A Look Ahead at Online Poker in 2010

Before the high-stakes poker world turned into a TMZ column, with the arrival of the mysterious Isildur1 at Full Tilt Poker’s nosebleed tables, the world of online high-stakes poker seemed to be slowly evaporating. The best players in the Online Poker world seemed to have little to no desire to battle one another with very little edge. The only time the $1000/$2000 tables seemed to be buzzing was during the periods Guy Laliberte took a seat -under one of his various screen-names.

While it seemed isildur1 had rekindled interest that quickly came to end after his mammoth collapse, and the subsequent revelation that he was the victim of a data-mining scandal. It would be highly unlikely that any potential nosebleed player would be willing to risk millions of dollars when it’s possible something nefarious could be taking place -Even worse was the light slap on the wrist given to Brian Townsend, who admitted to data-mining and sharing the results, after Brian Hastings took $4 million off Isildur1, thanks in large part to Townsend’s information.

Another problem that has become more evident is the swings that these games produce. Online Poker enthusiasts have seen big names like Gus Hansen and Tom “durrrr” Dwan staring at $5 million plus losses, and players having multi-million dollar swings in a matter of days. These losses, and big swings, will likely scare away many players who might be thinking about taking a shot at the big boys-As Patrik Antonius put it so succinctly in an Interview with Phil Gordon: “You need a bankroll of like $500 million to play those stakes long-term…If you can lose a couple million in a few hours, you can lose $100 million no problem.”

So with 2010 upon us, it seems highly unlikely the nosebleed stakes will see much action, which is probably good for Online Poker -at least until the US government sees fit to legalize and regulate the industry , which would solve a lot of the data-mining and player tracking issues that hurt the overall integrity of the game.

So what can Online Poker players look forward to in 2010? It seems the current trend in Online Poker is the big guarantee prize-pool tournaments. I would look for more and more Online Poker sites to follow the models set by Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars and create their own tournament series, like the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), which have been hugely popular, and wildly successful for the two largest Online Poker sites.

It seems 2010 will also bring big changes in the VIP Rewards Programs offered by many sites: Moving away from the top heavy rewards offered to high-volume players, PokerStars has dropped many of the requirements to attain higher levels to a more manageable level for low-limit players, and also added cash reward for players who accrue a certain amount of VPP’s throughout the year. Not to be outdone, Full Tilt Poker has also announced big changes in store for their VIP program -although details have yet to emerge on the poker site’s changes.