Poker has conquered the world and that’s a fact. There are at list a dozen shows running on the TV networks, a large list of poker magazines pressing thousands of items every month and an uncountable number of pros who are considered “celebrities” by a multitude of fans and followers. You can find poker supplies and paraphernalia all over the internet and poker chips in almost every souvenir kiosk in Las Vegas and in many other cities in the U.S, and don’t be surprised if one of these days you hear people ordering the Full House Meal with poker chip shaped burgers and “Ace” fries. Now we will have the “fortune” to enjoy a “poker musical” opening in Las Vegas next week, which for me is one of the biggest senselessness I ever heard. Why would poker players need a musical comedy about the WSOP? What’s the point of all this squander? Does it help the poker community and its rights or the Poker Player Alliance and its fight to legalize the game or is it just another silly way to sell poker and make a fortune?

We have to admit that poker is getting bigger than the Beatles. Call me old fashioned, but I think that poker has to respect certain boundaries and stay in the place in where it belongs; for example, if you like to play poker you’ll probably look to hang out with people that share your interests instead of teaching all your friends and foes how to play and convince them that poker is good for their souls. During the last two or three years, poker is taking a new roll beyond its humble origin as a card game for manly men and rude bandoliers. The media is selling poker as a simple product, a merchantable item you can find in any store right beside the cold beverages. But the increasing popularity of the game is great only for the people who make tons of money and not so good for players who simply want enjoy the game and don’t want to get bothered by a bunch of moths flying around the candlelight every time they step inside a poker room. I really like poker, but for me, poker is progressively losing its magic and it is no longer the rare bird you passionately admired every time you had the chance. Instead, poker is now everywhere and everybody wants to play, sometimes its unmeasured magnetism reminds me of the Gold Rush, in where a single guy yelling “Gold” was enough to trigger a domino effect and consequently awake a multitude of gold diggers desperate to have the same luck.

Poker is a respectful game but it’s gradually getting reduced to a parody of what it really is, and with the media and the corporations constantly selling the game like an easy method to get rich and famous, it is really easy to figure out why so many people is getting involved in playing poker both live and in online poker sites. The sad part is that they are not even selling the game; they are selling the idea that playing poker can change your life and make you a celebrity. Unfortunately, reality is far from what they sell and in the end the only people that get rich and famous are them and the advertising companies they hire to develop millionaire marketing campaigns. But don’t take me wrong, as I said before I love poker and I think that everyone who wants to play is in his/her own right to do what they want to do. I don’t have a problem with either the game or the people who play poker; my problem comes when the game is simply taken out of context or when it takes control of the people’s life and way of thinking. I think the media is creating a cult of followers willing to consume poker as their daily bread and every single thing related to it instead of just playing the game and chill. I’m not a radical, but the idea that you have to eat, dream and transpire poker though all your pores to enjoy the game at its best is simply too drastic for me.