We certainly miss the glory days of online poker here in the United States. Things are looking up though, as in 2018 we saw a number of developments that give American players hope that another golden era for the online game is in our future.
Let's take a look at five reasons to be optimistic about the future of online poker in the United States:
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1. MERGING PLAYER POOLS
American players were left with zero options for legal, regulated online poker for a couple of years after the Department of Justice forced the shutdown of the major sites on April 15, 2011, otherwise known as Black Friday.
Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware all eventually legalized online poker, with the first legal poker site, Ultimate Poker, launching in Nevada in 2013. That site didn't last, but other regulated sites like WSOP Nevada, WSOP New Jersey, and 888poker New Jersey have stood the test of time, as well as 888's network sites in Delaware.
The $200,000 guaranteed Coast to Coast Classic III Main Event starts now for $525. It's your last day to win a share over over $1.5 million guaranteed with the series. NV: https://t.co/cHmB5IWXjh NJ: https://t.co/MohMAdxDijpic.twitter.com/4kgPIR4jOH
— WSOP.com (@WSOPcom) November 18, 2018
May 1, 2018 marked a major step forward for the online game in the U.S.A., as the player pools from all of these jurisdictions were merged. This meant more cash game tables, bigger tournament fields and guarantees, and opportunities to play for a bracelet in online events without even stepping foot into Nevada during the WSOP (more on that later).
As more states come on board, that player pool will grow even larger, which brings us to our next item:
2. PENNSYLVANIA LEGALIZES ONLINE POKER
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board began accepting applications for online casino licenses in April, and as of November at least nine casinos have been approved to offer online gaming within the state.
We should start seeing Pennsylvania's first legal online poker rooms popping up very soon, with the possibility that the Keystone State's player pool joins the Nevada/New Jersey/Delaware network.
That merger would add Pennsylvania's population of around 13 million, meaning a four-state network with around 26 million people total. The addition of Pennsylvania effectively doubles the player pool. When the results of this start to show, perhaps some other states will start to become interested in making the merged online player base even larger.
3. POKERSTARS RUNS THE MONEYMAKER PSPC TOUR
PokerStars returned to the U.S. in 2016 with PokerStars NJ and gives New Jersey players another option (albeit with its own player pool, separate from the WSOP/888poker merged network). How to transfer bitcoin to cash.
The largest online poker operator in the world is also one of the most prolific operators of live events around the globe, but we haven't seen any live poker tours with the PokerStars name attached since the North American Poker Tour ceased operations right around Black Friday.
That changed in 2018, with the highly successful Moneymaker PSPC Tour running throughout late summer and autumn, hitting some of the country's best poker rooms. The tour's events featured an $86 buy-in tournament, with the first prize of a $30,000 PSPC package.
The Bronx baby! Meet Ronald Mici, he's a champ. For $86 he entered the @FoxwoodsPoker leg of the #MoneymakerTour, he took it down winning a $30K #PlatinumPass and he's heading to The Bahamas for the #PSPC.
Watch the full episode at: https://t.co/FWwcbu3wVPpic.twitter.com/rKv7X1wYkN
— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) November 17, 2018
The tour offered the opportunity to meet and play with Chris Moneymaker at every stop, and also got American players thinking about the PokerStars brand again. PokerStars could possibly build its own merged player network in the U.S.A. as the industry continues to rebuild here in the states.
4. WSOP ONLINE BRACELET EVENTS
The WSOP offered four online bracelet events on the 2018 schedule, and New Jersey resident Matt Mendez made history, winning the $565 Pot Limit Omaha event.
Mendez took home $135,077 for the win and also pulled off the feat of becoming the first player to ever win a WSOP bracelet while playing outside the state of Nevada. Mendez booked the six-figure score while playing from home in the Garden State, showing the NJ/Delaware player pool that huge scores, and WSOP glory, are possible.
PocketFiver Matthew ‘MattEMenz' Mendez made history this morning as the first player to win a WSOP bracelet online in a state other than Nevada. Mendez won the $565 PLO event playing from his home in Sicklerville, New Jersey.
— Lance Bradley (@Lance_Bradley) June 23, 2018
The other three bracelet events included $365, $1,000, and $3,200 buy-in no-limit hold'em events, and each provided a six-figure score to the winner. As the player pool grows, the prize pools will only get bigger, and this extension of the WSOP brand will be plenty helpful with the growth of online poker stateside.
5. LEGALIZED SPORTS BETTING HITS THE U.S.
May 14, 2018 was a landmark day for the United States in the realm of legalized sports betting. The U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Betting Protection Act (PASPA), which had banned sports betting in 46 states since 1992.
