How could anyone forget online Poker’s rise to prominence back in 2003? The Poker Boom as it became known, was attributed to Poker player, Chris Moneymaker.
Moneymaker became the first person to win the Main Event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), by earning his qualification through winning an online Poker tournament. It is believed that he paid a $40 buy-in to compete in the tournament, going on to win $2.5m and ultimately, playing in the WSOP – which was his first live event.
The unique possibility that an online player could play at a tournament of such a high calibre, alongside big names of the game, including Dan Harrington, Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth, encouraged a massive boom of players who signed up to online Poker sites and fancied their luck.
Three years on from that milestone, and the James Bond franchise continued to roll out, with Casino Royale hitting the silver screen. Famously, in the novel written by Ian Fleming, the secret agent plays a high-stakes game of Baccarat against the villain, Le Chiffre. However, given its popularity at the time, the 2006 adaptation sees 007 play the Texas Hold’em variant of Poker instead.
During these three years, the online Poker pool of players almost doubled every 12 months, before seemingly, grinding to a halt. The game remained popular, but the novelty of a boom was no more. However, just last year, it appears that online Poker is back on an upward trend – and there’s a very big possibility that it could be considered a second boom, or at the very least, one is on the horizon.
2020 saw live Poker – like many other live sports and events – come to a standstill, amidst the ongoing pandemic. But this paved the way for events, that were postponed or cancelled, to be transformed into online versions. For example, we saw the introduction of the World Series of Poker 2020 Online Series, which took the regular summer place of the traditional WSOP.
The changing landscape was only ever going to have a positive impact on live Poker, as Canadian Poker player, Patrick Tardif says: “Tons of people who wouldn’t have thought much of it are ready and eager to compete for Poker’s top prizes, and it’s available without needing to travel.”
But additionally, there was a spike in those choosing to play online Poker too – especially across Europe. Data provided by Game Intel showed that in November, the segregated European online poker market (France, Spain, and Portugal) had grown by nearly 30% and the market in Italy was up 18%. These levels were on par with similar statistics taken from March 2020. But it wasn’t just across Europe, as similar trends were spotted across the US too, with upward trajectories starting to form from December, and into the first quarter of 2021.
During the winter months in the northern hemisphere, there’s typically a rise in online participants, but with the changing landscape impacting our gaming habits and hobbies, Rob Yong believes that live Poker won’t be back as we know it, which means that the online equivalent is only going to thrive.
“I don’t really anticipate there being much like Poker in 2020” he said, before continuing: “I don’t think it feels like a Poker tournament. I mean, Poker is a social game by the very nature of it.”
The media went crazy back in 2003 for the ‘Moneymaker affect’, but if we see another boom in 2021, what will that be attributed to and known as?
