Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 58 (M)
Posts: 2432
The poker landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years. The injection of money, youth and added media interest has made it a global spectacle. "Today's poker world looks much different than the one I entered in the late 90s before online poker existed." said Daniel Negreanu Most of us will know that bet sizing has decreased over the years, but Daniel has also noticed a number of other trends that have migrated from the internet to the live arena.
"The term 'clicking it back' has made its way into the live poker arena, and obviously comes from the online world."
Beyond these differences Daniel goes on to highlight two "old school" players who were ahead of the curve in terms of bet sizing: O'Neil Longston and Alan Goering.
Indeed, he even credits O'Neil as the man who specifically influenced his "smallball" style of poker.
The piece certainly provides an interesting insight into the development of tournament poker as well as Daniel's own thoughts on the game.
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
I know it changed my whole outlook on poker. I mean many of us probably played less then 50 games of poker in out life until electronic poker came about. It's just like outdoor sports. Youth used to go outside and play all day. Games like balltag, hide and go seek, building a tree house, etc. has pretty much left society due to the elctronic gaming industry.
As for poker though. The only way one could play was to get some friends together (that may be enemy's by the night's end lol) to play some poker or go to a nearby club or bar to play a game of poker. With electronic poker in our world it has become the stepping stone for most newcomers and it's the reason why donk hands are winning hands in todays world. a lot more risk is taken and a lot more gutsy play.
Joined: May '08
Location: Lithuania
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 10090
poker became more commercialized than back in those days daniel is talking of. some people like that, some not- this trend has captured many areas, think of sport: now professional players are earning 100x more than 50 years or so but surely they aren't giving 100x of effort- it's just that sport came to mainstream- more people than before watch it, spend money on it directly and indirectly, same thing happened with poker imo
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Posted by pochui: think of sport: now professional players are earning 100x more than 50 years or so but surely they aren't giving 100x of effort- it's just that sport came to mainstream- more people than before watch it, spend money on it directly and indirectly, same thing happened with poker imo
I have to agree with you on the sports analogy there pochui. I used to go watch professional hockey games, but the spectacle of twenty year old millionaires skating half-heartedly around after the puck for 60 minutes made it hard to stomach the amount of money I had to pay for the tickets as well as the other stuff you buy when you go to see a game. These days if I want to bring my family to a sports event where the players will give their all and I don't have to spend too much money, I will go to see a University level game or Junior level. Much more intensity.
but surely they aren't giving 100x of effort- it's just that sport came to mainstream- more people than before watch it, spend money on it directly and indirectly, same thing happened with 
