Tougher Online Poker? Growth Drops to Historic Lows

For a while now many in the online poker universe have been claiming games are getting tighter, tougher and less lucrative. For the first time the numbers are backing that up significantly. As the global recession has started to bite, increased regulation in Italy, China and the USA have started to attack poker sites performance Poker scout reports a critical drop in the pace of growth.

The worldwide online poker market is still growing, but at a historically slow pace. According to PokerScout's ACES indicator, online poker traffic is increasing at an annual rate of 6%.
PokerScout

Of course games ARE still growing. The thing you need to remember though is that the existing player base is improving, becoming more sophisticated and needs a steady supply of 'fish' or losing players to ensure they can continue to make profit. As the supply of new players reduces it pushes profitability down which will lead to a further slowdown in the poker economy as some marginal players quit the game.

Sites that focussed too much on bringing in regular winning players by paying out too many big bonuses are now the biggest losers in the market as the games are just not appealing any more.

The good news is that a number of sites market themselves very well to new players and to recreational players. They have always focussed on providing loose and fun games. If you're having a hard time on Full Tilt Poker or Stars right now I can't think of a better time to try out one of the smaller sites - as shown by the Growth of Black Chip Poker on Merge Gaming - up 140% this year (source: Pokerscout) the gold rush is on and those soft games are waiting!.

Read a full Black Chip Poker Review and get Sign up Instructions courtesy of FasterMule Poker. (or use our 35% rakeback link on the left).