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• Poker's proponents insist the game remains as popular as ever, and some larger casinos say their rooms are bustling.
• In a statement this month announcing the World Series of Poker lineup, executive director Ty Stewart said the summer bonanza in Las Vegas would be an "affirmation about the strength and global appeal of the game."
• But the spate of poker room closures on the Strip has some wondering whether the largest gambling trend to sweep the country in 25 years may be losing momentum.
• "I just think the allure of poker is lessening," said William Thompson, author of the encyclopedia "Gambling in America" and professor of public administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "That's one reason the smaller casinos would just say, 'Hey it's not worth all the time to set everything up. A slot machine would do a lot better.'"
• Poker revenue has been falling in Nevada since 2007, the year after the federal government first cracked down on virtual gambling and forced online companies to close or relocate offshore.
• The recession hobbled casinos across the board, but while winnings from other games began to pick back up in 2010, poker revenue continues to slump by an average of 6 percent a year, according to annual reports from the state Gaming Control Board.
• Poker revenues stacked up to $123 million last year, down from a high of $168 million in 2007.
• Entries in the World Series of Poker's main event also took tumble in 2007, falling by 28 percent from a high of 8,773. Entries have only topped 7,000 once in the years since.
• On April 15, 2011, the federal government took its strongest stand yet against the semi-legal world of internet poker, blacking out three major sites on a date later dubbed "Black Friday."
• No longer could fresh crops of poker players develop their games online.
• The Tropicana hotel-resort, which was remaking itself with several major renovations at the time, opened its new poker room the same spring day.
• "Poker had gone through a dramatic popularity phase. It grew really quickly. And we jumped on board," said Fred Harmon, chief marketing officer for the casino that sits on a busy Strip intersection opposite the MGM Grand and New York New York.
• The decision to replace the room with slot machines last fall was pure economics, Harmon said.
• "I think every company over the last several years have had to look at what they do and what makes money," he said.

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