Robbie - Cardplayer Lifestyle

As we ring in 2017 and look forward to all that it has to offer, I am able to pull out my crystal ball (it may be one of my dog’s tennis balls, but let’s go with it) to make some predictions for our poker world.

Image credit: gamasutra.com

Some of my predictions – like #1 – might appear bold, while others might seem a bit obvious to people who follow the goings on in the poker industry, but in any event, here are the top 10 things I think we can expect over the coming year.

1. Phil Ivey disappears from poker

Over the past few years, especially since Black Friday, Phil Ivey has shown more and more indifference toward the world of poker. Though he made a brief appearance at the WSOP Main Event, the most time he spent at the tables in 2016 was in the nosebleed high-stakes cash games in Macau, and he seems to have little patience for tournaments or any of the hassle that comes with them.

Even though Ivey will be eligible for the Poker Hall of Fame this year, and his popularity among fans remains high enough for nomination and possible HOF induction, he will likely be absent from the poker scene throughout the year. His focus is most likely on money-making ventures in the sports betting world.

2. United States online poker expands by two states

After several years of no progress for online poker in the United States, I believe this will be the year for change. Pennsylvania is a lock, and either New York or Michigan could greenlight it as well, all within the first six months of the year.

Pennsylvania came close in 2016, with the House voting to approve online gaming expansion, including online poker, but the Senate departed for the holidays without voting at all. With a push already taking place in the House and Senate, online gaming will be legalized within the next few months. New York also came close to legalizing online poker and popular mobile casinos to go with its new land-based casinos with a positive Senate vote but not enough support in the House. New York will finish the job in 2017. Michigan is also a possibility, as the state made great progress in 2016. With the right lobbying efforts, there is a solid chance that Michigan could join the ranks.

3. The new US Attorney General reverses the Wire Act decision

The incoming Trump administration wants Senator Jeff Sessions to be the new US Attorney General. He is likely to be confirmed for the position. Once in office, he can do Sheldon Adelson‘s bidding to hurt online gaming in the US.

Sessions’ political leanings are strictly conservative, and his loyalty to his party is without question. If notorious Republican donor Sheldon Adelson hits the right notes, Sessions as US Attorney General could easily be persuaded to reverse the 2011 Department of Justice Wire Act decision. That 2011 decision allowed states to legalize online poker and gambling, and a reversal by Sessions would take that away. All states – currently New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware – offering online gaming may be forced to stop all activities until the courts can issue a decision.

Image credit: onlinepokerreport.com

My previous prediction for two states to legalize online gambling stands, as I believe they will want to do it before Sessions changes the law in order to band together as a more influential force in the courts.

4. European online poker liquidity takes shape

European online poker players know that the market is fragmented. Those located in France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal are separated from other countries and have much smaller player pools. That might not be the case for long.

Representatives from these countries, along with the UK, held talks in 2016 to break down those walls and share online poker liquidity. Portugal just took the biggest steps in recent weeks by submitting a plan to the European Commission, and if no objections are raised, the approval for liquidity could come in three months. Should all countries figure out how to adjust the tax laws appropriately, online poker in Europe can thrive again. I predict all this will happen in 2017.

5. Phil Galfond launches a successful online poker site

The Run It Once online poker site was announced in the middle of 2016, and Phil Galfond has been putting the pieces together ever since. His desire to offer a player-friendly, low-rake online poker site reminiscent of old-school PokerStars is moving forward.

The site is likely to launch on a global scale by the summer of 2017. Since Andrew Lichtenberger already launched the beta version of his LuckyChewyPoker, Galfond may be able to build on the player criticisms of that site and make Run It Once a better product. The poker world is eagerly anticipating Galfond’s contribution to the industry, and I predict it will be very well received.

6. PokerStars signs another big Team SportStars pro

The Team SportStars part of the overall PokerStars team pro roster remains a prominent part of the company’s marketing efforts. Fatima Moreira de Melo has been on the team for many years and still plays an integral role in the company. The other members – football legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr – were in the spotlight in 2016, with appearances in everything from the Duel videos to the #RaiseItUp campaign.

The latest marketing ploy involves Ronaldo in a #RaiseItUp video battle with US basketball pro Dwayne Wade. While Wade is not part of the official PokerStars team, the company has been heavily promoting the videos. I would be willing to bet that Wade takes a position on Team SportStars in 2017.

7. New Jersey hosts a successful live poker series

PokerStars attempted its first official Festival in New Jersey late in 2016, and despite tremendous efforts to make it a stellar series of live tournaments, complete with their pros from all parts of the world in attendance, the series drew few players. This will change.

Not only did Lee Jones of PokerStars hint at another series for New Jersey in early 2017, the changes that are likely to be made with regard to marketing and timing will probably deliver better results. In addition, if companies like 888poker and partypoker want to stay relevant and are paying attention, they are probably working on similar events for 2017, each likely to attract more players and bigger prize pools.

8. The overall number of women in poker increases

The most common way to measure the number of women in poker is in live tournaments, and according to the best reports and estimates, the number has not changed much in the past decade. Less than 5% of the tournament fields are comprised of female players.

This year, I predict a change. With an increase in the number of women sponsored by online poker sites around the world and more women than ever taking seats in cash games in poker rooms, especially in the US, the improvements will make an impact in tournament fields. Since the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas is the one series that produces statistics for male and female participation in the games, I anticipate the number of women in WSOP tournaments will exceed past years and rise to at least seven or eight percent overall.

9. “Average” players demand POY changes due to high rollers

Most Player of the Year award rankings include high roller tournaments, those with buy-ins exceeding $10K and some as high as $100K. Few players have the bankrolls to compete in those events, which limits the number of players who could become POY contenders to a select few. The vast majority of players will finally begin to speak up about the unfairness.

I predict that POY rankings will likely remain the same for 2017, as the year has already begun, but changes will be in store for years to follow. High roller tournaments have taken on a life of their own of late, as high-stakes players are able to demand that casinos host massive buy-in tournaments to meet their needs. At the ARIA in Las Vegas, for example, player demand has increased the number of high roller events ten-fold in the past few years, and there are now several each month with buy-ins of $25K or $50K. Few players can compete, but all of them earn POY points. This trend will prompt changes to POY rankings going forward.

10. Amaya merges with GVC or 888

PokerStars’ parent company, Amaya, went through serious changes in 2016. Founder and CEO David Baazov tried to buy the company but then resigned due to insider trading charges, and merger talks took place with everyone from William Hill to GVC.

