Black Friday - did it make poker easier?

[whyndam]

I see people talking a lot about Poker being so much tougher these days and often they mention Black Friday but I'm not sure how it makes poker tougher or whether that's really what they mean. I guess it depends where you are, but surely if for example you live in the UK and Poker can be played online with no restrictions then having less US players, Australian players and whatever other countries have Poker restrictions should surely make it easier? I mean less competition right?

I know it's gotten tougher besides this but from this point of view, if that is your circumstance I would have thought competition would have gone down at least to some extent.

 

[LotharMcDowner]

I do think that Black Friday took away a lot of casual players, which are generally the source of easy money... As bitcoin and other easy methods of deposit become more prevalent those players are coming back. Overall though I think players have access to so much more information and charts that everyone is getting better.

 

[whyndam]

I do think that Black Friday took away a lot of casual players, which are generally the source of easy money... As bitcoin and other easy methods of deposit become more prevalent those players are coming back. Overall though I think players have access to so much more information and charts that everyone is getting better.

I certainly agree with your second point, it's getting tougher because it's easier to learn, more resources etc. But I don't see how Black Friday can only have taken away the casual players, surely it stands to reason that a lot of regulars (perhaps not die hard pros) would have been taken away too since it wasn't legal anymore, that's got to put off a lot of people. It would just make it more difficult for ALL players in these countries, hence competition from these countries at least would be less.

 

[WiredKs]

The deposit process became so cumbersome for Americans that the average Joe who wants to take a shot gives up when he finds out how difficult it is to even get a few bucks into the game. During the boon those folks would throw $50 into the game just to have a good time for a few hours. It was practically free money. With that influx gone the games play tighter and somewhat less profitable.

 

[mitroff]

After Black Friday, the level of play among american offline players has fallen markedly due to the inability to play online. An example is a lot. For example, the final table of the wsop 2014 main event. What mistakes in the game were made by William Tonking, Daniel Sindelar and Mark Newhouse (as this player won the ninth place in the main event twice in a row, I don’t understand). And how they played modern poker Martin Jacobson, Jorryt van Hoof and Andoni Larrabe. By the way, I recommend to see this final table. There is everything for which you can love poker - crazy dynamics at the table, the levels of players' mindset are amazing. By 2016, the average level of the game players who are not able to play online (american players) caught up with players who have the opportunity to play online. Due to what it happened this is a good question? Now I would put the average american offline player above the average european player who has the ability to play online. But this is my subjective opinion and I meant only tournament poker. Good luck to everyone at the tables and in life.

 

[onione6ix]

Black Friday has killed online poker for USA players. Only your most serious players have moved on from From Black Friday to the casino. No players I came up with in 1999-2004 are playing anymore. Black friday weeded out Rec players. Poker is harder now. Find a city where people come to drink and play poker. These are the only Live games I can consistantly beat the rake/parking/tips/drinks/food.

 

[ACEWOLF56]

After Black Friday, the level of play among american offline players has fallen markedly due to the inability to play online. An example is a lot. For example, the final table of the WSOP 2014 main event. What mistakes in the game were made by William Tonking, Daniel Sindelar and Mark Newhouse (as this player won the ninth place in the main event twice in a row, I don’t understand). And how they played modern poker Martin Jacobson, Jorryt van Hoof and Andoni Larrabe. By the way, I recommend to see this final table. There is everything for which you can love poker - crazy dynamics at the table, the levels of players' mindset are amazing. By 2016, the average level of the game players who are not able to play online (american players) caught up with players who have the opportunity to play online. Due to what it happened this is a good question? Now I would put the average american offline player above the average european player who has the ability to play online. But this is my subjective opinion and I meant only tournament poker. Good luck to everyone at the tables and in life.

I just can’t imagine what it would be like if pokerstars and party poker were still legal in the USA. The whole dynamic of US poker, live and online, would be very different today.

 

[rafa77777]

I agree with the author, but on the other hand, the number of relatively weak players would increase .

 

[MattRyder]

I'd love to see Americans back in the game! There's a ton of money in the US that could be funding online poker worldwide.

 

[mitroff]

I'd love to see Americans back in the game! There's a ton of money in the US that could be funding online poker worldwide.

I would prefer players from Asia. They are very venturesome and very often do not understand poker math. American players play poker at a good level.

