05 Jan 12

The Poker Community - Are We An Accurate Cross-Section of Poker?

Barry Carter discusses whether serious poker players are representative of the entire poker playing population.

If you know what type of graph this is, you are in the minority

If you are reading this, then the chances are you have heard about the recent player strike caused by rake changes at PokerStars. Why? Because it is likely you are a member of what we know as 'the poker community'.

Yes, I predict that if you browse PokerStrategy.com a lot and have chosen to read this column, then you are probably the sort of person who keeps up to date with poker news like the PokerStars strike.

You most likely also know what Black Friday was, why you should be wary of a 'superuser', and that Sam Trickett, Erik Seidel, and Pius Heinz all did well in 2011.

You probably have several poker forum accounts and follow @kevmath on twitter, you probably have Hold'em Manager account and play more than one table at once. The chances are you are a winning player, have a good rakeback deal, and have made some great friends through poker.

It is great being part of the poker community, I for one love it, I love the industry, love the game, love the banter between players, and have met some great people through poker.

We are the minority

But to go back the recent PokerStars news, you may recall they said in their response to the strikers that those of us in the 'poker community' are not an accurate cross-section of the overall poker economy. We are, in fact, a minority at the poker tables. Even though we have the most involvement, knowledge, and personal investment in poker - we are but a small percentile.

I am not about to disagree with what PokerStars said, I agree with it 100%. I've known it for a long time, and if anyone should know it is PokerStars (They do have the biggest pool of players after all). I have no idea what the true figures are, but from speaking to people in various parts of the industry, I would guess that only around 1-5% of the people who play online poker, take it as seriously as we do.

The way in which serious poker players sometimes react on forums suggests that not all of us are aware of what a minority we are. A lot of people think that mass outrage on TwoPlusTwo, Twitter, or the PokerStrategy.com forums suggests that everyone in poker is enraged about something - when in fact, we are a mere drop in the ocean.

Likewise, 99% of the 'scandals' we see in poker that we fear are 'bad for the game' never actually make it into the mainstream media, despite how seriously we all take it (Black Friday, Full Tilt Scandals, and SuperUsers aside from recent history).

The quiet majority

If this makes you laugh you are in the minority

The vast majority of poker players are the 'recreational players' we all somehow talk about like they are an alien species. This is who most of the savvy poker rooms are marketing towards and creating promotions for. It may seem unfair to some, but it is of vital importance this majority is catered for. The poker economy survives on new deposits, which is exactly what these guys bring to the table.

So it always surprises me when I see serious poker players who do not understand this. The people who educate a bad player for sucking out on them, call them a fish, or berate them for their sharkscope rating.

The same players criticise televised poker for being crapshooty, get angry when Boris Becker gets a sponsorship deal ahead of an EPT winner, or complain about promotions that do not benefit high-volume grinders.

Once you realise the importance of these things for the greater benefit of poker, looking at things from the point of view of a recreational player is a great vantage point.

A new promotion may not benefit you directly, but it might appeal to new players, and thus increase new deposits. A new televised poker show might seem like an unsophisticated donkfest to you, but the drama of coinflips might entice more new players to try the game, and thus more new deposits.

The sponsoring of non-poker celebrity might seem unjust given their track record, but the fact they are reaching a massive non-poker audience is surely more beneficial than giving a contract to an EPT winner, because they probably bring more new deposits.

I've always found that understanding this also helps significantly with game selection. Knowing who is doing the hard work marketing towards and creating games that appeal to new players is a sure-fire way to find the good games.

Don't discriminate against the minority

All this doesn't mean for one minute that the minority of us active members of the poker community should be treated like second-class citizens either - far from it. We may be fewer in numbers, but we are the MVPs of poker.

My boss Dominik Kofert puts it so much better than I do in his recent blog about discrimination against winning players. Serious poker players turn those net deposits into to rake much more prolifically than the new players do - it is as simple as that.

We also play a vital role in giving feedback to the poker rooms. Poker forums are a great example of this, rarely can a poor practice go unignored on a poker forum today, and these days the good rooms have representatives on the forums engaging with the players.

Remember, and appreciate, the quieter majority of players who are keeping the poker economy afloat and the poker rooms working hard to keep them depositing. You are not an accurate cross-section of the poker economy; you are indeed a minority. But isn't that a good thing if it means you are one of the few making money instead of depositing?

by Barry Carter