Is Online Poker Still Worth it?

JonikoP · 2012-10-26T12:45:54Z

A super-interesting artile written by Jeff Hwang. Particularly the "skill gap problem" section, which basically summises that online poker is killing itself (too many regs, too few fish). There are too many professionals in the online space, and not enough fish. Thus, the game has gotten too tough to be interesting for the casual player, resulting in less overall activity. Walk into any locals poker room in the country, and you are bound to find seven or eight regulars at the table. Back in 2006, when the average skill level of such regulars wasn't that high, this would be no problem for any reasonably skilled player. But in 2012, everybody is better, and the average skill level of the regulars has risen considerably, to the point that I think the average professional-level player in 2006 would be a fish in these games without having made similar advancements in his/her own game. Consequently, the games today have become uninteresting to many former professionals -- even to those good enough to still beat these games -- because no matter how good you are, win rates will decline because the regulars aren't as bad as they used to be, and the fish are in shorter supply. Meanwhile, the casual player today has no chance. Do you think it's still worth putting serious effort into online poker? Does the effort/reward ratio still make sense?