Poker: A Boom Gone Bust?

When Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem won their respective WSOP titles, online poker (I will avoid the casino sites) enjoyed a massive run of unbelievable increases in players, profits and prestige. Everyone with a few extra bucks was trying to make it to the big show online. Bonuses were plentiful, fish were everywhere and the forums were full of noobs looking for advice and rakeback deals.

Of course as with any boom the camp followers and hangers on jumped on the bandwagon and the circus began. Poker add on programs like tracker, office, spy and sidekicks with AceHud were everywhere. Multi-tabling to clear bonuses was normal and teams began to form in order to clear them even faster. Cheaters, colluders and Winholdem users began to pour into the sites chasing bonuses and rakeback with their bots playing mathematically correct poker 8-10 tables at a time. Sites caught on and eventually began taking counter measures against them. However, in the cash games, the damage was done. Most fish were capable of recognizing that the player to thier left never went to the bathroom or took a break, always chased them down and could play for 14 hours at a shot.

Cash games were ruined and the tournaments were next. Yes Bot-users had used their bots to get them through the early portions of tournaments but the cheating revelations to come were even worse. When 2 well known online tournament players were busted, banned, confiscated and humiliated for entering multiple accounts they controlled into the same tournaments sites were left reeling. At first the thought of 2 or 3 entrys into a 3000 player tournament made no difference. Once we realized that an above average player can improve his odds geometrically by dumping chips or suiciding one account to protect another online tournament participation took a noticeable drop for a while.

When the 2006 WSOP field hit unimaginable proportions and the main event played out as more circus than poker game most of the industry knew inside the boom was about to go bust. Whether any site knew the bust was coming or not the cancellation of rakeback deals, tightening of bonus requirements and active pursuit of cheaters along with the subsequent seizure of account funds told most of the long time players something ugly was going to happen. When Party Poker bailed out of the US market at the first chance I knew the end was near. Poker as a consistent source of bonus chasing income for most US players was over.

Now for me Poker is what it should be. A fun and enjoyable hobby with the potential to make a few bucks along the way. Enjoy league play with friends from around the world, earn FPPs, 1-2 BB hour in cash games, win a satellite seat to a $10K buy in tournament (not the WSOP though) or just donk it up in the freerolls. Whatever you do though keep playing poker. If you have never played sign up at a few free play sites like the BPT and try it out. Online poker is not illegal, immoral or treasonous activity in support of terrorists in the middle east. It is just poker. Play, have fun and relax.