I used to play a lot of poker. Even semi-professionally for a while. I'll never forget the "boom switch" that was flipped on when an "average Joe" named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003, for $2.5 million, on a $40 initial investment...
People eat that shit up. Everyone wanted to get involved all of a sudden.
We could be priming for a huge bubble, which hopefully doesn't undermine Bitcoin's real value and innovation - not as a "get rich quick" scheme. I suppose only time will tell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_of_Poker_Main_Event_champions (notice entrants after 2003)
i find your reasoning convincing. this will get a lot of people curious. more stories like this will pop up, the media will love it. much faster than the bitcoin protocol will be used mainstream, bitcoin as a speculative asset will hit the streets and become popular. that´s how new people get involved. love it or hate it, it is this crazyness about bitcoin gaining such incredible value in less than 5 years that will cause a boom, not its technological elegance. people may think that it can´t rise at the same rate, but even a slower rate would still dwarf what they get from classical investments in less than 5 years.
Except that poker is fun. Buying Bitcoin is some complicated and boring shit.
Moneymaker was just a small part. The World Poker Tour was on air at the time and that took off like wildfire, as did online poker rooms. It was perfect storm for the competitive U.S. egos. I was in the middle of it - actually opened a poker room in CR, which I later sold.
I would not call this comparable to Bitcoin.
Bitcoin could become as popular as poker on day, but it will be a much slower grind.
It's pretty common consensus that Chris Moneymaker's win was the catalyst. WPT tour was very important as well, and, for many people, it's how they first heard of Moneymaker's win.