This ruling re: USA betting laws has started the first wave of states now offering legalized sports betting, including Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia, and New Mexico. These states join Nevada as territories where you can legally bet on sports, with Pennsylvania and Rhode Island set to join the list in 2019.
Notice that the aforementioned 'online poker states' of New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania are on the list. Does this trend indicate that some of the other states slated to offer sports betting will join the fray and offer online poker as well?
This is a dream scenario for American players and a topic that a previous Ask the Poker Experts column tackled here on Cardplayer Lifestyle in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling. It gives us hope that better days are still on the horizon for online poker in the states. We can only dream of how big the merged player pool could grow, but for now it's encouraging to see some of the steps already in place.
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According to the latest cash game traffic figures, seen exclusively by pokerfuse, PokerStars.MI is right now the largest regulated real money online poker network in the US—larger than the combined WSOP/888 network, bigger even than its Pennsylvania counterpart, PokerStars PA.
PokerStars launched its online poker room in Michigan ten days ago. It is the third regulated online poker site in the US ran by the company, following on from its 2016 launch in New Jersey and its late 2019 debut in Pennsylvania.
All three online poker rooms are segregated—meaning the player pools are not connected together, nor with the global 'dot-com' player liquidity. Yet despite this, thousands of players from Michigan state—population approximately 10 million—have flocked to the new online poker room.
This has resulted in one of the highest traffic levels ever observed by any online poker room in the US regulated markets at any time in history. Wombat casino promo codes 2019.
- Great bonus$30 freeplay or Up to $600 deposit match bonus.
- The world's most regulated online poker room.
- Great cash game traffic and some of the best weekly guaranteed MTTs.
- Stars rewards program rewards play across poker, casino and sports.
According to figures tracked by GameIntel, formerly PokerScout, the go-to source for independent tracking of online poker traffic, licensed exclusively by pokerfuse's Poker Industry PRO, PokerStars Michigan has averaged 410 concurrent cash game players over the last week.
To put that in perspective, PokerStars PA—where PokerStars is also the only operator, and in a state with population 30% larger—was a tiny pip below, recording 405 players. PokerStars NJ was a third the size, at approximately 140 average seats.
Its nearest competitor in the United States, the WSOP/888 US Network—which comprises six online poker rooms sharing liquidity between New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware—reported 275 cash game seats.
US Online Poker Network Traffic: February 8, 2021
All figures are based on average concurrent cash game traffic observed over the last seven days, rounded to the nearest 5 seats. All data used under license from GameIntel.com via the Poker Industry PRO Data platform.
| Poker Network | States | Cash Game Traffic |
|---|---|---|
| PokerStars.MI | Michigan | 410 |
| PokerStars.PA | Pennsylvania | 405 |
| WSOP/888 | New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware | 275 |
| PokerStars.NJ | New Jersey | 140 |
| Party/Borgata | New Jersey | 95 |
WSOP/888, which has been active in Nevada since 2013, has only ever hit 400 concurrent cash game seats one time in its near eight-year history: Briefly for a few weeks last year in the spring in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
PokerStars NJ has never got close to the level: Not even when it first launched in 2016, including a period where it was #1 in the market; nor even during last year's global online poker explosion—there, it hit its all-time peak of 330 concurrent seats.
In fact, the only online poker room in the US to consistently report this level of traffic is PokerStars Pennsylvania. Since launch in November 2019, the network has hovered around the 400 seats mark. It briefly saw its traffic explode up to 1000 during the absolute highs of the Covid-fueled online poker boom.
May 1, 2018 marked a major step forward for the online game in the U.S.A., as the player pools from all of these jurisdictions were merged. This meant more cash game tables, bigger tournament fields and guarantees, and opportunities to play for a bracelet in online events without even stepping foot into Nevada during the WSOP (more on that later).
As more states come on board, that player pool will grow even larger, which brings us to our next item:
2. PENNSYLVANIA LEGALIZES ONLINE POKER
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board began accepting applications for online casino licenses in April, and as of November at least nine casinos have been approved to offer online gaming within the state.
We should start seeing Pennsylvania's first legal online poker rooms popping up very soon, with the possibility that the Keystone State's player pool joins the Nevada/New Jersey/Delaware network.
That merger would add Pennsylvania's population of around 13 million, meaning a four-state network with around 26 million people total. The addition of Pennsylvania effectively doubles the player pool. When the results of this start to show, perhaps some other states will start to become interested in making the merged online player base even larger.
3. POKERSTARS RUNS THE MONEYMAKER PSPC TOUR
PokerStars returned to the U.S. in 2016 with PokerStars NJ and gives New Jersey players another option (albeit with its own player pool, separate from the WSOP/888poker merged network). How to transfer bitcoin to cash.
