1) Training sites- Sigh, a good players nightmare, a bad players gold mine. Now regarding these training sites, the better ones are helpful, great, and kind of pricey but obviously nothing compared to what you are making results wise after learning. Some of the training sites are complete garbage and I would never name drop but they are more for entertainment. Five years ago or so there was a couple out there but no where near now. So lets think of the players on pocketfives leader board, who put in volume day in and day out. These training sites are taking the dead money and making them Okay players, therefore lowering the ROI and overall profit that these constant Multi grinders are making. Now I am not saying people should feel bad for them because instead of making 150K a year they make 120K or something, but what about the decent players like ummm me!! lol. I have recieved coaching from friends who are great players, but it remains harder for the good player to kill the game on a consistient basis due to the average donkey being that much better. 5 years ago the average good player would be among the best and be killing the games, but now a days you have to work that much harder. Consistent losers finally get a clue and seek out these sites and get informed!!!! Now there is still plenty of fish out there, but it feels like the ocean is getting filled more with sharks instead of more Nemos(Finding Nemo..the movie...my attempt at humor). Other games like stud, Omaha, etc..the average player is 10 times worse but in NLHE the avg. player now would have been a sicko 5 years ago.

2) Poker Communities- The same adv and disadvantage as the training sites, although better poker players can talk to players that are already on the top, not too mention who doesnt like getting into heated discussions about why folding KK preflop is a sin and you will go to hell if you do!! But seriously, again going back 5 years, these forums were not filled with people like they are now ALTHOUGH, the good thing about poker forums, the horrific players who pay your monthly car bills usually don't even bother to find these forums, so Forums>Training Sites any day!!

3) The Drama- What have we come to nowadays!! Multi-accounting, using hidden identities, corporate people having Super User accounts, holy crap it feels like Y2K all over but it actually it is happening. Sadly nowadays many people sit at their laptops with tin foil hats on saying that if my AA loses to 22 than its rigged, but it is a serious problem. The most popular is multi-accounting using hidden names, which does give a top ranked player a huge edge if people don't know that the person 3 betting you is not some donk as said on sharkscope, but really a top 20 player. That is whatever to me, but multi-accounting annoys me 10x more. Besides the fact that Pokerstars is better than the FBI at finding ppl who do something wrong, its scary that someone can have 8 names in one multi. Can you say variance killer!!! Now this may have been happening 5 years ago, but it sure wasn't known, and I know that it was less than what is happening now. The corporate people having access to Super Accounts is as scary as it gets. Now if they were smart they would stay under the radar and never be found, instant wealth, but thankfully their not as bright as they should be and start playing like morons while taking down untold amounts of money. Now will this happen again....I hope not, and don't think so, but the people who lost all that money playing high stakes vs someone who can see your cards, now thats a nightmare. Seriously though, I remember back when I was a kid I could leave my front door open and nothing would happen, nowadays it seems like as crime rises on the streets, crime rises on the felt.

4) Young Studs- Its like an invasion of the 20ish age poker players. It seems so many of the top players online are young, twenty something. I mean, it makes sense, since our generation is run on technology, why wouldn't we take over the online poker scene. Besides it seems older people tend to not want to adapt to the new online age and often refer to internet players as bad and underestimate them on a consistent basis. Ummmmm, huh!? So your saying that a player who 20 tables seeing 20 times more hands than you sir does not have an advantage to you, who plays one table of 5/10NL and an occasional Multi, gotcha. Yes sir, I did 4 bet you with 10 high, and showed it down, yes sir I did knock you out with my steady play/ crazy aggression all in the same hour, and Im able to switch to a Nit in one hand, am I blowing your mind yet? These people seem to underestimate online players, even live pros don't give online pros enough credit. In 5-10 years some of the big names in poker will be from the online world, Fact or Fiction!? In my opinion, Fact. Some online poker players have seen more hands in 2 years than most live pros have seen their whole lives. So get ready poker world the young online phenoms are coming fast and coming smarter and better than ever.

5) US GOVT " Wheres my piece?"- Now for International players, consider yourself lucky... you don't have to deal with a govt. who is trying to ban online poker. Why are they banning online poker you ask? Because its not a skill game? They know better, at least I hope they do..Because it takes away from casinos? Maybe but not. I got it!!! Because they get no taxes from it!!! People do you think if the Govt. got 30% of all poker sites earnings from U.S. players they would be fighting to end online poker!? Hell no, they would be advertising it themselves. It annoys the crap out of me that all this government cares about is taxes, yea and were in the biggest economic crisis since the great depression, and they care about online poker because of ethics, please, they are greedy they want their piece of the pie. When the US was doing fine economic wise, they could care less, now they care!? Sigh....who as ready to move to Canada?

6) WSOP- THE WSOP BABY!!! Every poker player dreams about winning the main event, the money, the glory, the fame, the everything, its life changing!! Well it still is, and dont get me wrong, its still exciting to everyone, I am excited to go next year, but lets think about the corporate aspect. By delaying the WSOP final table they took away all players advantages, all hot streaks, and risked people getting sick, and people getting better at the final table totally changing their game...for what? To make a crap load of money. Many of us would do the same thing if we ran the WSOP, but seriously what crap, what a disadvantage to people running good like Dennis Philips even though apparently he runs good for months. Yes the players get to have promotional opportunities, but come on, I thought winning 9 million dollars was enough. Look, have 1 day off, which will be a media day, for interviews and such, and then play the damn thing. Whats next?? Is every Final table going to be delayed a month, is the FT going to have halftime shows. I am almost afraid to think what poker tournaments will be like if corporate greed continues.

To sum it up, there has been a lot of changes in the game we love, and there will continue to be a lot of changes as time goes on. Here are some fun predictions to come.

In 5 years: Doyle Brunson will make a FT but become ill and play the FT in the hospital with a microphone and a camera on his face

In 10 years: US government will sponsor the WSOP

In 15 years: Strip poker will become an event in the WSOP

In 20 years: Online poker will be played with digital cameras

In 25 years: The WSOP will have 30,000 people in the main event, and it will last 30 days.

In 30 years: The WSOP is played online :)

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