The Fallout and the Future

Over the last could of days I’ve read various blogs and forum posts about the ‘Poker Apocalypse’ and I agree with most of what’s being said. I think that in some cases people may be over reacting a bit (on Friday people were suggesting a worldwide shutdown was coming within 48 hours) but overall players and the poker media have been fairly objective and relatively calm given the situation.

However, the one thing I have to disagree with that I’ve seen written in a number of places is that the removal of PokerStars and Full Tilt from the market (temporary or otherwise) could be a good thing. I understand the angle people are coming from, if you remove the two biggest sites you remove the fact that they have somewhat of a monopoly on the market.

The problem is that these sites are where they are because they are good at what they do. I’m sure everyone has had their problems with support at these sites over the years, but they are generally very quick to respond and helpful when they do. These two sites have set the bar in almost every respect, from tournaments and cash games to new concepts like rush poker, multi entry tournaments and double or nothings. Their size, profitability and volume of players allows them to try new things, develop new concepts and invest in the software, support teams and players.

Also, it’s not like there is the pool of players knocking around online and they just so happen to pick FTP or Stars. In most cases it’s one of these two sites that actually got people online to play poker on the internet in the first place. They run TV shows as headline sponsors, they run adverts in traditional media, magazines, websites and they have done a great job of adopting social media.

They also do a great job of retaining players with their frequent player programmes and rakeback. While I’m still bitter at the fact that I don’t get rakeback at FTP, Stars has kept me playing there with frequent deposit bonuses, VIP instant rewards and FPP bonuses.

Let’s not forget that they have had competition in the US (and continue to do so in Europe and the rest of the world) and Doyles Room, Cake Poker and the like have failed to capture enough of the market to make them anywhere near as competitive.
It’s also important to note that they have always had major competition, each other. When FTP decided to try to break the world record for the number of entrants in a tournament, Stars decided to beat them the week after. When you’re lucky enough to make a feature or final table in a big live tournament you do have at least two options most of the time on who to represent.

I have no affiliation with these sites, don’t have an advertising interests and the reason I’m not talking about UB/AP is because I don’t play there, and haven’t since all the original superuser details came out.
I’m all for competition and healthy competition clearly has its advantages for players and the poker media, but let’s not get carried away with what we want to see in the future.

After all, nobody was complaining when they were still around.