This year, I believe that Amaya will merge with GVC or 888. All companies are ripe for mergers in many respects, and their online poker worlds could join to make an insurmountable giant that dominates the industry. GVC owns bwin.party, and pushing partypoker together with PokerStars would leave all other competitors even further out in the cold as far as online poker is concerned. The same can be said for PokerStars partnering with 888 to create a virtual monopoly.

Agree with the predictions? Disagree vehemently? Have different predictions? Comment below or on our the Cardplayer Lifestyle Facebook page.

PokerStars is the undisputed king of online poker rooms with about three quarters of the global online poker share. 888poker is a distant second and the site that most everyone speaks of when discussing alternatives to the world’s largest poker room.

One room that has largely dropped out of the public poker consciousness is partypoker. Presently the 7th-largest online poker room according to PokerScout, partypoker just doesn’t resonate with recreationals the same as other sites.

Partypoker used to be the largest online poker site in the world but now struggles to stay relevant. That doesn’t have to be the case. There are several things the site can do to bring itself back into relevancy. Here’s a few things the company can do to bring itself back into the collective poker consciousness.

Offer More Value-Added Promotions

Online poker rooms are always looking for ways to entice players to download and play on their site. The problem is that many of these promotions don’t offer a lot of “added value” to the average recreational or pro player.

I think back to the early days of online poker when many rooms ran real no deposit casino promotions. They offered anywhere from $5 to $25 for a player to come to their room and play poker. No insane play-through requirements, no “free with deposit” deals, or anything that you normally see today.

This type of value-added promotion got players to come to new online poker sites by the thousands. Granted, the downside is that there were many people who came and played with the free money and never deposited, but there were also plenty who were bitten by the poker bug and continued to play.

Poker rooms don’t offer many value-added promotions anymore. Free tournament tickets and free cash game buy-ins are nice, but usually the added value isn’t that significant. Give players extra incentives to put their money on the site and ones that they can realize immediately rather than having to wager 10, 20 or 100 times their deposit.

For established players, give them value-added promotions that entice them to come to partypoker over PokerStars or other sites. Bigger guarantees, lower rake, or events that aren’t being run by every site.

One great example of such a promotion is the partypoker Millions promotion currently underway. This hybrid poker event starts out as an online event and then concludes as a live tournament in April. There is a £6 million guaranteed pool with £1 million to first. Imagine working your way from a £.01 satellite on partypoker to a £1 million payday. If that isn’t added value for a tournament, I don’t know what is.

Increase Focus on Team Pros

Quick – without using Google or checking out partypoker’s website, name five of their ambassadors besides Mike Sexton and Tony Dunst.

Give up? Some of you may have named Sam Trickett or Boris Becker, but how many of you actually came up with five? If so, great job, but I’ll bet that most of you weren’t able to come up with more than three.

Personally, when I started thinking about this topic, I only came up with Sexton and Becker. I had forgotten about Trickett and Dunst. I also missed the memo that Jackie Glazier had been signed.

If you couldn’t name five sponsored pros, it’s not surprising seeing that the company does not hype their pros nearly the same way as PokerStars or 888poker does – unless you’re Mike Sexton or Tony Dunst.

When I went to the partypoker website, other than seeing promos featuring Boris Becker and Sam Trickett, I didn’t see anything pertaining to their other pros. I then went their blog section and saw the link for Team Pros.

Great! Now I will find a list of their pros and ambassadors, right? If you go by that, you’d think that the only pros on their roster are Sexton and Dunst. I didn’t find any information on other ambassadors until I then clicked their Poker for the People link and selected Meet the People.

There, I discovered that Beata Jambrik, Joao Simao, and Patrick Leonard have all signed as ambassadors in the last year. Other than that announcement, I couldn’t easily find anything on the site regarding these pros or any other pros that are sponsored by the site.

By contrast, if you head over to PokerStars or 888poker, you will easily find information on the massive group of pros they sponsor. It isn’t difficult to set up a profile page to highlight the sponsored players, so it seems a bit odd that partypoker hasn’t chosen to do so.

Update: After this article was initially published, they’ve put up a proper Team Pros page. Kudos!

Sign More “Big Name” Pros to the Team

To effectively compete with bigger sites, partypoker ought to try and snag more big name pros as ambassadors. I’m talking about players who one could reasonably group in the same league as pros representing the bigger sites.

Some names of elite pros that come to mind, with no disrespect to others of course, are:

Adding big names like those to the likes of Trickett, Sexton, Dunst, Glazier, et al. presents a formidable Team Pro with considerable star power. That’s a lineup that prospective new recreational players on the site could rally behind; part of a brand that they’d go out of their way to support with their online poker dollars.

Directly Challenge the “Big Boys”

PokerStars has alienated many customers in the last year or so through changes in their policies and multiple rake hikes. When these types of changes happen, this presents an opportunity for competitors to try to move in and pick up customers upset with the world’s largest poker site.

Have any of you experienced what is known as a “gas war” between gas stations? This occurs when stores compete with each other to try to offer the lowest priced gas possible in order to gain new customers.

When Murphy’s opened in my town, we went through a gas war for the better part of three months. Murphy’s consistently had their gas as much as 10 cents per gallon cheaper than everyone else.

Most other gas stations eventually had to lower their prices, but things got really interesting when the local Kroger gas station decided to match them penny for penny and sometimes managed to get a cent or two cheaper.

This was great for customers as they enjoyed cheaper gas prices than were the average for the general area. We have one station in town that refused to participate in the gas war; they are now on the brink of going out of business.

Generally speaking, when other, larger sites make changes – like rake hikes – that are unpopular, partypoker could make headlines (and attract more players) by bucking the trend.

Challenging the “Big Boys” isn’t going to make partypoker a serious threat overnight, but steady challenges could force larger competitors to perhaps rethink certain future changes out of market share considerations.

I really like Robbie’s idea about setting poker goals to help stay focused. Habakkuk 2:2 says, “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” As it pertains to goal setting, I take this as encouragement to write down our goals so that we are reminded of our objectives, inspired by our achievements, and emboldened to strive to obtain our full potential.

So what are my goals; what do I want to accomplish in 2017? Yes, I want to learn the discipline to fold top pair–top kicker or two pair when I am bet into by a nit after the board pairs or a draw gets there, or even to hero fold a set correctly. Yes, I want to learn the boldness of being aggressive and going for that second barrel bluff to that turn overcard or the art of 3-betting light into that loose-aggressive player. However, my poker goal for this year does not involve a higher level of game theory necessarily (although I will be hoping to develop that throughout the year). My primary focus will be overcoming a psychological roadblock I suspect a lot of us introverts may have: the dreaded face-to-face live game!

Social Anxiety Can Be a Big Issue

No doubt many of us introverted online recreational players deal with social anxiety to one degree or another. Of course, many poker players simply prefer the convenience of online play, while others have no real alternative to that because there aren’t many regular live games in their area.

