WPN Acquires Drag the Bar Coaching Site

The U.S.-friendly Winning Poker Network (WPN) has acquired the poker coaching and training website Drag the Bar (DTB) and has gone ahead with plans to provide the valuable content at no cost to poker players.

A thread regarding the deal began at 2 + 2 almost a week ago by a user who posted a message he read elsewhere that came from DTB co-founder Hunter Bick, a/k/a 'BeachJustice.' Originally posted on February 27, Bick apologized for DTB being unavailable to users for long stretches of time since about the beginning of the year, stating that things have "been a little bit hectic as we've been completing the sale of DTB to the Winning Poker Network."

'BeachJustice' went on to say that "WPN is going to make DragTheBar 100% free to everyone, while keeping all the same coaches on board and existing content on the site. It was always a goal of ours at DTB to make poker training accessible to everyone, and we're very happy that WPN is finally making that possible."

On Friday of last week, a WPN rep chimed in with a post of his own, confirming the prior information by stating, "Yes, this is true. We've not yet sent out an official email/announcement, but we will soon."

That announcement has not been issued as of this writing. However, a peek at the DTB website proclaims as much with a new banner near the top entitled "Brought to you by Americas Cardroom."

As many are aware, Americas Cardroom is the top skin on WPN, attracting a rather large influx of new players as of late - from the U.S. and worldwide. Adding DTB to its holdings and providing valuable poker training content free of charge may see the popularity of ACR and WPN increase even more.

A number of posters at the online poker forum have accessed DTB and expressed their joy and confirmation that all videos are now accessible at no cost.

Other posters - those who look for the negative - began expressing fear that the skill level of players at WPN might ratchet up due to the availablity of free training. However, it can be argued that players intent on improving their poker skills and who are prepared to invest the time required to do so are not likely repelled by monthly fees as long as their efforts result in a higher win rate due to improvement on the felt.

In any event, an impetus of the deal to acquire DTB may stem from the fact that WPN's CEO helped in the startup of the coaching site. DTB began with a soft launch in 2009, followed by an announced entry in 2010. Since that time, DTB has staked a claim in the poker training market. That market has now changed somewhat with DTB content now provided by WPN at no cost.