Online Poker Is Only Mostly Dead
Online poker’s death has been greatly exaggerated, evidenced by a massive series offered by offshore operator America’s Cardroom (ACR) and the global vs. domestic WSOP online series.
The Bulletin Board
NEWS: There was a pent-up demand for legal sports betting in the US that was satiated by the repeal of PASPA. There is a similar demand for legal online poker.
NEWS: North Carolina’s mobile betting launch timeline should begin to come into focus in a few weeks.
NEWS: Kentucky’s retail sports betting launch is just two days away, with mobile to follow on the 28th. Here are the approved contests and events you can bet on.
NEWS: More poker! PokerStars is bringing back the North American Poker Tour as tournament poker booms.
BEYOND the HEADLINE: What’s going on with tournament poker?
AROUND the WATERCOOLER: More on nontraditional promotions.
STRAY THOUGHTS: The Poker Hall of Fame’s origin story.
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Online Poker Is a Sleeping Giant in the US
I’m not big on promoting unregulated sites, but ACR Poker’s Online Super Series XL, a month-long online poker series running from September 3rd to October 2nd, features total guarantees of over $50 Million and points to the untapped opportunities of the US online poker market.
ACR Pro Chris Moneymaker (you may have heard of him) called the 25% jump in guarantees compared to its May series “the latest example of our tremendous worldwide growth.” But really, ACR is being buttressed by the lack of legal poker options in the US.
Here is the beauty of online poker that simply cannot be replicated live. The series features “small, medium, and large buy-ins, ranging from 10 cents to $2,650.” And also a mix of formats, including “Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Turbos, Hyper Turbos, Mega Stacks, and Progressive Knockouts.” There are no live poker tables with penny-slot stakes, which is where online poker comes in.
The ACR series is occurring right in the heart of the WSOP online series, which is taking place at GGPoker and WSOP.com in the US.
The global series (sans the US) features a Main Event with a $25 million guarantee. The US version (Nevada and New Jersey) doesn’t have a guarantee.
A legal US online poker ecosystem would better not only the ACR series but also the global series hosted by GG Poker. Further, it would attract what I call poker tourism, with players flying in from all over the world to participate in a US series. The current US series simply isn’t worth it, and US poker players are more likely to leave the country to play in global events.
NC Mobile Betting Apps Arriving in Early 2024?
Setting aside the still-unclear situation in Florida for a moment, North Carolina is the most highly anticipated sports betting launch since Massachusetts.
The next milestone in the launch of North Carolina mobile betting apps is the crafting of the rules and regulations governing the industry. The next opportunity for an update on that is on September 27.
“At this time, the next scheduled meeting of the North Carolina State Lottery Commission is for Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 10 a.m.,” Van Denton, the lottery’s communications director, told Sports Handle. “I don’t know yet what sports betting items, if any, will be on the agenda. The agenda should be available on Friday, Sept. 22.”
North Carolina mobile betting apps are required to launch no later than June 14, 2024 - 12 months after the law was signed.
Recent hires, the hiring of GLI to assist with the regulatory process, and statements that the launch of online lottery instant win tickets will not interfere with the state’s sports betting launch plans point to an early 2024 launch.
In a statement, the North Carolina Lottery said:
"Many people want to know when North Carolina will begin permitting legal sports betting. The commission and staff take these responsibilities seriously and are committed to ensuring the job is done in a complete, professional, transparent, and timely manner. We will keep the public up to date about when these programs will launch."
The NC Lottery has also created a sports betting resource page for updates and information.
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The Bets You Can Place in Kentucky
On Thursday, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s Sports Wagering Advisory Committee (SWAC) revealed the state’s approved sports betting catalog and authorized wager types.
All of the usual suspects will be available in the Bluegrass State, along with some niche sports and events from Darts to Cornhole to Chess to eSports to AAA baseball to eating contests.
there are 14 eligible locations for retail betting, and seven applied for a sports betting license:
Churchill Downs
Cumberland Run
Ellis Park
Oak Grove Gaming and Racing
The Red Mile
Sandy's Gaming and Racing
Turfway Park
On the mobile front, Bet365, BetMGM, Caesars, Circa, DraftKings, ESPN Bet, Fanatics, and FanDuel have received temporary approval from the KHRC. Preregistration for the approved mobile sites began on August 28.
Return of the PokerStars NAPT
Last week, I wrote at length about online poker. One of the topics I touched on was Black Friday, which sent shockwaves across the entire poker industry.
One small casualty of Black Friday was the North American Poker Tour (NAPT), which PokerStars was forced to dissolve after just two stops into Season 2 - random aside, I covered the final NAPT stop at Mohegan Sun, which finished two days before Black Friday.
Some 12 years later, PokerStars has announced the return of the NAPT.
“We are delighted to announce the return of this iconic series and once again hold the NAPT for poker players in North America,” VP of PokerStars North America Steve Preiss said in a press release. “We’re working hard to ensure that this is a spectacular series and can’t wait to head to Las Vegas to get the show on the road.”
The first event will occur at Resorts World in Las Vegas in November.
Beyond the Headline: Why Now?
The NAPT is returning during a period of unprecedented growth at live tournaments, with a record-setting WSOP Main Event and the announcement of a $40 million guaranteed WPT World Championship.
It’s an interesting juxtaposition, as these massive tournaments are occurring at a time when poker as a whole is waning, and online poker in the US is almost nonexistent.
As I opined in a recent column:
The WSOP Main Event is at a high point and likely still ascendent… Like the WSOP, live poker tournaments are booming. But poker is more than live tournaments; outside of live events, poker (at least in the U.S.) is a shell of what it was during the original poker boom.
[…]
The number of cardrooms and tables has declined, but the makeup of the games is even more worrisome. Stakes have dropped to pre-Poker Boom levels when cardrooms offered a bunch of minimum stakes tables, a few high-stakes games, and a few in between.
As I said on Twitter, airdrop anyone who thinks the present day rivals the Boom years into a cardroom in 2005, and their head would explode.
A true second poker boom will require more than record live tournament numbers. It requires widespread online poker, which will, in turn, fuel live cash games - but that’s a story for another day.
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Around the Watercooler
Social media conversations, rumors, and gossip.
You make the call: Are nontraditional offers good, bad, or who cares?
This specific offer is interesting for another reason. As Jamie Salsburg highlights, is making the promotion a single $50 bet a good idea? Or is it pushing customers to bet larger than their budget allows?
Stray Thoughts
You make the call; part 2: Is the Poker Hall of Fame’s origins above the board?
Whether you think it was to fleece fish or simply a gimmick (see below), the Poker Hall of Fame has evolved into a prestigious honor. Modern players take it very seriously (just look at the debates over who should and shouldn’t be inducted), but its roots are more questionable. As I wrote in 2018:
When it was conceived by the Binions in 1979 it was a marketing gimmick. A way to grab a little more press for the decade-old World Series of Poker.
Along with legendary gamblers like Johnny Moss and Nick ‘The Greek’ Dandalos, the inaugural class also included Wild Bill Hickok and Edmund Hoyle, which provides a glimpse into the Binions’ motives for the Poker Hall of Fame.
Wild Bill was the Wild West version of a degenerate gambler and widely considered to be a losing poker player. His claim to poker fame? Being shot dead at a poker table.
Hoyle’s treatises on card games gave birth to the phrase “according to Hoyle” but he lived a couple hundred years before poker was invented.
Also inducted in 1979 was Red Winn, whose single sentence Wikipedia entry basically says, “he was good at poker.” And there was Felton “Corky” McCorquodale, who is credited (by the Poker Hall of Fame) as having introduced Texas hold ’em to Las Vegas.