For some of us, however, we dread even the thought of sitting down in a brick and mortar casino or home game with real live human beings who may try to establish eye contact and engage in friendly banter without the anonymity a computer screen provides.

Step 1: Develop Your Confidence

Being confident in our game goes a long way toward our goal of being less apprehensive about playing live.

Why do we feel anxious going into a social situation to begin with? The truth, if we are honest with ourselves, is that we are worried we are going to do or say something that makes us feel like that awkward kid we once were on the yard at recess back in grade school. The other players are going to laugh and tease us, right? Sorry to say, but “speech play” is a legit strategy. We all got a good schooling in the art of table talk by Alex Keating and William Kassouf at the 2016 WSOP Main Event. #9highlikeaboss! If you can’t build your confidence and develop thick skin, you may just end up wanting to go cry home to Mommy and never come out to play again.

Step 2: Get in Shape, Physically and Emotionally

If your chief objective is to be a better overall poker player in all aspects of the game, there are some less obvious facets to consider. Being physically healthy is one of them. Being emotionally healthy is another. Both will improve your game and they go hand-in-hand.

Being isolated and sedentary is going to limit you from reaching your full potential by decreasing your emotional and physical health. We need to have clear and focused minds to play level 3 poker. There is no doubt that being active contributes to a sound mind, and clearly poker is all about out-thinking the next guy.

Plus, you need tons of stamina to play poker. It isn’t an accident that we don’t see more players 55+ make deep runs in the WSOP Main Event. Most people in that age bracket just can’t sit and play focused poker all day long for six consecutive days because they are simply not in good enough physical shape. The ones who do break through, like 2015 November Niners Pierre Neuville and Neil Blumenfield (who were 72 and 61 at the time, respectively), both looked pretty great. If getting to live games more is a goal of yours and playing to your full potential is a priority, then get active.

Step 3: Just Do It!

You studied, you practiced online, you know the mechanics of the game, and you’re feeling confident. When you daydream of walking into new casinos, you can vividly see your hair blowing in the wind with fireball explosions all around like you are Brad Pitt in Ocean’s Eleven ready to pull off a live action casino heist. Yet, as Queen’s We Will Rock You soundtrack plays in the background, all of a sudden the needle scratches off the record as you trip and fall entering the building; a crowd gathers around pointing and erupting in hysterical laughter.

Just accept that you are going to be imperfect. That’s OK, it means you are human! You are going to fall down and be laughed at! You are going to bet or fold out of turn. You are going to be nervous and say something cringeworthy. You’re going to do a lot of dumb things at the table, but most of the time the ladies and gentlemen at the table (especially in a home game) are going to understand and they will help you out and make you feel at home.

To have a well-rounded game, you need live experience. You can’t learn to pick up on physical tells and make those reads unless you have that live experience. You also can’t give off false tells and misdirection if you aren’t personally familiar with physical and verbal poker tells.

The second you sit down for a few orbits you will realize that you were terrified of a monster under the bed that was not there.

Conclusion

If you’re a poker playing introvert, like me, I firmly believe that following the aforementioned plan of action will enable you to transition well from the realm of online poker to the live poker tables.

The better you prepare to follow that plan of action, the more likely you are to conquer your social anxiety and be able to play your A-game at the felt.

When Global Poker League (GPL) CEO Alexandre Dreyfus announced his intention to “sportify poker,” many in the industry were understandably skeptical. While the idea of reinventing poker as an e-sport looks good on paper, turning it into a reality was never going to be easy. At the outset of the GPL’s first season, I had high hopes for the league. Though season 1 has wrapped up (congrats to the Montreal Nationals, by the way) it’s safe to say that the jury is still out on the viability of the enterprise.

But whatever the issues with season one (and there were many), there is one thing that cannot be denied: Dreyfus is doubling down on his vision. Just this week it was announced that the GPL is expanding into the Chinese market.

I honestly still don’t know whether or not the GPL will ultimately be a success. However, independent of that, this new endeavor has me wondering if, as the relationship between poker and the internet becomes more and more complex, we are starting to develop two different “types” of poker? If we are, what does that mean for the future viability of the game we love right now?

No Chip…No Chair…Just Poker?

Consider this: China doesn’t have any casinos outside of Macau, but will now have a poker league with teams in 8 cities. Read that sentence a few times. Prior to this week, I would never have thought that sentence would describe reality.

Except that today it does. And the GPL’s announcement specifically states that the reason it believes that a poker league can thrive in a place where you can’t play it live is because live poker isn’t what’s being offered.

Instead, GPL China (GPLC) is banking on turning poker into an e-sport/mind sport. One of the ways this will be accomplished is by utilizing a “team-based” NLHE format. In other words – not the traditional 9-max/6-max poker format played in casinos or online.

In other words, the GPLC is going to try and take the basic structure of poker, and change it into something that looks less and less like poker. But how far can you change the game of poker before it becomes something entirely different? Do two hole cards and 4 players to a flop make a poker hand?

“E-Sport Poker” vs. “Poker”

The idea that the evolution of the game could cause it to be fundamentally altered in a different setting is not as crazy a concept as it sounds. Some recreational players would already argue that the complex mathematical concepts used online have made “online” poker an entirely different game than “poker”. What’s to say that the same type of dynamic can’t be true for the increasingly “e-sport” version of poker?

Asian gaming sites and player pools are booming with this new approach to poker as an e-sport. Spurred on by growth in Twitch audiences and the huge popularity of video games in Asian countries, PokerStars has recently signed Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese pros to their roster.

Would these new markets be opening if poker was not reinventing itself into something entirely new? It’s possible, but I think that it’s hard to argue that the new emphasis on poker-as-e-sport is not helping to increase that trend.

The Evolution of Poker

That brings me to the real question and the crux of this op-ed: what do the efforts of the GPL and e-sports poker as a whole mean for the game itself? It’s a question that I find intriguing, and one that I don’t think is being asked nearly enough right now.

The more I think about it, the more I’m coming around to the idea that having different variations of the same core game, adapted to different audiences, will be a very good thing for the health of poker as a whole.

I feel this way because I strongly disagree with the idea that poker is a static concept. Sure there is a basic outline; but beyond that, poker has always been changing. Before Chris Moneymaker came along, NLHE was barely spread, with Stud and other variants being much more prevalent. Then big TV money came along and NLHE became the game. Today, it’s the internet that is driving the profitability of spreading games, so we are seeing more adaptations to accommodate the new realities. There is nothing wrong with that; any game that doesn’t adapt to new realities is doomed to irrelevancy to the point of becoming obsolete.

