Friday, September 4th, 2020 | Written by Renee

Online poker reached its peak during a period known as the poker boom initiated by Chris Moneymakers revolutionizing victory at the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP). He was 28 years old and was working as an accountant in Tennessee when he won his way into the $10,000 buy-in Main Event via an $86 satellite tournament on PokerStars.

Moneymaker was only an amateur who caused a global transformation in the poker world after he defeated top poker pro Sam Farha to walk away with a massive $2.5 million in first-place prize.

Moneymakers epic win drove a massive influx of players into online poker sites, and a year later, Greg Raymer followed in his footsteps by taking down the 2004 WSOP Main Event after qualifying via another satellite tournament on PokerStars.

Online Poker Still Popular But With Limited Growth

While online poker has remained popular up to this day, there are questions as to whether it can actually return to its glory days. Currently, the industry lags behind other iGaming verticals as far as revenues are concerned. In the modern age, players no longer need to see another Moneymaker victory unfold before their eyes to convince them to play online poker; what players are looking at right now is the quality and diversity of the games being offered to them.

With online poker rooms offering the same thing over and over again, its not surprising why the industry has struggled to match the success of its online gaming counterparts, including bingo sites and online casinos. While some poker rooms managed to launch new poker games such as fast-fold poker, the players demands have continued to change and so poker operators must also adapt to that change. They can actually learn a thing or two from online casino and bingo sites.

Innovation Is The Way To Go

Through the years, online casinos have maintained an edge by offering a wide selection of games to their customers. Online casinos offer variety via slots, table games, virtual games, 3D games, progressive jackpot games and live dealer casino games. Bingo sites have also largely relied on variety and abundance, adding themed bingo rooms and slots and other special features to improve the overall bingo experience.

Poker operators may follow a similar path if they want to elevate online pokers revenue status. They can also come up with themed poker rooms or sprinkle in some exciting features that enforce a change in the rules. For example, if a particular room is based on the Grease musical, the site could randomly play the song Greased Lightning during which the speed changes. It would add another layer of thrill and fun to the game.

VR Fills The Gap

Apart from introducing themed poker rooms, adding a more modern feature such as enabling players to use virtual reality kits will also yield some great results.

The simulated experience will make players feel like participating in a live competition, and this will make the action more real, rather than just staring at the screen playing with anonymous opponents.

Virtual reality is set to reach peak levels and become a market worth $57.55 billion by 2027, according to forecasts. This technological advancement will open up endless possibilities for online poker, and could potentially complete the puzzle when it comes to combining live and online poker in one space.

At the moment, players can only experience pokers natural elements, such as deception and bluffing, when they are in a live environment. VR has the capability of taking these unique aspects into the online world. Apart from that, a simulated environment will also improve social interaction, and will help build strong relationships among players. Normally in the online setting, players would just communicate via a chat-based system.

For the online poker industry to survive, poker operators should do more and must be open to change. They must continue to look for ways to take online poker experience to a whole new level, and this requires out-of-the-box thinking, embracing innovation, and taking advantage of technological advancements. Only then can online poker be assured of consistent growth over the next decade.

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Poker Operators Should Try Themed Poker Rooms | My Blog - Tight Poker