The largest online poker operator in the world is also one of the most prolific operators of live events around the globe, but we haven't seen any live poker tours with the PokerStars name attached since the North American Poker Tour ceased operations right around Black Friday.
That changed in 2018, with the highly successful Moneymaker PSPC Tour running throughout late summer and autumn, hitting some of the country's best poker rooms. The tour's events featured an $86 buy-in tournament, with the first prize of a $30,000 PSPC package.
The Bronx baby! Meet Ronald Mici, he's a champ. For $86 he entered the @FoxwoodsPoker leg of the #MoneymakerTour, he took it down winning a $30K #PlatinumPass and he's heading to The Bahamas for the #PSPC.
Watch the full episode at: https://t.co/FWwcbu3wVPpic.twitter.com/rKv7X1wYkN
— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) November 17, 2018
The tour offered the opportunity to meet and play with Chris Moneymaker at every stop, and also got American players thinking about the PokerStars brand again. PokerStars could possibly build its own merged player network in the U.S.A. as the industry continues to rebuild here in the states.
4. WSOP ONLINE BRACELET EVENTS
The WSOP offered four online bracelet events on the 2018 schedule, and New Jersey resident Matt Mendez made history, winning the $565 Pot Limit Omaha event.
Mendez took home $135,077 for the win and also pulled off the feat of becoming the first player to ever win a WSOP bracelet while playing outside the state of Nevada. Mendez booked the six-figure score while playing from home in the Garden State, showing the NJ/Delaware player pool that huge scores, and WSOP glory, are possible.
PocketFiver Matthew ‘MattEMenz' Mendez made history this morning as the first player to win a WSOP bracelet online in a state other than Nevada. Mendez won the $565 PLO event playing from his home in Sicklerville, New Jersey.
— Lance Bradley (@Lance_Bradley) June 23, 2018
The other three bracelet events included $365, $1,000, and $3,200 buy-in no-limit hold'em events, and each provided a six-figure score to the winner. As the player pool grows, the prize pools will only get bigger, and this extension of the WSOP brand will be plenty helpful with the growth of online poker stateside.
5. LEGALIZED SPORTS BETTING HITS THE U.S.
May 14, 2018 was a landmark day for the United States in the realm of legalized sports betting. The U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Betting Protection Act (PASPA), which had banned sports betting in 46 states since 1992.
This ruling re: USA betting laws has started the first wave of states now offering legalized sports betting, including Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia, and New Mexico. These states join Nevada as territories where you can legally bet on sports, with Pennsylvania and Rhode Island set to join the list in 2019.
Notice that the aforementioned 'online poker states' of New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania are on the list. Does this trend indicate that some of the other states slated to offer sports betting will join the fray and offer online poker as well?
This is a dream scenario for American players and a topic that a previous Ask the Poker Experts column tackled here on Cardplayer Lifestyle in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling. It gives us hope that better days are still on the horizon for online poker in the states. We can only dream of how big the merged player pool could grow, but for now it's encouraging to see some of the steps already in place.
Other Posts You'll Enjoy
- Online Poker - Is Its Future Mobile?
Jumba bet free spin bonus codes slots usa players. In this guest post for Cardplayer Lifestyle, we get an overview of the current and future trends of mobile poker. By the looks of things,…
- 17 Ways to Spot Online Poker Players at Live Poker Tables
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According to the latest cash game traffic figures, seen exclusively by pokerfuse, PokerStars.MI is right now the largest regulated real money online poker network in the US—larger than the combined WSOP/888 network, bigger even than its Pennsylvania counterpart, PokerStars PA.
PokerStars launched its online poker room in Michigan ten days ago. It is the third regulated online poker site in the US ran by the company, following on from its 2016 launch in New Jersey and its late 2019 debut in Pennsylvania.
All three online poker rooms are segregated—meaning the player pools are not connected together, nor with the global 'dot-com' player liquidity. Yet despite this, thousands of players from Michigan state—population approximately 10 million—have flocked to the new online poker room.
This has resulted in one of the highest traffic levels ever observed by any online poker room in the US regulated markets at any time in history. Wombat casino promo codes 2019.
- Great bonus$30 freeplay or Up to $600 deposit match bonus.
- The world's most regulated online poker room.
- Great cash game traffic and some of the best weekly guaranteed MTTs.
- Stars rewards program rewards play across poker, casino and sports.
According to figures tracked by GameIntel, formerly PokerScout, the go-to source for independent tracking of online poker traffic, licensed exclusively by pokerfuse's Poker Industry PRO, PokerStars Michigan has averaged 410 concurrent cash game players over the last week.