Ultimately, I think that this new trend to try and tweak poker for a new generation will make the poker community larger and stronger, even as we get farther and farther away from what purists would consider “acceptable.” Even if in a few years “team NLHE” will be considered different than NLHE, the core of the game will remain intact, more players will be attracted to the game, and poker will grow. At the end of the day, that’s really all that matters.

While poker used to be largely considered an American game, the modern game is global with players from every nation and every walk of life enjoying it. Many come over to the United States looking to earn poker glory.

Spend enough time in live games and you will meet many fascinating people. Below are a couple memorable stories from my poker travels involving foreigners. One involved a dealer just learning how to live in our country and another who thought he thought he could soul read me.

What a Crazy Game!

One of my favorite places to play live poker is the Los Angeles area. The reason is that you can usually find plenty of lower stakes action in Stud, Omaha Hi-Lo and sometimes even Stud 8 or Better.

Poker at the Bike

I made several trips out to the Bike (Bicycle Hotel & Casino) between 2008 and 2009 to play in several of their small events such as Winning O’ The Green, Stars and Stripes and Big Poker Oktober. Anyone that played out there regularly probably has had to endure dealers with less than perfect English.

On occasion, we would get a dealer that understood so little English that they have to get the floor person to act as a translator. Well, you can imagine how frustrated that some players got when we got one of these dealers in an H.O.R.S.E. tournament. Sometimes she would miss that the game would switch and we would have to get the floor person to come over.

Once the dealer was up to speed as to which game it was, she dealt flawlessly. During a switch over to Omaha Hi-Lo, she said something to the floor person that made him laugh. I asked what she said and he said that she told him “this game she calls the crazy game.” I looked at the dealer, pointed to the cards and did the universal symbol portraying “crazy.” She smiled and we continued to play.

The next time Omaha Hi-Lo came around, I pointed to the cards and did the crazy sign again. She remembered and then dealt the right game after thanking me. After that orbit, she was pushed to another table but I saw the floor person start using my signal every time he announced a switch to Omaha Hi-Lo.

Normally, this would be the end of the story… but about a year later I was at the Orleans in Las Vegas for a tournament series and this seemingly random Asian girl sees me, runs me down and hugs me while asking how I was doing.

Apparently I has an utterly confused look on my face as she asked, “you don’t remember me do you?” Nope, I sure didn’t. She then told me how I was at one of her tables on the very first day that she was on the job as a dealer. At the time, she said that she didn’t speak English but I was very nice to her, especially during the “crazy” game.

At that point it clicked who she was and frankly, I was quit surprised as she was speaking nearly perfect English with only a slight accent. She thanked me for being so nice to her, gave me a hug and told me she would see me around.

I never saw her again after that point, but it drove the point home about why it is important to treat the dealers and casino staff with respect.

So What Part of Canada Are You From?

People typically have a hard time pegging where I’m from by talking to me. I’m often wearing a Chicago Cubs hat and while there are times you can distinctively tell my southern roots, some words I utter have inflections that would make you think I am either from the New York/New Jersey area or even from our neighbors to the north.

I was playing in a $3-$6 Stud 8 or Better game at the Hawaiian Gardens a few years back and this gentleman from England sat at our table clearly not understanding what limits we were playing. He knew we were playing Stud poker but he thought it was similar to blackjack and he could bet $25 or more on each card.

When we explained that bets on third and fourth street were $3 and bets from fifth to the river were $6, he laughed at us and actually called us silly Americans. To him, playing this game was a complete waste of time. He claimed that he made more money playing online blackjack in the UK in 10 minutes than we could in a week sitting at that table. Maybe he was right, but many of us playing low stakes limit games aren’t doing so to get rich.

He decided to play a few hands anyway until a seat opened up to a bigger NL Hold’em game. Someone asked me a question during a hand and after responding, he looked at me and said, “I’d bet $50 that I can guess which part of Canada you’re from.”

Slightly amused, I agreed and told him to proceed. He then gave a short speech how my inflection was such as people from Manitoba and that he assumed I grew up there but then moved to the United States in my late teens.

An older black woman was sitting at the table giggling at the whole thing and asked me, “you aren’t going to hustle him like that, are you?” I gave her a quick glance as to say “shhh!”

The English guy was confused at this point and I tell him that I not only was not from Canada but also have never stepped foot in Canada. “But you have a Canadian accent. How are you not from Canada?”, he asked.

The black woman looked at him and responded, “What part of Canada do they say y’all in?” This confused him even further.

You see, when he heard me talk, someone asked me about the 4-H camp that was advertised on the shirt I was wearing. My reply was “I’ll tell y’all about it later.” However, when I pronounced about, I often say it as “a-boat.” Instead of “out,” I often pronounce it “oat.” So when I am out and about, it sounds like I am saying, “I’m oat in a boat.”

He totally missed the clearly southern “y’all” in my statement that was a dead giveaway that I am from the south. I am from Appomattox, Virginia. For those who don’t know American History, that is where the American Civil War ended.

Editor’s note: A few days ago, I received a “cold” email, out of the blue, from a gentleman named Shannon Mack, asking if he could become an occasional contributor to this poker blog. Over the past seven years, I’ve gotten approached many times by a number of people wishing to contribute. Never, though, had I seen a letter like Shannon’s. After happily agreeing to have him as a contributor, I suggested to him that we publish his original email to me as his first post. It’s ever-so-slightly edited, as I removed parts irrelevant to the nature of this post, but otherwise, it’s basically “raw”.

What struck me the most about Mack (as he prefers to be called) is his genuine authenticity – his deep down true love for the game of poker. In approaching me, he clearly had no ulterior motive other than a desire to express his passion for the game. That’s the kind of person to whom I’m more than happy to offer this platform. I’m pretty certain that after reading what he has to say, you’ll be clamoring for more… just like I am.

Hey there, my name is Mack; well, Shannon Mack, but I go by my last name. Good ol’ Irish name I suppose! So, last week I was in Vegas for work and had my first opportunity to sit down and play live 1/2 NL in Sin City! It was amazing. I had been studying poker theory for the last three years and only played live one other time back home in Minnesota, just over the border at Diamond Jo’s (in Iowa) a few months ago. It took me about 20 minutes to build up the courage to exchange my $200 for chips and have a seat. Forty-five minutes later I was up $400. I leaned over to the dealer and asked him how to leave the table – I had no idea! It was the most amazing experience.

