Companies see opening in the US tournament poker market

Black Friday has left more than the US online poker industry thrashing around in its wake, with a number of televised poker show left decimated by the government crackdown on online poker back in April.  Another victim (albeit on a lesser scale) has been US poker tours: The PokerStars North American Poker Tour folded, and established tournament series such as the WSOP Circuit, World Poker Tour and Heartland Poker Tour have seen their attendance numbers become extremely inconsistent to put it nicely.

So imagine my surprise over the past week as I open one press release after another on the creation or launch of a new poker league. Most of the new leagues are taking the Heartland Poker Tour approach and keeping the buy-ins manageable -even the WPT has dropped some of its Championship tournaments down to a $3,500 buy-in, a far cry from the $10,000 to $15,000 buy-ins the tour boasted just a few years ago.

So is their room in the US tournament market for the Deepstacks Poker Tour (partnered with the online poker training site Deepstacks University); the recently launched Card Player Magazine’s Native American Casino Poker Tour; or the Bluff Magazine Mid-Stakes Poker Tour?

Most of the top young talent on the US poker scene has pulled up their stakes and gone to Europe so they can continue to participate in major poker tournaments AND still play online poker. Yes, the established, big-name, Las Vegas poker pros are still here, but they don’t come out for $1,000 buy-in events, and many won’t even travel for a WPT tournament at this stage in their careers (Many of them skip the Epic Poker League $20,000 events that are held right in their backyard).

I think the real question will be: Which of these poker tours -the WSOPC, HPT, NACPT, the BLUFF MSPT, or the Deepstacks Poker Tour (partnered with PokerNews) will capture the hearts and minds of the casual poker player, or separate themselves from the rest of the pack? I simply can’t imagine more than three of these tours criss-crossing the country.

The WSOPC is more than likely not going anywhere thanks to its brand, and association with Harrah’s casinos around the country.

The HPT is the original model and was recently purchased by Epic Poker League parent company FS+G; with great television exposure the HPT (along with the WSOPC) will likely remain the minor league system of the World Poker Tour and WSOP.

Both the BLUFF MSPT and the Card Player NACPT offer players some exposure through their media outlets, as well as the Deepstacks Poker Tour which has partnered with PokerNews.com. Our only metric at this point on the power of PokerNews, BLUFF or Card Player’s exposure is the recently concluded inaugural NACPT tournament (a $1,000 event) that saw only an “ok” turnout, as 324 players took to the felt in Choctaw, Oklahoma. I think everyone on the poker world understands that prize-pools of $300,000 simply do not capture the public’s attention.

I’ve always believed that unless first-place is $1 million or more people really don’t pay the tournament all that much heed -although a $1,000 tournament outside of Vegas that hit’s a $1 million total prize-pool would definitely be appealing. One only has to recall the $2+ million paydays WPT winners were pocketing a few years ago to understand the public’s lack of enthusiasm for the current crop of televised poker tournaments.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 
•