Poker Trends
5 REASONS MAKING POKER THE BEST ONLINE GAME TO PLAY DURING COVID-19. Poker is a highly popular game played almost all across the world. Those who have played poker earlier might be aware of all the available venues to play the game. That’s why we’ve put together a collection of the top online poker trends for 2019. Maybe you’ll get to witness and experience some of these upcoming potential changes yourself as a poker player. Let’s see what next year holds for the world of online poker. Pennsylvania Makes Its Move to Enter Interstate Network.
Technology has been a majorfactor in the growth of various industries and the online poker industry hasdefinitely not been left behind. Technological advancements and trends in many fields,therefore, develop very quickly, perhaps too quickly, and are short-lived. Online poker is seemingly one of the mostaffected areas particularly but this is not the case because the tendencies of someof the biggest online poker operators in the world tend to exhibit a measuredand calculated approach.
Unlike many other industries, online poker tends to be based on the adoption of demonstrated successes inspired by small iterative changes as opposed to being inspired by diverse initiatives that are often executed by nimble actors. In many cases, these small iterative changes yield distinct trends that can span years in the industry.
Tip 7: Take Equity Realization Into Account Possibly due to the popularity growth of Twitch, many poker players approach to big blind play has evolved. The current trend is to defend the big blind with virtually any 2 cards, as some top pros elect to do, and the justification for this is taking advantage of the excellent pot odds being offered. The global online gambling market size was valued at USD 53.7 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5% from 2020 to 2027. The high internet penetration and increasing use of mobile phones among individuals for playing online games from their homes and public places are driving the market.
The state of the online poker industry in 2019 is thereforemostly a culmination of changes that were made last year and the replication ofdemonstrable success. In 2018, the industryexhibited a number of characteristics most of which have since been adopted bymore operators simply because they were successful enough. The future isusually not cast in stone but if the past has taught us something, it is thatsomethings always play out the way they are supposed to. For the online pokerindustry here are some of the traits that will define it this year, and maybebeyond:
Tournament Series
Just like last year, there is bound to be more investment into flagship tournament series which are key growth drivers and marketing tools for the growing player base. Already, the first three months of 2019 have seen multiple high-profile and record-breaking festivals and subsequent successes. There is so much to be gained from this – the online poker operators are reaping big from them while at the same time breaking into new markets. The players, on the other hand, get to have the times of their lives at action-packed tournament poker tables and if they are lucky enough, they get to walk away with cash prizes.
No More Promotions
2019 might not be the year that online poker promotions finally go extinct but it is safe to say that the stagnation that was witnessed in 2018 is about to become even more evident. The very small number of promotions that were available last year were usually very small additional bonuses used to supplement MTT series or targeted specific markets. However, the online poker operators have realized that it is not effective a market strategy as it was a few years back. These days, the best customer acquisition methods seem to be live tours, tournaments, ambassadors, rewards programs and streamers – more investment is therefore headed to these sectors.
There are of course many other trends that are going to shape the online poker industry in 2019 but it is safe to say that the ones mentioned above are definitely going to be at the very top.
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In an age when technology is advancing at rapid speeds, it may seem that trends in an industry such as online poker, which relies heavily on technology, would develop quickly and be short-lived. In fact, the tendencies of some of the biggest online poker operators in the world have shown that the companies exhibit a measured and calculated approach.
Instead of a landscape defined by diverse initiatives executed by nimble actors, online poker is more of a copycat industry that relies heavily on demonstrated successes and small iterative change. These traits tend to produce distinct trends in the industry that can span years.
Looking back at the year that passed, the industry as a whole exhibited several characteristics that were either widely adopted or successful enough for us to expect these trends to continue in 2019 and perhaps beyond.
The State of the Online Poker Industry Spring 2019, a report by Poker Industry PRO detailing and analyzing a wide array of aspects of the online poker industry over the past year, identifies several of the traits that are expected to have a significant impact on the immediate future of online poker.
Online Poker Trends
The following passages are excerpts from the coming report which will be available to purchase in April and will also be made available to subscribers of Poker Industry PRO.
Online Poker Trends
- Trends expected to drive the industry in 2019
- Operator financial data and analysis
- Regulated market developments and outlook
- Significant events to follow in the coming year
- Knowledge and expertise backed by best-in-class Data platform
- Special features and interviews with the some of the industry’s most important decision-makers
Marquee Online Tournament Series Growth
The heavy investment into flagship tournament series and the concomitant consumer interest has been highlighted in the previous two State of the Online Poker Industry reports. The position of the high-profile series as a key growth driver and marketing tool that helps fuel growing player activity, remained just as strong (if not stronger) in H2 2018, and the trend appears to be continuing into 2019.
The various record-breaking festivals and subsequent successes are too numerous to list. In August, during the high-season for online poker festivals, the top eight dot-com and dot-eu operators announced schedules that guaranteed a combined $170 million in prize money, the largest in online poker history. Almost all boasted of bigger schedules than in prior years. For example, WCOOP alone guaranteed $70 million and became PokerStars’ largest ever festival. Despite the high-level of ambition attributed to those guarantees, over $215 million was paid out in prize money.
Stagnation of Traditional Poker Promotions
Among top-tier online poker operators today, the main strands for customer acquisition and reengagement are online poker tournaments, ambassadors and streamers, live tours, rewards programs and new products; the standard online poker promotion has noticeably fallen out of popularity.
By the summer of 2018, [most traditional online poker promotions had] disappeared completely. The few promotions that have run since were often targeted at specific markets or in rare instances were small additional bonuses to support an MTT series.
Rewards Refactored
Run It Once Poker launched with its most innovative rewards concept to date: Splash the Pot. The new rewards distribution mechanism is part of the loyalty program that returns over 50% of the rake collected back to the players in the form of random “splashes” of money added to pots. The frequency and amount are related to the total rake collected in the previous hands. The idea was warmly welcomed by players and has already been copied by one competitor.