What if Black Friday never happened?
In a parallel universe where Black Friday never happened because FTP and PS were operating on the up and up, what do you think the current state of poker would be?
Would your game be better? Worse? Busto? Richo? What about popularity? Talent level?
I suspect mixed games would be the new king (or queen, I’m not sure of the gender of mixed games) as NLHE would just be too advanced.
Thoughts?
The USA has by far been the biggest loser in BB/100, on average, and Malta was the only winning country (after rake, without rakeback), iirc...
Without the USA being banned, i'm sure Mixed Games would still be more popular online, especially cash games, which are pretty dead (except on some weekend hours on PS). Tho, I must admit that i like the small fieldsizes in MTTs.
Poker would be massive as a whole with the USA online.
I really would not be surprised to see a weekly 5-10 million dollar guarantee on some tournaments (specifically on Sundays).
The games and action would be insane.
Poker would be massive as a whole with the USA online.
I really would not be surprised to see a weekly 5-10 million dollar guarantee on some tournaments (specifically on Sundays).
The games and action would be insane.
There was a thread like this 8 years ago. Here is what I wrote then:
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Here is my opinion about what the poker and gaming world would look like if Black Friday (the government shutdown of the leading internet poker websites) never happened.
-Millions of US poker players would be happier in their lives and wouldn’t have as much of a bad feeling for their government. Also many foreign poker players wouldn’t mock the US (as they now do) for “supposedly” being the land of the free.
-Sheldon Adelson’s Venetion poker room would not be decreasing its size but increasing. Also hundreds if not thousands of poker players would be doing more gambling at table games in Adelson’s casinos.
-Mason Malmuth would be worth hundreds of thousands (if not millions) more.
-Chris Ferguson would be a popular poker player, incredibly rich, with so much money he would be making multiple movies (probably some dealing with poker). In fact he was planning on getting into movie making before Black Friday.
-Tom Dwan would be a happy rich poker player appearing everywhere on TV.
-Poker shows like NBC’s “Poker After Dark” would have a bigger presence on Broadcast TV.
-Gaming would be considered more of a legitimate form of entertainment instead of being vilified by Black Friday and leaving a bad taste in people’s mouths. Thus more of the general public would be interested in gaming for entertainment; thus helping Vegas casinos.
-The World Series of Poker would be incredibly huge, with even more international coverage. Thus bringing thousands more to Vegas during the WSOP to spend their money.
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LoL, 13 years after Black Friday, more states are allowing online poker and even the NFL (America's premier sport) is promoting gambling on its games which would have been impossible to believe could have happened even 5 years ago.
Black Friday was a big waste of time, energy and money much like Prohibition. Additonally Prohibition greatly increased the power of the Mafia in the US.
Can’t address why he believes operating in a gray area contributed. In fact I won’t even conclude that is the claim.
But that pokerstars, full tilt, etc. were operating in a gray market is obvious. They felt UIGEA did not apply to poker. Note party poker did which is why pp left the US market years before and was not sd on Black Friday.
Also remember, pokerstars was not charged with diverting player funds and not being able to repay. In fact 10 days later, ps got their domain back, after agreein
Party Poker withdrew because they were publicly traded.
Doyle would have been a billionaire and gotten elected governor of Nevada if he ran.
Gus Hansen would be down a billion dollars on Full Tilt Poker.
Jennifer Harmen would have had another pair of twins.
The second my coach told me I needed to start studying solvers I started looking for a transition out of playing online poker full time because I knew it would be the end for anyone who wasn't basically the best
Online would have still boomed until 2014 or 2015 or so and then started a slow decline to end up close to where we are now although maybe not quite as bad as it is now but it would still be very tough to make six figures online these days compared to peak poker boom for all but the best players
Live would still thrive as it always does
We'd be watching shittty black and white commercials with Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson.
We'd be watching shittty black and white commercials with Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson.
You can think they were cringe, but those commercials are why the site was so good to play on. That being said
Black Friday was a big waste of time, energy and money much like Prohibition. Additonally Prohibition greatly increased the power of the Mafia in the US.
I would have rather paid rake to the mafia than to Lederer and Ferguson.
Covid surely would have caused another little boom
American professionals were at the top of online poker pre Black Friday. Had Black Friday never happened, they would have been able to continue to play a large volume of hands and improve their game. Pretty silly to think they wouldn’t have grown if given the opportunity.
Which format was dominated by americans back then?
I mean sure in both nlh cash and tournaments there were some us dudes among the top just like they are now.
But the us had probably the best fish to reg ratio.
Which format was dominated by americans back then?
I mean sure in both nlh cash and tournaments there were some us dudes among the top just like they are now.
But the us had probably the best fish to reg ratio.
NLHE, all stud variations, Omaha, the better question is which ones did they not dominate.
Now, saying there were more fish with Americans is obvious. They were by far the most prevalent users of online poker, many had disposable income, and there was a huge marketing effort in the states to get new players. Of course that means more fish.
But when euros come in with their “lol America” take on all American players, it just smacks of stereotypical bias and ignores the successful players.
Is GGPoker giving Stars and FTP a run for their money in a non Black Friday world
NLHE, all stud variations, Omaha, the better question is which ones did they not dominate.
Now, saying there were more fish with Americans is obvious. They were by far the most prevalent users of online poker, many had disposable income, and there was a huge marketing effort in the states to get new players. Of course that means more fish.
But when euros come in with their “lol America” take on all American players, it just smacks of stereotypical bias and ignores the successful players.
yeah true stud was mostly played by us players.
that being said nlh and omaha along with tournaments were for sure not dominated by us players anymore at that point in time.
so yeah stud kind of. Limit holdem - nope, nlh - nope, omaha - nope, tournaments - nope.
i have to admit i only played poker in the us a few times and in las vegas so the comparison might not be fair but the general level of play was incredibly soft.
I dont think there is a. single person that wouldn't dream of having the us players back in the global pool.