The entire world is beginning to feel the effects of our financial woes here in the United States of America. A bad economy equals a lot less poker for those that play the game. Already Las Vegas has seen a fourteen percent drop in gaming revenue and now the President has finally acknowledged what the entire world already knew – we are in BIG TROUBLE!

What really makes me wonder is how the economy will affect professional gamblers. Lets face it folks. Many of the “professional” poker players we see on television are not quite as liquid as one might believe. I would venture to say that many of our favorite poker players are not living nearly as high a life style as they may portray to the public. As I understand it only about one percent of the professional poker players are making serious cash outside of playing tournaments. That means they have substantial endorsement deals with major online sites or additional means of earning revenue without playing poker. Those players are few and far between.

Guys like Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Howard Lederer, and Chris Ferguson are rare. Each of these players has a sizable endorsement deal to subsidize their bankroll or pay for tournaments entirely. Other professional players without the benefit of such deals are reallying strictly on tournament and cash game money. Many of those players are being staked or borrowing money. Considering how poorly the economy is performing in the United States those individuals that were loaning money and staking players for tournaments will begin to dry up sooner than later. I suspect we will see smaller tournament fields in the near future until such time as the economy begins to come back around.

Until then guard your bankroll with your life.