So, I felt like my Vegas work trip was my chance to prove whether or not that was a fluke or not. I sat down in the Venetian poker room last Thursday and played from 6pm until 3am Friday morning. I lost $14. Now that may sound like it proved that my $400 win in Iowa was, as matter of fact, a fluke; however, I disagree. My table was rowdy right from the get-go and lunatic agro with $25-$50 opening bets and $100 re-raises being the norm. Fortunately, I had the gumption to befriend the gentleman on my left who was mainly responsible for instigating the action. When I was in the blind, he would play nice and let me see a cheap flop.

Over the course of 9 hours, I saw nearly 15 people sit down and lose it all only to toss in some more thinking that their “luck” was going to change. It didn’t. All in all, I saw my losing $14 as complete confirmation that my skills were polished. I could have gotten up and gone to a table that wasn’t so crazy, but in all honesty I was having a blast hanging out with the big personalities at the felt.

So yeah, basically I would like to write a blog for entertainment and strategy illustrating my experiences as a brand new poker player who has only been studying game theory for the last three years and is now ready to apply what I have learned. I would draw from my three years of studying and unpack some of the more useful methods and resources. I would describe current studying habits and techniques and talk about what is helpful and what was not so helpful. I would also blog about the actual application and experience of not only online play, but live games, what I learned, and what else needs to be studied to improve my game even further.

This would be an amazing opportunity for me. Poker really has been a huge part of my life the last few years. It has actually to some degree helped save it. Six years ago I quit drinking and doing drugs after a long 17-year battle with chronic abusive alcoholism and drug addiction that was seriously threatening to take my life. I needed a social hobby and a challenge. I landed on poker, which is great because there is an opportunity to make money as well as the social benefit. I think having a poker blog is the next step in my journey.

I love to write, I got an A in my Intro to Fiction Writing in college. I just love to write; I wasn’t even in college for writing!

Thank you for your time and thank you for the opportunity I hope to hear from you soon.

Millions of people visit London each year, and it’s likely that at some point you will be one of them, too. If you’re reading this poker blog, it means you love the game and would likely fancy an orbit or two at a swank London poker club. The question, then, is: where to go for the best gambling in the city? We’ve surveyed the grounds from Trafalgar Square to the Tower Bridge (and well beyond) and have come up with a list of five great places that you quite simply MUST pay a visit to next time you find yourself in London.

1. Hippodrome

In Ancient Greece, a hippodrome was an ancient horse and chariot racing course and arena where spectators could feast their eyes on the riding talent. These days, the Hippodrome in London is one of the most iconic poker venues in the country, with some of the best casino offers available.

Image credit: Poker.co.uk

As well as a partnership with the PokerStars, which has seen them host some of the most prestigious live poker tours and event series’, the building’s poker room is simply stunning, as it overlooks the rest of the venue.

A poker player’s visit to London isn’t complete without a visit to the Hippodrome. As you walk through the glaring lights of Leicester Square, you’ll find it a stone’s throw away from the vibrant and interesting Covent Garden.

2. The Vic

A favoured location amongst several of the most famous British players in history such as two-time EPT Main Event winner Victoria Coren Mitchell, the Vic is just as famous and well-known as the Hippodrome. Owned as part of the Grosvenor brand, and situated close to Paddington Tube station, it runs cash games 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at a variety of blind levels.

If tournaments are more your thing, it pays to know that the Vic also holds legs of the GUKPT as well as the Grand Final. Last year’s Grand Final was won by Benjamin Winsor who took home a healthy £178,600 for his efforts after overcoming a field of 321 entrants.

3. Aspers Stratford City

If you don’t mind trekking a little further out of the city, you might want to check out Aspers in Stratford. The poker room has hosted WPTs, Unibet Opens, and other special poker events.

Aspers also has a special partnership with 888poker, and they hold 888Live Local Festivals regularly.

If you’re exhausted after poker, you can of course relax in Westfield Stratford City, a vast and sprawling shopping centre home to over 300 stores and services.

4. Kempton Park Racecourse

If you’re tired of poker, and fancy a flutter on the horses, Kempton Park Racecourse is also an option for you to get your gamble on. Located just 16 miles south-west of Charing Cross, it has hosted numerous Grade 1 races over its 138-year history.

Every Boxing Day it hosts the King George VI Chase, the second-most-prestigious chase in England behind the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

…and for your Americans, you’ll probably find it interesting to watch horses race the opposite (and correct!) way around the track 🙂 .

5. Dusk Till Dawn

While this venue might not be in London, superb transit links between London and the rest of the country make it easy to jump on a train up to Dusk Till Dawn. While you’re in transit and waiting to ante up and post your blinds, you could use the onboard WiFi to check out any of the online casinos in the UK.

Anyhow, for years Dusk Till Dawn has been the UK’s premier card room – one of the largest in all of Europe as a matter of fact. DTD regularly hosts some of the biggest poker events in the world, as well as offering a wide range of cash games.

In short, there is a wealth of exciting opportunities for poker players and gamblers alike in the English capital, and further afield if desired. Where will you go next time you’re in London? Let us know in the comments section below.

Cardplayer Lifestyle founder Robbie Strazynski recently mentioned that he would love to have me in his home game sometime, but he suspected that I would be a nit at the tables. I am proud to admit that in many home games I tend to nit it up, especially compared to other players.

I wouldn’t call myself a protégé of Allen Kessler, but I would say that I have some Hellmuthian tendencies (minus the ability to win bracelets and millions of dollars).

Every home game is going to have their share of nits from time to time, but the reasons they are playing nitty aren’t always the same. Here are a few reasons why your friend is being a nit in your home game.

They May Be New to Poker

Newbies to poker tend to flock towards one extreme or the other; they either play way too many hands or they stick to a strict nitty style. A lot depends on whether or not they have been “educated” prior to sitting down in your game.

By “educated” I mean that someone has given them a very basic strategy and they are sticking to it like gospel. When they see other players make what seem to be crazy moves, they either peg you as a bad player or they throw their education out the window and start playing any cards they feel like.

I’ve seen it happen both ways and, if you play in home games where new players are added regularly, you’ve probably seen it too.

Maybe They’re Playing with Scared Money

I remember this one that guy would come to our home games every two or three weeks and had exactly $30 to play with. He’d either play the tournament and go home if he busted or he would wait until the cash game.

Regardless of which he played, he was one of the tighter players at his table and that was because his $30 was the only money that he had to play poker with. If he lost that, he couldn’t play again until he put back a few bucks from his paycheck to play.

I can’t remember a single time where he made a move without a hand. He was probably one of the only players in the game tighter than I was.

They Are Adjusting to Live Poker

The one guy that turned out to be the best player in our home game was a former online poker player who decided to transition to the live game. He had a goal of eventually playing in the World Series of Poker (something that Robbie has still yet to accomplish, by the way).

