How Did Poker Become So Popular in Online Casinos?

07:23
09 Jul

The first online poker sites came into existence in 1998. Barely a few years since the internet was popularised. The card game was already played all over the world but now any player with a modem and connection would be able to play somebody else on the other side of the planet. The potential was amazing.

Now, there are hundreds of dedicated poker platforms and online casinos offering the game as seen on sites such as Uusimmatkasinot.

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The Rise of Online Poker

After a slow start, online poker sites started to grow in popularity over the next few years. ESPN coverage of the World Series of Poker introduced the current stars of the game to new players and a worldwide community was born.

But then it all suddenly changed. Massively.

In 2003 Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee, decided to play in a satellite tournament on PokerStars which put him in contention to win a seat for the World Series of Poker Main Event. He then won the $10,000 buy-in ticket and headed to Las Vegas in the summer to try and win a boatload of cash.

Incredibly, he then won the event and a $2.5 million prize changing his life forever.

The effect that this had on the game of poker could not have been predicted. Everybody saw an ordinary guy who wasn’t, by his own admission, a great player but was still able to win life-changing money.

If he could do it, then why couldn’t they?

The next few years after 2003 are known as the poker boom. Online sites became billion dollar companies and people who previously hadn’t played the game were now interested in trying to compete.

By 2006, the prize money for winning the WSOP Main Event had risen to a whopping $12 million with Jamie Gold taking the plaudits in a field of 8,773, compared with the 839 from 2003. Poker had changed forever.

These prestigious live festivals became a strong driving force for online poker. They were all about obtaining status as a great player while the online arena became a great way to get massive volume in.

It was this opportunity to play more than one thousand hands in an hour compared with the average of 25 in a live game that allowed a new generation of professionals to play for a living. With the internet age in full swing, many players dreamt of the freedom of playing for a living around the world.

Online poker’s popularity took a hit in 2006 when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) prevented Americans from depositing and withdrawing money from almost all poker sites.

PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker kept everything going for five more years but eventually it all came crashing down in 2011.

Although this was a major hit to the popularity of online poker, the game has still maintained its status. Now we see not only regular poker sites but also those committed to cryptocurrency and also games on what were previously dedicated online casinos. The future still looks bright for the online game.