Old School vs. New School

The game of poker is played around the world. Whether it is a home game or online poker, millions of people enjoy the game. Even though poker is a global game, the world of poker is small. The rumors and gossip mills turn on both internet forums and in online poker rooms. There are relatively few professional players and even fewer superstars. When something important or big happens in the poker world those who enjoy the game take notice. Recently one of the biggest faces of poker, Doyle Brunson, wrote in his blog a response to a magazine article that featured Patrik Antonius. Antonius is a fairly new player but he has played in the highest stakes both in online poker and live poker tournaments. He is one of the many European’s who have refined their game and amassed a huge fortune playing poker. With the upcoming matches between Patrik and Doyle, is this good for the game of poker?

In the article Antonius challenged Doyle to games of his choice for one million dollars a game. Doyle responded that he did not know why Antonius challenged him, but he respected him, and accepted the challenge. Doyle is the one picking which games of poker are to be played. Both of these players have a lot on the line with this bet.

There is a possibility that the matches will be televised. While it would be exciting for us mere mortals to watch, the casual viewer may not fully understand some of the games being played. Since Doyle gets to choose which games they play, it is possible he may not want to play Texas Hold’em or pot-limit Omaha, two very popular games that are fairly easy to understand. It may further be complicated because not every game may be played right away. The series of matches could be spread out over a year or more, a schedule like this would not be good for television. I am not trying to say they should not televise the games, but there are potential complications with doing so.

Either way, I think this match between an old school legend and a new school star is great for poker. Both of these players are fully capable of playing at the highest level. It has already generated excitement on internet poker forums and if the matches get televised I am sure they will be produced well.