Jack Ury, the oldest 2009 World Series of Poker player to enter, passed away last Tuesday. The aged WSOP player died in his home in Terra Haute, Indiana at 97 years old.

Ury made four appearances at the WSOP and made it to the second day of competition in each.

Ury was seen as an inspiration for others at the tables, especially the younger generation who admired him for his pioneering spirit, endurance and sharpness of mind, despite the fact that towards the end Ury needed help with posting blinds.

At last year’s WSOP Ury made it through to the third day of action but didn’t manage to attend on day three.

Poker prowess seems to run in the family; Ury’s grandson, Seth Harrold, is also a poker player who entered the tournament with his grandfather for the past four years. Harrold has not yet cashed in at the main event but will continue to enter.

As the second biggest event after the WSOP, the PCA is one of the biggest tournaments in poker and now that the 2011 PCA Main Event is to be broadcast the question arises; will it attract more people/viewers to the game?

Televsied poker has become more and more popular recently and there's no doubt that the PCA broadcast plans to capitalize on this. It will also continue in the poker-broadcast trend to use niche stats and terminology that the average crowd would not understand. This means that the crowd they are trying to attract already have accounts and already watch poker. Why would they change what they’re already doing for a similar product?

The average, casual viewer is going to find this kind of broadcast slow, difficult to understand and therefore boring. More so when you consider that the broadcast of the final happens at the same time as the NFL playoffs. All that these broadcasts entail is poker, stats, analysis, poker and more poker.

The set is also a problem. It seems to reinforce the blandness. The set should be something that attracts a viewer as they flip from channel to channel and, at the moment just doesn’t grab anyone’s attention.

The actual poker stars are of a different kind these days too. They used to be strong minded and willed personalities who relied on feel and intuition. These days there seems to be a parade of young savant-like players with no charisma or entertainment value. This is beyond the control of the broadcaster but a factor nevertheless.

If the broadcasters and production houses want an audience, they need to start thinking a bit more out of the box. More excitement, more entertainment and a faster pace is necessary to bring in a broader audience. Audiences need a ‘hook’ to get them watching, interesting excerpts to keep them captivated during the slow times and they need to feel some sort of an emotional connection with the players.

While the present broadcast was done well for advanced players and audiences, it just doesn’t have the necessary ‘draw cards’ to reel in a bigger audience.

This year the World Series of Poker saw 63,706 entrants competing for millions and unprecedented amounts of spectators there to make sure they didn’t miss out on any of the action. Becoming a professional poker player is now potentially just as lucrative as becoming any other professional sports player, if not more.

Major League Baseball players have the highest average pay and no enforced salary cap while MMA fighters are paid significantly less despite competition from WWE and pro-boxing.

Poker generates some of the highest sports salaries in the world and while it does require considerable skill it does not require a huge amount of physical prowess. AND, as with Major League Baseball, poker salaries have no cap!

Take a look at how online poker incomes compare to other pro sports salaries:

As poker continues to grow in popularity, so does celebrity interest. With shows like Celebrity Poker Showdown reaching unprecedented levels of popularity, celebrities have shown that the combination of fame and poker provide priceless entertainment.

Here’s a look at some favourite celebrity poker players:

•    Ben Affleck: in 2004 he added $356,000 to his bankroll, winning the No Limit California State Championship. With his high income from acting he can afford to play the highest stakes at the poker table.

•    Chris Moneymaker: this guy did things the other way around and became famous by winning the World Series of Poker in 2003 which was his first major live tournament. 

•    Jason Alexander: most famous for playing the exasperating “George” on Seinfeld, Alexander has now become a poker player in his own right – he competed in Celebrity Poker Showdown against players that included fellow celebrity poker player, Michael Ian Black.

•    Stephen Collins: the Emmy nominee made it to starring as Reverend Eric Camden in 7th Heaven for over 10 years during which he also practiced his skills as a poker buff.

•    Tom Everett Scott: famous for starring in films like An American Werewolf in Paris and Dead Man on Campus, this guy can often be found a World Poker Tour events as well as at celebrity home games.

•    Mena Survari: American Beauty is the film that got her firmly entrenched in Hollywood but her new talent seems to be poker. She’s also appeared on Celebrity Poker Showdown.

•    Dennis Quaid: another famous actor who also likes to be charitable. He’s participated in charity poker events with Hollywood Poker to donate money from Hurricane Relief Tournaments.

•    Eileen Davidson: she starred in the Young and the Restless and also played five characters at one time in rival soap Days of our Lives. She enjoys playing celebrity poker with hubby, Vince Van Patten.

Jonathan Duhamel recently attested to the time he spent playing online before he made it on the poker circuit to his recent WSOP win. More and more professional players say that playing online has been crucial in helping them build up their skills prior to becoming pros.

Jonathan Duhamel is 23 years old and has just managed to win the WSOP. How did this university dropout do this? Well, he studied and he studied hard. He spent 2 years reading poker books and articles online and playing poker online, building up his skills of analysis, strategy, mathematics, problem solving and poker of course.

Chris Tessaro, who has written many articles on poker, recommends playing as much as possible online. Some poker players play up to 30 or 40 online games at a time. Tessaro recons it takes hundreds of thousands of hands of practice to get even vaguely close to playing poker professionally at a World Series level.

Before internet use became such a way of life, young players would have to play for in the region of 15 years to gain such experience but with online poker we’re starting to see 18-20 year olds gaining that kind of skill in a matter of years.

Johnny Moss (May 14, 1907 – December 16, 1995) is one of the all time poker greats.

His legend was secured back in 1949 when Moss played against Nick the Greek in a heads-up marathon that lasted a whopping five months. The marathon was set up by Benny Binion and Moss apparently won over $2 million. When the game finally ended, Nick the Greek said to Moss: “Mr. Moss, I have to let you go” which became one of the most famous poker quotes in history.

This particular game was said to be the inspiration behind the World Series of Poker which has now become the poker world’s most lucrative sporting event.

The game also inspired Al Alarez’s book titled The Biggest Game in Town which is considered to be one of the best stories in poker.

Moss also won the WSOP Main Event three times, in 1970, 1971 and again in 1974.

He played in every other WSOP event from 1970 to 1995 and won nine WSOP bracelets.

He managed to rack up a massive $824,922 in WSOP tournament play winnings in his poker career.

In later years he became known as the “Grand Old Man” because of the time he stayed playing professionally and he was one of the initial players to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979.

The Texas Hold’em starting hand of Ace-Ten is called “the Johnny Moss” in honour of him.