Need your input: Is Online Poker still a thing?

[Webzcas]

Now I have been around since the infancy of online casinos and online gambling, having started in this industry working for Ladbrokes in Gibraltar back in October 2000, the same day that Ladbrokes launched their online casino.

I was there at Ladbrokes when we launched our online poker room. Prior to joining the Microgaming Poker Network, which subsequently became Prima Poker, the player liquidity at Ladbrokes was such, that they operated on their sole network.

Back then circa 2002, online poker was MASSIVE. It was pre the UIGEA by four years and it really was like the .com boom of online gaming. We used to run the Pokermillion comp, as such Barry Hearn was one such person that would visit our offices. I even showed round the CEO of Hilton PLC the comms room we had in the Europort Building in Gibraltar where our offices were.

Indeed David Michels ( who is a now a Sir! ) was over purely to see the Ladbrokes Poker infrastructure setup we had in Gibraltar.

Anyhow, I digress somewhat and enough of my own personal backstory where online poker is concerned. What I am genuinely interested in, is with all that has happened over the past couple of decades, what with the UIGEA and regulation and over regulation. Has online poker recovered? Is it still a thing? Do any of you still play poker online?

 

[johnnymcc1966]

It seems all the big bookmakers still have Poker on their sites. I've never been interested in online poker myself given how easy it is for professional poker players to hoover up the balances of novices who think its easy money.

 

[Webzcas]

professional poker players to hoover up the balances of novices who think its easy money.

Isn't that the truth. I loved playing it back in the day, but I was very fish like when it came to playing!

 

[Oscar Arnhem]

I started early 2000 with poker (stars/everest) and stoped after stars was banned in the Netherlands.

 

[nisosbar]

Black Friday really destroyed online poker as it existed in the glory days. It hasn't been a Thing since then, though it still has a place in the online gaming ecosystem. But without a legit way to hook up US players with a Pokerstars or Full Tilt Poker serving a global market, it will never be the same. And I do miss that Sunday $1M guaranteed.

What didn't occur to most players was how much collusion was going on. Not to mention outright cheating. So many examples - god-mode players on Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker. Pokerstars collusion rings.

I started like a lot of people on Party Poker. Then Pacific Poker and Doyle's Room.

I dabble but the good games are few and far between. So I play very infrequently now.

 

[Webzcas]

Back in the day we used to have regular Piggs Peak Poker sponsored freeroll tournaments here on Casinomeister.

Then when 32Red Poker started out, they would also sponsor freerolls, with a bounty put on Pat Harrison or Ed Ware's head, with the player knocking them out getting an additional prize

 

[nisosbar]

Back in the day we used to have regular Piggs Peak Poker sponsored freeroll tournaments here on Casinomeister.

Then when 32Red Poker started out, they would also sponsor freerolls, with a bounty put on Pat Harrison or Ed Ware's head, with the player knocking them out getting an additional prize

Fun memories!

 

[2Slots]

I played casually back in the day but never got into it massively like some of my friends. I seem to remember the first site was Paradise Poker then maybe pokerstars and some others.

I played sit n go mostly because I could never be bothered to sit through the tournaments. Would always hit a point where I just got bored and would start going all in every hand!

As @nisosbar says those scandals probably put even a lot of frequent players off. I still see it on many sites but have never played it since, I had stopped long before those were exposed.

I watched some casino scam stories on youtube recently and some of the comments were saying that these days a lot of people run bots on the poker sites.

I think it might actually have been on a video about the Ultimate Bet god mode scam. That one is unbelievable.

For anyone interested:

 

[cheekymonkey]

I used to play Ladbrokes Poker back in the early 2000s and fondly recall winning a £50 freezeout for about £3.5k and cashing it out in cash the next day in Ladbrokes. Not sure if they do that any more as I closed my account with Ladbrokes about 12 years ago.

I still play online poker, mainly at Pokerstars and sometimes at GG. GG I think is the biggest poker site out there right now.

 

[Lemon]

Dabbled in online poker for a few years back in the 00's. I started at Ladbrokes and it was either cash or STT's back then because the software for MTT's hadn't been developed yet. Then I moved on to Victor Chandler, and finally settled at Pokerstars. I used to like their $3/180-player MTT's the most, but stopped playing when Pokerstars became an online casino.

Back then I also used to play poker at my local casino until they closed the card-room down and the game moved to a private location above a cafe in a rough part of the city, strictly invite only. You had to walk through the back of a newsagent shop, through the stock-room and up some stairs leading to a room with loads of poker tables in, and a lady who would be there all night making tea, coffee and sandwiches.

I used to go on Friday nights for the £20 re-buy NL Holdem game and it was a cracking game to be fair. In my early twenties I was the youngest person there most of the time and it was quite an intoxicating place to be. A really good mix of people used to go, including a few 'interesting' characters shall we say...

Eventually a couple of other casinos opened card rooms up and most people gravitated back to those.

 

[andysbetting1187]

I still play online - nowhere near as much as I used to but I do like some of the tournaments that are run on GG poker and the cash games are always lively

Personally, I hate holdem and find it really boring - much prefer omaha, stud, badugi or 7-2 single draw but not many places have reglar games.

Since my local casino closed, do get the odd home game in every now and again but its a lot harder with having a 4 year old at home - his hands are too small to deal the cards and hes in bed by 6

 

[sufferinsilence]

I'm playing at Pokerstars sometimes but can't commit to playing long hours so when I'm playing it's usually just a $1 STT that takes 30 minutes to complete.

I'm not a very good player either

GG has basically taken over when it comes to player base, they also operate in Belgium but from what I gathered they're quite "loose" when it comes to local regulations so I haven't even signed up there. Also have access to the poker networks on Unibet and Ladbrokes but they don't seem to have a lot of players or options.

 

[L&L-Jan]

can't commit to playing long hours

That's the problem yes

I still love the game, strategies are always evolving and new players keep coming. So yeah when I can I would love to play but the hours are heavy when you work fulltime.

Last time was last year somewhere when on sunday eve i decided to play a few $100-$250 tourneys. The $150 went really well, won it in the end for about £17k.

The problem is that the tournament finished at 5am! That pushes me off, so now I can only play when im off and those days are rare.