 

[playinggameswithu]

It choked off the deluge of fish, donkeys and donkfishs that could just go buy a international gift card and deposit using it. The serious players moved to canada and the recreational feared playing the game. The internet has spread information so quickly that everyone that plays these days is at least solid.

 

[infonazar]

I believe that the day of the week does not affect your game. The value has only your good mood, patience and discipline.

 

[kkonicke]

I completely agree with what seems like concensus. So many casual players don't play online anymore, the game has certainly gotten tougher. I think in general players are getting better/smarter as well with all the resources available. Just watching some guys play on twitch is enough to help your game tremendously.

 

[whyndam]

I would prefer players from Asia. They are very venturesome and very often do not understand poker math. American players play poker at a good level.

That's surprising though since Asians are supposed to be the best at maths.

Anyway it seems the consensus is yes it probably is easier due to the lack of all those from America, even though we lost fish we surely lost regs too, but since it has gotten harder anyway, a lot of people may feel the opposite.

I think the game has gotten harder regardless of black friday since there are way more resources and learning tools these days. Poker used to have a difficulty of say 40, now it's 80 but if there was no black friday it would probably be a difficulty of 95 since you'd have all the Americans as competition and with their added training and ability they'd be even better than before.

 

[MattRyder]

Why do you think that Asians are the best in math,whyndam?

I think it's mostly because they believe in education and hard academic work and study. It's part of their culture.

Chinese children crush Americans in math thanks to a mindset Americans only display in one place: sports

 

[whyndam]

Why do you think that Asians are the best in math,whyndam?

I mean specifically mental arithmetic and not necessarily maths generally. A large part is to do with their language. For example we have the word 'eleven' for 11 but in for example Chinese the word is said as 'ten one' so you're already seeing all the numbers as small sums. It doesn't seem like a huge thing but to have all the teen numbers like this it can give them a huge speed advantage.

They also have their abacus culture which cultivates mental arithmetic even more.

 

[mitroff]

MattRyder, whyndam does not quite agree with you. Everyone has their own opinion. Asia is very diverse in cultural and intellectual plan. Compare China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam can be a long time. We are talking about poker players from Asia. For example, open the results of the largest poker tournaments in Asia (for example, the Triton Poker Series) and they will speak for themselves. Compare the number of players from countries and the number of victories they have.

 

[theRaven68]

I think that the end of online poker Golden era have started with Black Friday

 

[whyndam]

MattRyder, whyndam does not quite agree with you. Everyone has their own opinion. Asia is very diverse in cultural and intellectual plan. Compare China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam can be a long time. We are talking about poker players from Asia. For example, open the results of the largest poker tournaments in Asia (for example, the Triton Poker Series) and they will speak for themselves. Compare the number of players from countries and the number of victories they have.

I didn't make any comment to what MattRyder said, I just explained specifically about Maths rather than their education generally. Poker has a lot more to it than just Maths so I think looking at the Poker records for Asia does not prove they are not better at Maths, only that perhaps they are worse at Poker. They may well be bad at Poker, my point was just that they are great particularly at mental arithmetic.

 

[Vasilii813]

Message 8

Hi! I guess countries don't matter. What Matters is the availability of information on poker training for the very broad masses of the world's population, and access to the game online develops taxiability and people learn, and the incentive to learn the main thing, money!

 

[BriceNice]

black friday made it easier to not be able to play, for sure yes.

 

[rafffinamore]

Really from this point of view the competition really has declined. But because today we have practically inexhaustible sources of study on the Internet, the competitiveness is greater because we are playing with increasingly qualified opponents.

 

[whyndam]

Really from this point of view the competition really has declined. But because today we have practically inexhaustible sources of study on the Internet, the competitiveness is greater because we are playing with increasingly qualified opponents.

Yes I think you hit the nail on the head. It always confused me when people said it had gotten tougher and also mentioned how Black Friday made it even worse, but clearly they mean 'only if you live in America'. If you live in other countries (well besides Australia of course) it would in fact make it easier that America are out of the game so to speak.

But as you say, it's still even harder than before despite this due to the reasons we've listed above.

 

[whyndam]

black friday made it easier to not be able to play, for sure yes.

Your comment makes no sense whatsoever unless you add 'if you live in America' to it.

 

[tauri103]

Yes it's true that it has become easier for new players to progress quickly with all the mass of information that they dipos.rein looking at some youtubeur poker pro.on can learn a lot but fortunately he always has fish that are always easy to find and especially to exploit.