I used to watch him play poker online and he was the poker boom’s version of a lagtard. However, when he played in our home game he was largely a nit. Early on, he admitted that he did this because he was adjusting to the live game and getting a feel for the game. His other reason leads me to my final point.

You Suck at Poker and They Don’t Need to Change Their Style

Both my friend and I were easily the two tightest players in our home game. We also happened to be the two most consistent winners. Over the course of four seasons of tournament play, we always ranked 1-2 for money won.

How could we get away with playing so tight and still win? Everyone else REALLY sucked at poker. Out of a group of 15–20 who were regulars, there were maybe three who had a game that was passable. Two of those players were useless once drunk, and they got drunk a lot.

What’s bad is that everyone knew how we played and yet they still failed to make sufficient moves to counter our nitty style. Granted, both of us had a tendency to show some crazy winners. My favorite was to play Q-9. I can’t tell you how many flops there were where I took down pots only because the board contained a Queen or nine.

Both of us would discuss the games and we seldom saw a need to change our style, especially in tournament play. Did we grow much as players? Absolutely not, but we didn’t need to either.

Welcome Your Nits! It Takes a Village to Run a Successful Game

What I hate is how many poker players make nits out to be bad for the game of poker. While poker has changed dramatically over the last three decades, there’s still room in the game for all types of players.

Nitty players aren’t going to give you as much action, but if you’re changing gears and adjusting your game to counter their play, it shouldn’t matter in the long run. Home games are supposed to be all about enjoying the game and nits can enjoy the game too.

…and if you’ve really only got a problem with nits because you’re always losing to them (like Robbie), then learn to play better poker.

Poker is the ultimate window into the personality and culture of a place. The game mirrors the struggle of life itself and has an appeal that crosses cultural boundaries, which is why I love to travel and play.

…I’m also a degenerate gambler (and poker blogger) who can’t stand more than a few days away from the tables, but, you know, all that cultural stuff is important too.

I recently took a trip to St. Julian’s, Malta to soak in the sunshine and local poker scene.

It wasn’t a typical week in Malta, as the European Poker Tour was in town spreading huge tournament events at the Portomaso Casino. I’ve always wanted to attend an EPT, and even though I’m a small stakes grinder who plays nothing higher than $33 tournaments online, I decided to attend this event and take a shot or two in the smaller buy-in games.

Arrival In Malta

I manage to embarrass myself almost immediately by attempting to enter the driver’s seat of the airport taxi. Did you know they drive on the left side in Malta? Guess I should have Googled that.

The taxi ride confirms the only three things I did bother to learn about Malta before the trip: It’s beautiful, sunny and the people are very friendly.

Anyway, there’s no time for further sightseeing today. I’m a nervous flyer so I always drink beer before a flight, regardless of the time. Today I flew at 7 AM so naturally I’ll spend the rest of the day sleeping off my early morning beer buzz in preparation for tonight’s tournament.

Image credit: PokerListings.com

Let’s Play Some Poker…

Rested and ready to go I head to the casino in the late afternoon. I’ve heard great things about EPT fields and the soft and juicy cash games that usually accompany an event like this. So I figure the conditions are ripe for a profitable exploration of the Maltese poker climate. The plan is to stick to a poker budget of €800, with the centerpiece being a €220 buy-in MTT to kick things off on day 1. A good run here and maybe I’ll be able to play in some of the larger EPT events.

The Cards Are In The Air

The first few hours of the tournament are a dream. My table is too soft to be real and I constantly pick up pots uncontested. The guy on my right opens hands like 65o under the gun for 7x the big blind and then bets bottom pair into 4 people. The guy on my left doesn’t even know how to look at his hole cards without exposing them. The rest of the table is full of weak players who don’t seem to be capable of anything too creative. I’m having my way with the table and can’t help but start to dream about winning this thing, buying into the €5k Main Event and sitting here in a couple of days:

The Dream Becomes a Nightmare

As the saying goes, ‘If you want to make the poker gods laugh, tell them your final table plans’.

About 5 hours into the tournament and 30 spots away from the money, I’m sitting at around 30 big blinds. There’s a raise from early position and two calls behind. I peel my cards slowly and look down at glory: AA. The dream spot come to life. I give it a few seconds of ‘Hollywood’ and then ship my stack into the middle. The opening raiser quickly calls and the other two players fold. He tables TT and all I can think about is how dominant I’ll be in this weak-field shallow stacked tournament with 64 big blinds on the bubble.

Of course, you’ve all played poker before so you know how this ends. Ten on the flop like magic and no turn or river ace to save me. Busted, no cash.

DAY 2

I wake up on day 2 with an odd sense of optimism after such a terrible start to my poker trip. I suppose with scenery like this, it’d be hard to stay grumpy for too long:

I head down to a seaside café and enjoy a delicious cappuccino for €1.50. Combine that with this €1 breakfast and that €220 tournament I just busted is starting to pay for itself.

On my walk to the casino I stop to buy a bottle of water. The price is €1 and all I have is a €50. I sheepishly hand the bill over and ask the cashier if it’s okay and he responds, ‘don’t worry, be happy’. I live in Poland where asking a cashier to break a large bill on such a small purchase can get you killed, so obviously I’m pretty happy with Malta so far.

No poker for me on day 2. Despite the positive vibes I make the executive decision to take a full day away from the tables. That bad beat in the tournament was just too brutal. I think I’ve recovered, but it’s better to take the full day just to be sure.

Instead I spend my time mingling with the EPT crowd and watching some of the high stakes action. Everywhere I look I see famous poker players. On my way to sweating a high roller final table featuring Scott Seiver and Charlie Carrel I run into Team PokerStars pro Jaime Staples and lend him a friendly ear for his Main Event exit story (he busted after just 4 hands!)

DAY 3

The wait is over, I’m ready to make my return to the tables. This time I’ll be checking out the cash games. Events like the EPT and WSOP are famous for the extremely soft cash games that usually accompany them, so I’m eager to get into action.

True to legend, my table is soft as butter. I arrive around 5 PM and the whole table is drunk. They force me to take a tequila shot with them shortly after I sit down and I find out that two of them have just busted the Main Event. They’re happily tilted and more than willing to spew off a few buy-ins in this 1-2 game. I’m happy to oblige them of course.

In addition to the drunks there’s a rich looking lady who keeps trying to bluff me. I guess I look money-scared or something because she plays every pot against me, donk-betting into me after I show aggression. I call her down every time and she never once has it.

Victory Dinner

Luckily, Maltese cuisine is heavily influenced by neighboring Italy. There’s also British influence, as Malta was a British colony, so fish and chips and the classic English breakfast are pretty easy to find here too.

spinach and ricotta ravioli

The absolute highlight of the trip- Arancini, or as I call them, fried balls of happiness. A Sicilian dish consisting of rice, mozzarella, and spinach balled up and fried in breading.

