It is pretty hard to have missed the goings on Friday in the online poker world. Everyone who plays online poker has been effected by the elimination of the US marketplace from the "real money" online poker community. I read one site that showed that Pokerstars was cutting GTD's all over the place. I took a quick look and it seems that the Sunday Majors have remained intact to a certain degree or another (The Sunday Storm was down from 300k to 200k and the 8am one was down from 150k to 75k). As a US player I thought I would share my thoughts. I am not a professional and I don't make my living playing poker, but I was making what is the equivalent of a really really nice second job. I hadn't withdrew anything as I was working on grown to bigger cash games in my quest to make it to the big games. So that being said, yes I am wondering what is going to happen to the funds. In absolute terms I am out only a small sum, with winnings constituting the majority of it. To be fair I think the money is the least of it. It hurts, but it doesn't mean all that much. The thing that hurts the most is that it wasn't my decision.
I had recently scaled back my MTT play and transitioned to playing cash as it worked better in my schedule, but still playing tourneys on the weekends. I have spent the last 14 months working extensively on my game, studying, growing and advancing my understanding and growing my ability. Now in a moment it is gone. Yes, I know that i still have access and have been playing some Play Money Cash Games, but it isn't the same. People don't play at all like the real money side because there is no incentive. There is nothing at stake, so you can play however you want with no penalty. I'm seriously considering playing live more as I don't want to waste what I have developed and I can play cash games substantially better than the average live player. Thankfully I am not too far away from two casinos in Pennsylvannia and Atlantic City isn't a a bad alternative on occassion (although going into summer no way I am driving there until shore traffic dies down).
What, or more correctly who I feel the worst for in this whole deal are those who were making a living at this game. They just got fired with no notice or warning. I have made a lot of friends in this community in the last year+ and I am concerned for them. All the pro's I have ever met are smart well spoken people, but their worlds just got turned upside down. I am wondering what they will do. I hope for the future that they will all be successful.
So overall, am I disappointed? Yes. Is this the worst thing that happened? Probably not. As a good friend of mine tweeted to me yesterday…"Welcome back to life". I am getting back to being outside and doing more. I picked up my guitar for a serious playing session for the first time in a while. I think this will be good for the short term. As far as the long term, this will be good for online poker. It brings the legalization and regulation issue straight to the forefront. I would assume the 3 sites are going to figure out how to fight that and this is an opportunity for the largest single player base to band together and fight for what we want. Will Pokerstars, Full Tilt and UB survive this, i'm not sure but my gut says if they do they are going to be mere shadows of their former selves. This is going to be a very trying time for all in the poker community and a lot is going to disappear. Expect to see the poker shows, the big name sponsored pro's we know and the major tours to shrink or go away entirely. As for me, I am not sure what I am going to do yet. I am still playing around on the play money side and I am going to be looking into more live play. I am working on getting a home game setup when my wife and I move into our new house so I am excited about that and hopeful. This game has given me so much, especially friends and I will not give that away or turn my back on that. Gl to those who are able to play and to my US friends, keep your chin up. This hurts now and it will hurt tomorrow, but this was the catalyst we needed to help make our game legit. We will be better when it is over, just wait and see. If your in the NJ/PA/Southern NY area and interested in a weekly/monthly home game shoot me a PM and we can talk some more as I start to get mine fired up. This is the Gman signing out!