Post Black Friday

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HeroStar

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I'm new and I've been hearing a lot about issues after black Friday. What is it that happened that makes playing poker more difficult after black Friday?
 
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Big_Rudy

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Primarily for US-based players, but affects the rest of the world to some degree as well....... After Black Friday (BF) the two largest sites ((pokerstars (PS) and Full Tilt (FT)) were forced out of the US market and FT closed completely. Many, many players had money tied-up there which they have yet to recieve.

In the US, prior to BF, probably 90% of all players played on one of those 2 sites as their main, or only site. That number is a guess, but I'd say it's a fair approximation. Since BF there have been a number of other, smaller, sites to leave the US market as well. This leaves an ever-shrinking pool of what would have, pre-BF, been considered fringe sites as the only current option for US players. Service and reliability at these sites is shaky, to say the least.

Additionally, for US players, it is much harder now to get money on to, or off of, any poker site. Again US post-BF regulations. Very long wait times to cash-out now, lots of hoops to jump through to even get money on to some sites, and the ever-nagging feeling that your chosen site could just disappear, a-la FT, and you may or may not ever see your money again.

Add all these things up and the result has been, for the US market, that a very high percentage of the casual players that existed before BF have simply stopped playing online. That leaves a smaller, more skilled, more dedicated group of players playing in the US now than pre-BF, hence the games have gotten considerably tougher. If you remove all or most of the casual players, pretty-much all that's left are those that take the game at least somewhat seriously who tend to just naturally be better players. They are about the only ones willing to put-up with all the onerous conditions that currently exist if you wish to play online poker in the US at the moment.
 
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HeroStar

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Thanks for the response, that makes sense. Personally, I don't mind the competition, It just sucks that there are so many other crappy things going on in the US that these poker things can't get worked out. Oh well.
 
JAE1957

JAE1957

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I for one will not put any more money into a site. I got burned pretty badly when FT shut down and even with all the talk going on now will beleive it only when I see the check or deposit in my bank account. I will (and do) play in freerolls to build up my poker money but have not had an oppertunity (nor am I sure I would try) to withdraw any money from any sites until the legal situation is clarified.
 
Cheevaman

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if your a $ game player it's not as difficult, plenty of sites to still choose from. but i'm a tourney player and without the big prize pools it's been rough
 
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