Are Poker Networks Consolidating?

Logo Fortune Poker

Logo Fortune Poker

Another poker room closes suddenly and it seems that online poker is going through its regular spasm of drama. Surely soon the online poker industry will have to have a complete root and branch shake up as the bonus culture that once sustained it becomes almost non-existence, bots are becoming ubiquitous and rake back is clearly hurting poker rooms.

The industry was supposed to have found a way of making online poker more interesting than a cash machine for bot players, with the heralded online poker 3.0 enhancing the recreational poker p[layer experience. But as we all know it seems that the quest to inspire has been quietly dropped and it seems that porn we still take first place, followed by slots and then sports betting. 

Even blogging has seemed to have been on a down turn. It is hard to write stuff when you’re losing money hand over fist. Although I am glad to say that I have been winning lately, however, friends I know have been having a terrible time losing a lot of cash. OK it is not in the 100’s of thousands but it is still significant. Clearly the players are more skilled and are more willing to take risk which ultimately hurt old timers who are used to playing in a certain way.

This one the one hand means nothing since the whole point of poker is to take cash of people who are not fit to have it! Poker is a game for capitalism red in tooth and claw. So in the Darwinian scheme of things if you cannot keep up your dead.  

Which begs the question online poker is not sexy no more and the operators are more interested in pushing slots, bingo and other money dumping game in which the operator can control the winning streaks of the player. Online slots, roulette and other games are OK if you like paying for flashing images but to my jaundiced eyes they are a area which I cannot understand as fruit machines online are exactly, that a lazy way to give money away to program financier.

So as online poker reach its natural state of being a game to play when nothing else is interesting then it will have to take up Zynga Poker social networking model as a way of creating buzz. Zynga is a bit like online poker 2.5 in which they have a strong social network concept and now are looking to get a bigger grab of the punters money.

Obviously this model is not going to satisfy most poker room and quite frankly online texting chit chat can be mind numbingly dull. So hurry up online poker rooms lets get very capitalistic and wipe out the dead beat online poker rooms.