From July to November

The World Series of Poker has been and gone for another year and by most measures can be deemed a success. Gone were the excesses (forced entry through a poker exhibition) and the errors (players shut out of the main event) of years past.

Replacing them were a welcome sense of space and organisation and an equally welcome sense of achievement when the final numbers were totted up showing both the main event and overall player participation were up on last year.

We’re still in the throes of a global recession and to achieve this is no mean feat. The organisers should be commended as lessons have clearly been learned and a leaner, meaner, fighting fit poker festival was the result.

Europe had a particularly fruitful year with 11 bracelet winners hailing from the UK (5), Hungary (2), France (1), Russia (1), Norway (1), and Holland (1).

And we still have one horse in the race — 26-year-old Filippo Candio from Sardinia, Italy is the sole European representative in this year’s November Nine, the final table of the WSOP main event.

Candio has some form, winning the Italian Championships last year for €140,000, and is sitting sixth in chips so really has it all to play for and a great chance of a million (if not multi-million) dollar payday.

Good luck to all the players and particularly Filippo — after a poor World Cup the Italians could do with a new hero!

Out With the Old …

As one poker jamboree ends another gears up. And so it goes. After a short break in August where even poker players are inclined to take a break, September sees the European circuit take off with London at the epicenter when the European Poker Tour, World Poker Tour, and World Series of Poker Europe roll into town.

They’ll be joined by the English Poker Open and smaller events just a short flight away such as the UK & Ireland Poker Tour Dublin and European Masters of Poker Barcelona.

As online poker sites have started to find out during this recession the pool of potential new players and depositors is not bottomless. All sites are struggling to acquire but the smart ones are shifting an increasing focus to retention and reducing churn.

If we have learned anything from the numeric successes of this year’s World Series it’s that poker players want to play live and the ever expanding number of live events, fed by myriad online qualification options, are proving a solid success for those that haven’t missed the boat.

For many players poker is not just a game but a lifestyle and sites need to appeal further to this aspiration if they are to hang onto their existing customer bases.

The recent online “strike” in France, where players joined games on newly licenced sites but sat out in protest at increased rake charges through government taxes which were passed onto players, shows that the level of sophistication and organisation among players is rising and sites (and governments) would do well to pay heed.

It can be said of consumers that the most important vote we have is our economic vote and as revenue tumbles at online poker rooms across the industry they would be wise to avoid panicky short-term revenue grabbing and, like an experienced and profitable poker player, measure their worth and success in the long-run.