This has been out for a few weeks now, but I\’m reading it for the first time … found via Pauly, who also let us know about John Caldwell\’s unexpected-at-this-moment-in-time-but-not-surprising departure as editor in chief of PokerNews. I know most of you don\’t really care about \”Shecky\’s\” business, but you should, because he has been instrumental in shaping how you get to follow tournaments on the internet … and though I\’ve had my beefs with PN\’s claims of being the \”independent\” source of poker news (they recently changed that to \”#1\”), overall, PokerNews, under Caldwell\’s leadership, developed into something that arguably made the game far more enjoyable for players and their friends … and isn\’t that what all of this is about — the pursuit of better poker?
Before he left, Caldwell assembled a panel of informed and influential peeps in the poker world to hear their thoughts on key poker issues. The panel included Bluff editor-in-chief Matt Parvis, big-name agent Brian Balsbaugh, WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack, Pauly, PokerDB founder and AP/UB scandal-solver Nat Arem, top-notch tourney director and Commerce Casino poker room honcho Matt Savage, and high-stakes pro and Team PokerStars guy Barry Greenstein and asked them all the following questions:
- You\’ve been sent back in time to Jan 1, 2003. If you could, what one thing that could be attributed to poker\’s \”boom\” would you prevent or change?
- Will we ever again see a regularly occurring, brick-and-mortar cash game that is bigger than the biggest games found online?
- Will 2009 bring a formal regulation of online poker at the United States federal level?
- What group within the poker world do you believe to be most affected by the global financial crisis?
- If you could enact one change to the 2009 WSOP – what would it be?
- Compared to the 2008 WSOP Main Event, will there be more or fewer participants in this year\’s Main Event, and why?
- Will poker grow overall in 2009? If so, what area is likely to show the greatest growth?
- If there was one change that you would like to see specifically made to the online game or by major online sites in the coming year, what would it be?
- Could a brand new online poker room storm to life in 2009 and somehow capture a major share of that market?
- Can you think of something that doesn\’t really exist in the poker world today that will be a given five years from now?
