Deputy Editor
Tom Dwan says poker’s dying, and he recommends players start looking around to see if they can apply their skills for greater gains elsewhere.
Dwan appeared on camera for a wide-ranging interview with the Run It Once team, answering questions from both a moderator and fans in the comments. Dwan had also recently sat down for a long interview with Card Player. This time, touched on topics ranging from his live cash game days in Asia to his views on recent viral poker hands.
Among the most interesting topics he touched on were the future of the game of poker and the biggest mistakes he sees from top-flight pros. His Phil Ivey story was an illuminating look at the latter.
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Dwan: ‘Writing on the Wall’ for Poker
Dwan said the future of poker looks bleak, from where he sits. He cited the proliferation of solvers, the ease of cheating, and the ongoing march of AI as elements that will continue to shrink the game.
“To me, the writing’s on the wall,” he said when asked about the game’s future. “Poker’s dying. I’m not very bullish on poker the next few years. I really hope I’m wrong. The trend is just going the wrong direction.”
The good news for players, he said, is that the skills they developed in poker can often apply in other areas. Critical thinking, mental strength, creativity, and other traits that help in poker can drive success elsewhere.
“Go take your skills you learned in this industry and apply it to some other industries,” he suggested.
High-Stakes Players Don’t Consider Recreationals Enough, Dwan Says
Asked about the biggest mistake he sees from high-stakes poker players, Dwan opted to steer away from technical poker talk and instead focus on soft skills.
Many skilled players, Dwan noted, focus too much on their own expected value. They get tunnel vision and become locked in on their own results, missing the forest for the trees.
Dwan’s line of thinking parallels the famous line from Rounders about shearing a sheep many times. High-dollar recreational players, he noted, are more perceptive and more responsive to their environments than many pros he’s spoken with seem to believe. They notice when players aren’t giving them loose action, and they notice when players simply treat them as an ATM.
For a case study, Dwan cited an experience he had with Phil Ivey. After helping Ivey get in “probably the most free money game in the world,” Dwan said Ivey sat in and bored into the recreational players with his infamous stare.
“He couldn’t help himself,” Dwan said with a laugh.
The uncomfortable billionaires declined to invite him back.
High-Stakes Poker Appearance in Dwan’s Future?
Dwan’s own poker career has slowed to a trickle. No longer based in Asia and playing in the famed, lucrative private games there, Dwan settled down in suburban L.A. He had a couple of appearances in recent years on livestreamed cash games, but the last one came in 2024.
In his sit-down with Card Player, he admitted that he lacks the appetite and the bankroll to play high-stakes cash nowadays.
Still, he sent some signals that he isn’t totally out of the game. He told Card Player he hopes to play regularly in the future, though he didn’t indicate whether he meant high stakes or otherwise.
With Run It Once, he did specifically say he hopes to be on the next season of High Stakes Poker, though. That’s the arena in which Dwan made perhaps his biggest splash, and fans will undoubtedly be excited to see him back in the mix there.
