There are many different factors which contribute to the continuous fall of the online poker industry. It seems like poker had its peak and now comes a downswing in the popularity of the game.

In the following paragraphs I try to list the most important factors that could have contributed to the end of the poker boom:

1. The decreasing number of players did not let poker rooms have so many bonus and loyalty programs. The number of freerolls decreased, the deposit bonuses did not have the same as good options as before and many loyalty programs had significantly worse giveaways.

2. Online poker became a tougher place to make money for a living. In the beginning of the poker boom many players had no idea how to play the game. The tables were full of fish who gave away easy money. In some years thousands of players learned to play the game on a higher level and there were less and less fish at the tables. No one likes to lose continuously and many hobby players just quit playing. As the slogan of Poker After Dark says: “It is a hard way to make an easy living”.

3. Poker rooms lost their reliability. The shutdown of Fulltilt, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker changed the basis of online poker markets. Until that point players did not believe that they could lose their money because of poker room shutdowns. Thousands of players lost their bankroll because of the mentioned poker rooms. At the same time other poker rooms also had withdrawal problems and players could not withdraw money from their account or if they could then it was slow. Withdrawal problems are the biggest influencing factors why players lost their trust in online poker rooms.

4. US players are not allowed to play. Online poker was most common in the USA. Since black Friday of online poker, most sites do not allow American players to play. This decision closes the door for a large amount of the players. Furthermore without these players many tables/games/poker kinds/tournaments do not have enough players and due to the lack of players it is not possible to play some games, even if some remaining players have demand to do so.

5. Legal requirements did not only affect the US market. Governments were surprised at the success of online poker and they did not know suddenly what they should do against the online business. Players did not have to wonder about losing their money. Most of them did not pay taxes and they did not have fear against the law. After some years many countries created restrictions against online poker. Most of these restrictions did not forbid playing but the game did not provide great opportunities anymore.

The online poker boom is over and the number of players is decreasing. How can I finish this article? Poker will remain an important game in the future as well and the very good players will be able to make money no matter what.

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