A new world for online poker
April, 18, 2011 Apr 18
12:37
PM ET
By Andrew Feldman
As the shock of the events of last Friday finally begin to settle, online poker players around the United States are wondering what's next. Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars began to prohibit the real-money play of Americans on Friday, while Absolute Poker stopped real-money participation from the United States on Monday. The sites have communicated that all money in player accounts is safe and that they will remain open to foreign players. They have attempted to sell the message that it's "business as usual".
The truth is that isn't really the case. Rather, it's a new business with a reduced number of patrons and many changes to come. The first changes were seen over the weekend, as the player bases at these sites were dramatically reduced, especially on Sunday.
There is no bigger day for online poker each week than Sunday, and the online sites continued to offer what the industry knows as the Sunday Majors. Those tournaments basically have huge fields and big guarantees (the minimum amount to be found in the prize pool) and typically give away six-figure scores to their top finishers. This week, and presumably from here on out, the guarantees were reduced by up to 75 percent, showing just how affected the sites will be by the loss of American players. The most dramatic change came in the first event of FTOPS XX (the Full Tilt Online Poker Series), in which the guarantee was moved from $3 million to $1 million.
Although the guarantees were reduced, the sites perhaps still viewed Sunday as a slight victory, as each of the 10 Sunday Majors on the three sites achieved new guarantees. Despite the higher-than-expected turnout, here's a look at the hit the sites took on Sunday:
The PokerStars Sunday Million on April 10 had 8,273 players participating in the $200 plus $15 event (the $15 at the end is what the site profited from each player, aka the rake). On that day, the site brought in $124,095 from a single tournament. On April 17, 6,475 players participated in the Stars signature event, which brought in $97,125, resulting in a week-over-week loss of $26,970.
Full Tilt's Sunday Brawl displayed a similar loss. Last week, the Brawl had 2,676 players putting up $240 plus $16 for a site profit of $42,816. Faced with the new challenges this week, the Brawl had 1,703 players for $27,248 and a loss of $15,568.
The one interesting result was the FTOPS Event 1, which had a field of 6,953 entries as a multi-entry tournament. The last time the event was held, 6,607 entries were in action. We can gauge this result one way or another, but this was one bright spot for Full Tilt on an otherwise troublesome weekend.
PS and FTP suffered after the loss of at least a quarter of their player bases, but just like any other market, when there is a void to be filled an entity will step in and fill it. Some of the players who couldn't play on the indicted sites opted to find new places to satiate their online poker needs. Of those sites, according to PokerScout.com, the biggest winner over the weekend was Bodog, which grew by 26 percent week-over-week. Players from PokerStars (minus-25 percent), Cereus (minus-39 percent) and Full Tilt (minus-48 percent) seem to have jumped to Merge Network and Cake Poker Network.
Many players have commented on their newfound struggles via Twitter, and pro Jonathan Aguiar stated he was "Applying for Portuguese citizenship and getting my Passport." The first major live event in the United States since the indictments will take place in Florida on April 27 at the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown. Will we see a higher turnout as players search for opportunities to play poker? We'll find out soon enough.
One accused payment processor pleads not guilty According to Bloomberg, Bradley Franzen, one of the accused payment processors arrested since the indictments, pleaded not guilty on Monday. Franzen is accused of disguising financial transactions from the online poker sites and is named as a defendant in all nine counts of the lawsuit.
April, 18, 2011 Apr 18
12:37
PM ET
By Andrew Feldman
As the shock of the events of last Friday finally begin to settle, online poker players around the United States are wondering what's next. Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars began to prohibit the real-money play of Americans on Friday, while Absolute Poker stopped real-money participation from the United States on Monday. The sites have communicated that all money in player accounts is safe and that they will remain open to foreign players. They have attempted to sell the message that it's "business as usual".
The truth is that isn't really the case. Rather, it's a new business with a reduced number of patrons and many changes to come. The first changes were seen over the weekend, as the player bases at these sites were dramatically reduced, especially on Sunday.
There is no bigger day for online poker each week than Sunday, and the online sites continued to offer what the industry knows as the Sunday Majors. Those tournaments basically have huge fields and big guarantees (the minimum amount to be found in the prize pool) and typically give away six-figure scores to their top finishers. This week, and presumably from here on out, the guarantees were reduced by up to 75 percent, showing just how affected the sites will be by the loss of American players. The most dramatic change came in the first event of FTOPS XX (the Full Tilt Online Poker Series), in which the guarantee was moved from $3 million to $1 million.
Although the guarantees were reduced, the sites perhaps still viewed Sunday as a slight victory, as each of the 10 Sunday Majors on the three sites achieved new guarantees. Despite the higher-than-expected turnout, here's a look at the hit the sites took on Sunday:
The PokerStars Sunday Million on April 10 had 8,273 players participating in the $200 plus $15 event (the $15 at the end is what the site profited from each player, aka the rake). On that day, the site brought in $124,095 from a single tournament. On April 17, 6,475 players participated in the Stars signature event, which brought in $97,125, resulting in a week-over-week loss of $26,970.
Full Tilt's Sunday Brawl displayed a similar loss. Last week, the Brawl had 2,676 players putting up $240 plus $16 for a site profit of $42,816. Faced with the new challenges this week, the Brawl had 1,703 players for $27,248 and a loss of $15,568.
The one interesting result was the FTOPS Event 1, which had a field of 6,953 entries as a multi-entry tournament. The last time the event was held, 6,607 entries were in action. We can gauge this result one way or another, but this was one bright spot for Full Tilt on an otherwise troublesome weekend.
PS and FTP suffered after the loss of at least a quarter of their player bases, but just like any other market, when there is a void to be filled an entity will step in and fill it. Some of the players who couldn't play on the indicted sites opted to find new places to satiate their online poker needs. Of those sites, according to PokerScout.com, the biggest winner over the weekend was Bodog, which grew by 26 percent week-over-week. Players from PokerStars (minus-25 percent), Cereus (minus-39 percent) and Full Tilt (minus-48 percent) seem to have jumped to Merge Network and Cake Poker Network.
Many players have commented on their newfound struggles via Twitter, and pro Jonathan Aguiar stated he was "Applying for Portuguese citizenship and getting my Passport." The first major live event in the United States since the indictments will take place in Florida on April 27 at the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown. Will we see a higher turnout as players search for opportunities to play poker? We'll find out soon enough.
One accused payment processor pleads not guilty According to Bloomberg, Bradley Franzen, one of the accused payment processors arrested since the indictments, pleaded not guilty on Monday. Franzen is accused of disguising financial transactions from the online poker sites and is named as a defendant in all nine counts of the lawsuit.
