Poker as a sport has received substantial media coverage since the inception of the TV show World Poker Tour in 2002 and the win of onlineamateur player Chris Moneymaker at the WSOP main event in 2003. Poker as a game is in a reinforcing spiral where the growing online poker base further is feeding interest in the 3423 (WSOP) and 3698 (WPT), which now gets prime time on a weekly basis on TV. These shows in turn attract lots of new players to try out poker. Basically the online and offline poker industries are benefiting greatly from each other. Few people seem to remember today that offline poker as a sport was in decline as recently as in year 2000 (!) with an aging crowd and low profile, where most casinos had shut down the poker rooms.
Online poker with real money began in 1998 at Planet Poker and had a moderate growth the first 3 years at a time when Paradise Poker got into a dominant market position. The big upswing came with the entry of aggressive marketers such as Pacific Poker and World Poker Tour televised events in 2002. In 2003 alone the online poker game volume increased with about 500%. With the massive growth, the online poker market showed gross earnings of about $1 billion in 2004.
The online poker business is very profitable for the established rooms, but the competition is heating up as a result. This is good for you as a player. Online poker rooms today spend more and more money on advertising as well as giving more value back to the players with higher and better 358, re-load bonuses, promotions and other perks.
Also the brick-and-mortar poker world has benefited greatly with poker rooms coming back at the casinos in big style. Today many new players start out playing online and then move on to play at home games and casinos around the world.
What makes poker particularly fascinating for a larger crowd is the fact that in the short-term any decent player can compete and even win over the world's best players. This is because of the big short-term luck factor and the high level of hidden information. In many other skill games the best player almost always wins even in the short term. By the same token, poker is also deceptive as many less skilled players are not aware of their long-term outlook to win or let alone break-even. As you are surely aware, poker is a game of skill and the best players will win money over time. Luckily, following simple 5 you will be able to minimize your losses very quickly.
End Of Online Poker Explosion |