DAY 4

I approach the cash game tables with a fat wallet and yesterday’s momentum, buy in for the full €500 and get to work.

My stack dwindles a bit but I manage to slowly work back to even. It’s a bit earlier in the day, so the table is still sober, but not too tough. The gentleman two seats to my left can’t seem to fold anything. He’s in every pot, usually as the aggressor. He’s picked up a few hands, so he’s gotten away with it so far. I wait patiently, scooping small pots against some of the tighter players and biding my time until I can stack this guy.

There’s No Justice In Poker

My time comes a few hours in as I pick up 77 on the button. It’s folded to me and I open for 5x. The gentleman who doesn’t like to fold, re-raises me. I call and see a flop straight from the heavens: Q72

The gentleman bets ¾ pot and I min-raise. He jams instantly and I obviously call. Turn 8, river Q. His fingers shake as he flips over his Q8 for the runner-runner full house.

He stacks the €1200 pot that should have been mine as I walk away muttering profanities to myself.

DAY 5

Back to the cash pit for more punishment, I once again buy in for the full €500. I’m going home tomorrow, so this is my last chance to turn things around.

I see a lot of familiar faces from the first two days at the cash tables. Mostly Italians, local Maltese and Israelis. The fields seem generally competent, but beatable. Aside from a few notable exceptions, players here play tight and don’t make huge mistakes. It’s more of a ‘lose my money slowly’ crowd than an outright ‘spew-fest’. But like I said, there are a few exceptions like my friend with the Q8 from yesterday and the friendly Israeli guy on my right today.

A few hours into the session, hovering just above my starting buy-in, I pick up KK and flop top set against my new friend. He check-raises me all-in and I obviously call.

After he tables his flush draw he asks if I want to run it twice. I’m happy to do so since I’m a favorite to win both run-outs and this way I have insurance against a bad beat.

Another €1k+ pot with my name all over it, heading somewhere else. At least he was nice enough to take a selfie with me:

When It Rains, It Pours

Despite my misfortunes at the tables, there’s still plenty to do here. I head down to the main tournament room to sweat some of the action and write an article for my blog. Unfortunately, there are technical difficulties and I can’t post any articles.

I can’t seem to catch a break at the tables, I can’t do my job, I’ll just go to the beach and enjoy the rest of my day.

So I get to the beach, remove my shirt and dive into the warm Mediterranean water. For about 30 seconds, my bad luck seems like a lifetime ago. I laugh to myself, looking back at my silly frustration. Life is good, it’s just money and at least I didn’t go over budget. I should be grateful that I get to enjoy this beautiful place.

Then it starts to rain. Like, monsoon rain. After 5 days of absolutely perfect sunny weather I get hit with a tropical storm not 1 minute after entering the water. I swear it was sunny and clear-skied when I got here.

The Maltese Cat God of poker and storms has spoken, it’s time to go home.

Poker writer? Well, not exactly. Never play poker? Well, sometimes. Let me explain.

For 11 years I was more a poker promoter than a poker writer, although I frequently used my writing to promote the game. I was employed by an online gaming company and served as head of a marketing team encouraging players, veterans and novices alike, to play poker. We made our money collecting rake and tournament fees.

Ellis at the 2005 WSOP

One of the best ways to get newcomers into the game, we found, was to call on them to follow the examples of Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer. After all, these professionals began their careers playing online. One could acquire the necessary poker skills on the internet and the only way to achieve success, we insisted, was to play poker in our online rooms. For a time, we were doing quite well in this mission.

In this capacity I reported on poker tournaments. I interviewed players, known and unknown. I traveled. I met Doyle Brunson and he gave me an autographed copy of his book. Day by day, I wrote about the game of poker.

The ultimate goal, our promotional efforts suggested, was playing in the World Series of Poker. After a short time working at the gaming company, I accompanied five young players to Las Vegas. As they took to their tables for their first experiences of tournament play, I stood behind the ropes. I rejoiced with them when they won big pots. I felt their pain when they lost a bet and when, one by one, they busted.

I was invited to sit down and join the action at a charity poker event, raising money for some good cause, the nature of which I no longer recall. I sat down next to professionals and famous personalities. Film and television stars were in the room. I had my picture taken with “Everyone Loves Raymond” star Brad Garrett. I won a few hands, I lost a few, and then I was eliminated. I came in 34th in the tournament. I had played in the World Series of Poker! A dream come true!

Except, it was never my dream. During my career promoting poker, I did not play much poker. There were the few hours I spent online and offline in company poker tournaments. And there was a memorable hour playing at a cash game in Macau when I came away from the tables with a $700 profit. Except, those were Hong Kong Dollars not worth all that much.

Ellis, at the 2008 APT Macau

You see, I am not really a poker player. I did not grow up playing the game. I can barely remember if a flush is better than a straight, or if it is the other way around. I don’t understand the strategy, the math. I don’t have a poker face; I cannot bluff. More than anything else, I don’t have the patience to sit at a table for hours on end waiting for the good cards to reveal themselves.

I am not a poker player but for many years I proved myself to be quite a capable poker writer. And for me, that’s just fine. I understand aspects of the game that are enticing to players – the hype, the thrill, the allure of winning big. I’m a poker writer because I put into words what poker players are feeling. I experience the magic of poker vicariously; my goal is to communicate the appeal of the game to players who are ready to cash in. There is so much to learn about poker – the psychology, the angst, the elation and the luck of the draw. No, I do not play poker professionally, but poker is my passion and my diction is my chip stack!

Vegas, Monday night. I was tired. After spending most of the weekend at the Bellagio—where Doyle Brunson sat in Bobby’s Room with the ghost of Andy Beal—I was killing time until my Tuesday flight home. I didn’t feel like playing cards, but I was waiting for a $2/5 Hold’em seat at the Aria. What else was I going to do?

I’d spent most of the day reading Jesse May’s Shut up and Deal, the 1998 novel that follows ramblin’ gamblin’ men to Atlantic City, Foxwoods, and Las Vegas. Not much happens in the book. Not much, that is, except the experience of playing poker: the pleasant tap of cards on your fingertips, the sweaty stink of your tablemate, the exhaustion that washes over your body after a two-day gambling jag.

My $2/5 seat was ready. That night, the Aria poker room was filled with weathered faces, hairy necks, gaudy bling, narrowing eyes. This was no batch of recreational players. My table also seemed to be infested with regulars. The guy in the eight seat reminded me of Mickey Dane, the hero of Shut Up and Deal, and his kooky wardrobe—the poplin summer suit, the mustard-yellow Velcro-flat Italian sneakers, the straw hat squeezed atop the mane of Dane’s unruly hair.

