How The Mighty Have Fallen in the World of Poker

4Flush this week has a good piece about how the mighty have fallen in the world of poker since the days of the mid-2000’s poker boom.  Some are obvious like Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Russ Hamilton.  Another big name, Annie Duke, seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth after being propelled to stardom as a finalist on Donald Trump’s “Apprentice” (Joan Rivers, who some would say saw right through Ms. Duke, ended up being hired in the end).

“For every Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu there are five players who appeared to have it all during the Poker Boom but now find themselves down on their luck or their reputations in shambles,” Steve Roddock of 4Flush.com writes.

He adds that when the “well ran dry, and the outside money and sponsorships started drying up, all of those humorous stories started to become a bit more cringe-worthy, and the men (and a few women) who were propped up like poker gods on Mount Olympus started to exhibit the same character flaws of the real Greek Gods and Goddesses.”

Roddock’s “Dubious List” includes Mike Matusow.  “The Mouth”, as he is often called, has been fighting his own personal demons since the poker boom of the mid-2000’s, including a stint in prison.  Still, he continues to enjoy some degree of success and the poker community tends to find him likeable for the most part....We at Gambling911.com certainly do.

Scroll Down For More…

Then there is Dutch Boyd, one of ESPN’s first stars, who Roddock points out is essentially broke and auctioning off whatever poker trinkets he has left.

Boyd is far from the only poker pro who has taken this route. TJ Cloutier, Brad Daugherty and Jamie Gold have been caught auctioning off their WSOP bracelets.

And while some of the mighty have fallen, nearly all the mighty from the poker boom era have had their share of problems.

Phil Ivey, as an example, has been embroiled in a number of lawsuits, a messy divorce, a cheating scandal and was front-and-center during the April 15, 2011 crisis now known as “Black Friday” whereby Full Tilt Poker abruptly exited the US market, leaving thousands of customers owed millions of dollars. 

So what caused this fall from grace?

Roddock surmises that, like lottery winners, “most of these players simply weren’t ready for prime-time, and the sudden influx of money, after years of grinding and hustling just to make a living, was too sudden”.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com