood, there was no need to show large games.

 

[fundiver199]

I think it just moved online to places like YouTube or other streaming apps. I still watch high stakes games all the time such as Triton poker in Asia with huge big name pros like Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey.

I agree. As someone else said, the classic TV-shows were mostly all american and sponsored by poker sites, so when these poker sites were forced to leave the US market, its obvious, that there would also be no more SharkCase, Big Game, Poker After Dark or High Stakes Poker shows.

But there are still plenty of streamed cash games on social media such as Live at the Bike or Triton Poker, and there are plenty of streams from high stakes tournaments as well. So there is no lack of poker related content, you just dont find it on main stream TV any more. But who are still watching TV anyway? Its an old fashioned media, which has largely been made obsolete by the internet.