Holding a rack of reds, I hesitated behind my seat. There was no need to play with these rounders, at this table, on this Monday evening. I could always find a softer game.

But no. I’d been on the road for almost two months, playing in backwoods casinos and Montana saloons. It was time to inhabit the world of Las Vegas professionals—if only for a few hours.

Seat One was a pro. Although he used to play higher, Seat Three was the best player at the table. Seat Four had made a WPT televised final table (he was all over YouTube). Seat Five was a pro. Seat Seven was a pro. Seat Eight wasn’t a pro: he was a cold-faced killer, a poker savant who meant business.

Dressed in a bright plaid shirt and a floppy straw sunhat, Eight raised from the button. Seat Nine, a disgruntled French man in his fifties, called from the small blind and Seat One folded. Nine checked the [A♥,3♦,K♠] flop and asked, “Want to check it down?”

After Nine called Eight’s bet, the [J♠] turn checked through. On the [T♦] river Nine checked again. Eight potted the river and covered his mouth, breathed heavily, averted his eyes, gave off every weak tell that he could—and eventually got a call from Nine’s ace-three.

“Just the nuts,” Eight said, showing king-queen. He giggled. “Well played, sir. Nice job betting your hand when it was good.”

Eight was a chatterbox. Over time—months, maybe years—he’d built a special rapport with Seat Three, a white-haired retired cop. Three had been tight and passive, limping or calling when he entered pots. So when he backraised a squeeze from middle position, his hand screamed aces or kings. Seat Four, the WPT final tabler, wasn’t convinced. He shoved all-in.

Three instantly called with aces and Four nodded grimly. Suddenly he was about to lose a $2,000 pot.

The board ran out terribly for Three’s black aces—[K♥,Q♦,J♦,J♥,9♥]—but Four kept frowning and grimacing. He slowly slid his cards face-down towards the muck.

Four paused. He studied the community cards, still confused, and exposed his hand.

Three rocketed out of his chair and pointed a quivering finger at Eight. “You’ve got a big mouth! A big mouth!” He stormed away.

Table talk shifted from Eight’s poor etiquette (Nine: “You shouldn’t have said a word”) to the fact that Three, once a high-stakes player, had it coming (Four: “he’s a whiny bitch”). Eight left the table to apologize.

“Let me tell you something,” said Nine. “I don’t want your money—or your money—or yours”—he jabbed his finger at each player’s stack, then pointed at the empty seat on his right—“I want his money.”

His chance never came. When Eight returned, Nine’s wife summoned him to dinner. He slowly rose from his seat and addressed the table with a sad, stern expression on his face.

By the end of the night, Seat Six (that’s me, in case you’ve forgotten) had an entirely different impression of the table. The “pros” were mediocre; a few were terrible. All the while someone busted, another sat, minds changed, the game whirred like an unhinged merry-go-round. And Six kept thinking about the wisdom of that novel he’d just read—Shut Up and Deal. It was about how, in poker, nothing is as it seems.

So How Did Seat Six Do?

And what about Six? Seat Six, rest assured, was one of the few solid players at the table. He’d played tight, rarely getting out of line except to isolate weak players—especially Four—in position. In his last hand at the table, after Four limped in, Six was dealt two queens on the button and raised to $30. Then, something odd happened. Seat Seven, who’d also been playing tight, reraised to $100 from the small blind and action folded around. After some deliberation Six called the raise, saw an [A♦,K♦,7♠] flop, and folded to Seven’s hefty bet.

“Just one time,” Seven said. The [J♠] and [5♥] fluttered across the felt.

Phil Galfond is about to take the biggest gamble of his life and, if his words are to be believed, he might just be rolling the dice on behalf of an entire generation of online poker players. The 31-year-old online poker pro, founder of the successful “Run It Once” (RIO) poker training site, recently announced his intention to build a brand new online poker site from scratch.

A statement like that coming from such a widely respected high-stakes poker player would have gotten people’s attention in and of itself. Even so, far from the morbid curiosity this kind of announcement might usually make, the news went off like a bomb across the poker playing corner of the internet.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that the reaction to Galfond’s gamble within the online poker community has been an outpouring of support that is almost certainly without precedent. The reason is not only rooted in Galfond’s reputation and prowess, but also the language he used to make the announcement.

A Thinly Veiled Reference

It’s been a rough few years for fans of online poker, replete with a litany of issues and disappointments. From Black Friday to country ring-fencing to seating scripts and everything in between, the game of online poker has suffered setback after setback, scandal after scandal.

While enough ink has indeed been spilled on the aforementioned that there’s no need to beleaguer the point here, suffice it to say that many players have felt that the disappointments they’ve experienced at the hands of the Amaya-owned PokerStars brand were the last, crushing blows to their morale.

Some Real Competition in the Market

Anyone who has been around the game long enough will see the echoes of online poker’s former glory in Galfond’s statement. Sites working hard to create an environment where poker could be enjoyed by all kinds of players, playing with all kinds of motivations, is what made online poker so successful in the first place.

In recent years, that model seems to have been abandoned, bifurcated into two distinct camps. On the one hand are sites like PokerStars/TonyBet that have increasingly seemingly sought to use poker as a loss leader for getting customers to their casino gambling offerings. The other model – favored by Unibet Poker – looks to create a fun, recreational model where poker is the focus, but where the idea of ever working hard enough on one’s game to go pro is not encouraged in the slightest.

What Galfond’s gamble boils down to is that he can combine the two, add a layer of the pro dream on top, and come out with a profitable poker site. It’s something that many people have talked about, but that no one else has been willing to take a shot at.

With all of that said, competition in a marketplace is always a good thing, and, if nothing else, Galfond’s site will cause other operators to take notice that a respected pro with a large following is setting up shop.

One Time!

There is an entire generation of online poker players that has grown up hearing that online poker is dying. So, if nothing else, the fact that someone is willing to stand up and say “I am betting on online poker” has been a huge real boost for the online poker world.

Honestly, it’s probably true that 9 times out of 10 a site like the one Galfond is working towards establishing will not succeed. The internet is a wild place, where edges are hunted relentlessly by sharks and recreational poker players have million of options for where to spend their entertainment dollars. Keeping players of all stripes happy is something that no other operator (old guard or new) currently believes works in consonance with a viable business model. Bottom line: starting an online poker room has never been easy, and is as hard today as it has ever been. Starting up an online poker room that can be all things to all people might just be impossible.

But, that one time? Oh… that one time. If Galfond is able to pull off the miracle and recreate the pre-Black Friday model?