To put that in perspective, PokerStars PA—where PokerStars is also the only operator, and in a state with population 30% larger—was a tiny pip below, recording 405 players. PokerStars NJ was a third the size, at approximately 140 average seats.
Its nearest competitor in the United States, the WSOP/888 US Network—which comprises six online poker rooms sharing liquidity between New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware—reported 275 cash game seats.
US Online Poker Network Traffic: February 8, 2021
All figures are based on average concurrent cash game traffic observed over the last seven days, rounded to the nearest 5 seats. All data used under license from GameIntel.com via the Poker Industry PRO Data platform.
| Poker Network | States | Cash Game Traffic |
|---|---|---|
| PokerStars.MI | Michigan | 410 |
| PokerStars.PA | Pennsylvania | 405 |
| WSOP/888 | New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware | 275 |
| PokerStars.NJ | New Jersey | 140 |
| Party/Borgata | New Jersey | 95 |
WSOP/888, which has been active in Nevada since 2013, has only ever hit 400 concurrent cash game seats one time in its near eight-year history: Briefly for a few weeks last year in the spring in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
PokerStars NJ has never got close to the level: Not even when it first launched in 2016, including a period where it was #1 in the market; nor even during last year's global online poker explosion—there, it hit its all-time peak of 330 concurrent seats.
In fact, the only online poker room in the US to consistently report this level of traffic is PokerStars Pennsylvania. Since launch in November 2019, the network has hovered around the 400 seats mark. It briefly saw its traffic explode up to 1000 during the absolute highs of the Covid-fueled online poker boom.
Data provided by GameIntel
Tournaments Also Enjoy a High Turnout—Though High Roller Overlays
While cash game traffic statistics always give the most comprehensive view of the online poker market, the numbers out of the tournaments also show that PokerStars Michigan is enjoying a strong turnout—though spots are starting to show in the operator's aggressive weekend schedule, and the first big overlay has been seen.
As pokerfuse reported last week, its first weekend saw a decent turnout to its Sunday Majors, with all guarantees covering easily. The Sunday Warm-Up, in particular, attracted a strong showing of over 300 entries.
Clearly buoyed by this success, PokerStars MI increased guarantees for the second weekend. Three of the four highlight tournaments saw bumps to their guarantees, and the site also unveiled the Sunday Special: Its new flagship event with a $100 buy-in and a $20,000 guarantee.
The Special certainly had a huge first outing. In total, it brought in 301 entries, generating a prize pool of $27,632—by far the largest in the state so far.
PokerStars Michigan: First Two Sundays
| WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | |||||||
| Event | Buy-in | Rake | Guarantee | Entries | Total buyins | Guarantee | Entries | Total buyins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm Up | $30 | $2.70 | $5,000 | 317 | $8,654.10 | $5,000 | 205 | $5,596.50 |
| Storm | $10 | $0.90 | $1,500 | 270 | $2,457.00 | $2,000 | 266 | $2,420.60 |
| Special | $100 | $8.20 | $20,000 | 301 | $27,631.80 | |||
| High Roller | $250 | $17 | $7,500 | 63 | $14,679.00 | $10,000 | 36 | $8,388.00 |
| Supersonic | $50 | $3 | $2,000 | 47 | $2,209.00 | $2,500 | 85 | $3,995.00 |
However, this did notably have a knock-on effect on other tournaments. The $50 Supersonic grew, easily surpassing its new $2500 with 85 entries to generate a prize pool of almost $400. However, the others saw dips.
The Storm dropped a few entries, but easily covered. The Warm Up was actually affected quite a lot, losing 112 entries—thought it still handily covered its $5000 guarantee.
But it was the High Roller that really suffered. On the first week, it attracted 63 entries to almost double its $7500 guarantee. Understandably, PokerStars then upped the guarantee to $10,000 for its second outing. However, yesterday it attracted just 36 entries, generating prize money of $8388—an overlay of $1612.
This could well be the first overlay in Michigan, and it is not a small one. Those 36 entrants certainly enjoyed some value—to the tune of almost $50 each.
The likely reasons for this are twofold: Firstly, the $100 Special will have attracted some players to that instead. Overall, the Sunday Majors generated prize money of almost $50,000, way more than the $28,000 in the opening weekend—so the level of spend has not dropped; it just shifted.
However, yesterday was also unique in that it was Super Bowl Sunday. This often has impact on tournament turnout—so this could well be a one-off.
Online Poker United States
Either way, players should keep watch on next Sunday's tournaments, as there could be value opportunities.
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Meanwhile, all eyes are now on the first big tournament series to be announced by PokerStars MI, details of which could come this week. Pokerfuse has predicted that it could be the first ever MICOOP, which could have a total series guarantee of up to $1 million. Watch this space.
