15:07
02 Dec
This is a discussion on Poker boom! Within the online poker forums, in the General Poker section; Is it possible to have another poker boom? With so many bots and cheats ruining the game people. Well, the first chess boom happened nearly 50 years ago and there hasn’t been anything like it since, despite there being more money in chess, more exciting games and personalities, and better technology for appreciating the game. I don’t think th. Aug 11, 2015 Hypothetically, if online poker were to become legal again nationwide across the US, do you think it would result in a second poker boom? Or was the poker boom a one time thing? There's an entire generation out there that has never played legally online in the US.
Over on the TwoPlusTwo forums, there has been a long discussion going on about how we can make another poker boom.
Wishful thinking many will say. But is the idea so far fetched?
With a big change in direction from the management team at Pokerstars, albeit, one designed to improve the health of the games for the long term, a majority will no doubt feel sure that we will be lucky to still have somewhere to play in ten years, online at least.
I think the first thing we need to all accept is that the 2005 style golden age is never coming back. Most people do of course, but the remainder are still clinging on to some hope that a new market will open up and supply a massive amount of fresh unaware players. They haven't given up on their dream of a repeat of the 'Moneymaker Effect'.
But where could a new market open up in today's world?
Post Black Friday saw the number of Russian players rise considerably. But news as recent as October tells us that things might be changing over there. The Ministry of Finance spoke to Russian news outlet Kommersant,
Under the law, citizens of Russia are prohibited from participating in gambling and lotteries in Russia and abroad, including via the Internet.”
Not the news you want to hear if you have your fingers crossed for another poker boom.
Chinese players on Pokerstars are noticeably greater in number on the cash tables than even just a couple of years ago. Obviously given the size of China's population there is always some hope, and there has been some interesting news over the last year or two.
Back in July 2014, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour hosted the first ever major tournament series to be held in mainland China, the Beijing Millions. Hosted by the Beijing Poker Club, and co-sponsored by Pokerstars, the event was a massive success. The last man standing was Chen Qin, from China, who outlasted a field of 2732 players to pocket a cool 675,000 Yuan, (approx $110,000 at the time).
The Beijing Millions beat the previous record for number of players in a non-US poker tournament set in Brazil 2013.
Chinese players are now reported to be flocking to Macau in greater numbers than at any other time in the past. There was also a large group of Chinese players who travelled to the World Series of Poker 2014 event in Las Vegas. Six Chinese players cashed that year for almost $250,000 in prize money. This summer they managed 24 cashes albeit for less prize money.
As far as the head count is concerned, China could be the boom that the poker world is waiting for. The interest appears to be there as well, so what's missing?.
Will There Be Another Poker Boom
What do we need to set off the same kind of spark that we saw in the USA following Chris Moneymaker's victory in the WSOP main event in 2003?. The answer is probably in the question. We could be just waiting for the first major title winner from mainland China. It really might be as simple as that. World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour, it doesn't actually matter which.
When a Chinese player travels to take on the best the rest of the world has to offer and hits the jackpot, then the rest of the players have somebody they can try to emulate. They will gain self belief and want to be a part of any potential Chinese poker revolution.
Back to back WSOP main event winner Johnny Chan, although born in mainland China, spent only the first five years of his life there before moving to Hong Kong, and eventually to the USA at age eleven. He is seen as an American now, but the biggest issue is that he comes from an older generation, a generation of live professionals that has found itself almost superseded by the internet whizz kids.
To act as a figurehead for Chinese poker professionals and hopefuls, the person we're looking for needs to gain attention worldwide while remaining in China. We need somebody who can rise to the top of the high stakes cash game rankings or the tournament scene, live or online.
The other market with a lot of potential for fast growth is Latin America. There have been very few laws passed in the region concerning online poker, and this can only been a good thing. Pokerstars saw the potential back in 2008 and created the Latin America Poker Tour (LAPT) and seven years later we see a series with fantastic support from not only local players, but from the rest of the world. A famously fun loving part of the world with great weather has attracted players to come and visit so they can play some poker in an exotic environment.
My own experience is that I haven't seen close to as many Latin Americans on the cash tables as I expected. There is so much untapped potential going to waste in what is a huge potential market. But earlier this year in July there were headlines about a big merger between the LAPT and the Brazilian Series of Poker Millions to create the biggest poker series in Latin American history. It seems logical to expect a massive marketing campaign to accompany this tie up, which could be a major catalyst for an influx of new players in the local poker economy.
So there we have two areas which could blossom at any time in the coming few years. We shouldn't forget Russia as well. It's always possible that if the Kremlin decides to clarify the legal situation in a positive way to allow its citizens to play online poker, then we could see many new players from that market also.
What other factors are at play here?
The single biggest factor damaging the quality of the games over the last ten years has been the move in some countries to only allow their citizens to play against other players in the same country. If this trend continues it might not matter if a new market increases rapidly in size, we might not be able to take advantage.
Another serious change came in Greece a couple of years ago where it was decided to start taxing players daily on their winnings. In effect making the games unbeatable.
We know that we are at the mercy of our law makers no matter where we live. There's not a great deal we can do with respect to keeping the games in a workable state, every year that things remain in place to allow to us to play is a bonus.
Gambling has always polarised opinion. I'm sure that everybody else out there that has had the dreaded conversation with their parents about leaving a perfectly good job to play cards on the internet for a living, understands this. With so much negative publicity out there about all forms of gambling, if things take a turn for the worse regarding regulation then our cries of 'It's a skill game' will sadly fall on deaf ears.
Never forget that it could all come to an end next month just as easily as a couple hundred million new players from China could sign up to play small stakes cash games and multi table tournaments next year following a Chinese victory in the WSOP main event.
Will There Be A Second Poker Boom Game
I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments below.