Online poker in the US is slowly dying. And no… It’s not because of the new legislation. As I have told you many many times before, online poker is rigged. It seems that the online gambling legislation has resulted in millions of players migrating to the few poker sites that are still “US Friendly”. However, those sites are seemingly cheating the lo limit players more and more and more and more. Almost blatantly without trying to even hide it. Why? Because you WILL redeposit. YOU HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS!
More and more of my poker playing friends are saying the same thing “I’ve stopped playing online.” Or… “I really haven’t played online in awhile.” Why is this? It’s not as a result of the legislation, because it is still just as easy to deposit to PokerStars, Ultimate Bet and Full Tilt. They are stopping because they too are noticing the merciless series of bad beats, uncanny suckouts, and just fragrant action flops. Eventually, these sites will crumble and there will be a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.
What is the result? Poker will slowly walk off into the sunset and those of us who picked up the game 4 years ago when Moneymaker won the WSOP will slowly retreat to the occassional house game. The magazines will fold, the endless poker shows will stop, and the poker craze will be over. The WSOP will NEVER have as many players as it did in 2006. I WILL BET ANYONE WHO WILL TAKE MY ACTION that the 2007 WSOP will be at minimum 1000 players short of the 2006 series. It will contine to go down from there each year until it settles back down to pre-2004 numbers.
The pros that have become multi-millionaires will slowly dissappear from the public eye. Their contracts will stop, their endorsements will end, and they will end up grinding it out just like they did before 2004.
It’s sad.
Somebody, ANYBODY, create a site that is honest. If you do, you will persevere.
I couldn’t agree with you more. I too noticed the blatancy. I used to play on full tilt until I noticed the numerous bad beats. I know bad beats and poker go hand in hand, but not one after another after another. It doesn’t matter how good you are… or you “think” you’re making the right decisions… you will suffer a slow death on this site. I don’t know about the other sites, but I know I will not recommend playing on full tilt to anyone, not even my worst enemies. Not unless you have a lot of money to throw away, by all means, play on-line. If you don’t, don’t even bother. You’ll just end up losing your nest egg. Play live instead. This way, if you’re really good and skilled, you’ll profit. Unlike all the “Donkeys” who get rewarded for bad plays on-line.
Thanks for publising article. Like I’ve mentioned, you could’ve have been more right.
Same with all of them. Full Tilt isnt special, believe me.
uh…….. not trying to be critical but……..
> The magazines will fold, the endless poker shows >will stop, and the poker craze will be over. The >WSOP will NEVER have as many players as it did in >2006. I WILL BET ANYONE WHO WILL TAKE MY ACTION that >the 2007 WSOP will be at minimum 1000 players short >of the 2006 series. It will contine to go down from >there each year until it settles back down to pre->2004 numbers
Boy were you WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY off!!!! Hope nobody took you up on your bet!
I’ll agree ONLINE poker is declining, but it seems to be going strong live in the casinos and the WSOP is growing almost exponentially since 06. and card player magazine is still humming along…..
I have to STRONGLY disagree with you. According to Wikipidia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series_of_Poker
“Participation in the Main Event peaked in 2006, with 8,773 players competing” My article was written Dec 2006. In 2007 there were 6,358 (more than double my prediction) And although the numbers climbed this year, that can be attributed to foreign poker sites sending players to the WSOP. Also, i predicted the number of poker shows AND the number of publications would be down. I will let you do that research, but it is EASY to see that the number of poker shows is way down, and there are only 2 major online poker mags now.
Here’s an article about the MASSIVE decline in the WPT. http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/news/features/10633/why_is_the_wpt_in_decline.html
Here’s an article discussing the poker decline: http://www.cardplayer.com/cardplayer-magazines/65763-john-o-shea-6-11/articles/18806-is-u-s-live-poker-in-terminal-decline
I’m not really argueing with you, as there definatly has been a decline for sure, especially online, and yes, wsop main entrants did peak in 06, but it’s been relativly steady for the next 3yrs and increasing this year.
I was commenting on your proposed bet with (blind) hindsight, as I’d not realized that attendance had been off by that much. you were right, I was just commenting with my own erroneous recollection.
but I don’t think that online poker is in anyway “dead” yet…