It seems unanimous amongst most poker players that online poker has, in fact, gotten tougher over the past few years. There are more sharks filling the waters these days, and the fish supply is relatively low (unless you play at a super fishy poker site). When you combine these two factors, you are going to find that there is, as a whole, less money to be made in online poker nowadays.
A counter to this argument will provide some “food for thought,” though. What if players are just not looking in the right places for profitability? After all, there are plenty of games beyond the traditional Texas Hold’em variety. For most online poker players, Texas Hold’em is the only viable option, but it certainly isn’t the only actual option. When considering some of the best poker players in the world, it is apparent that most of the top professionals are skilled in many different games. It wasn’t all that long ago that Stud games were the most popular form of poker.
Texas Hold’em is actually a relatively new game, having only been around for about 50 years. The name makes it sound like it has been around since the days of the Old West, but this just isn’t the case. Poker games like Omaha and Razz were far superior to Texas Hold’em for quite awhile, and it is possible that the momentum is once again swinging towards these more classic forms of poker. Believe it or not, Texas Hold’em is in a fight with other forms of poker.
Is Texas Hold’em More Difficult?
In short, the answer is yes. Online poker has only been existence for a little over a decade, so it is tough to judge the skill levels of players across the board. When online poker first came into play over 10 years ago, the general play was inevitably quite ABC and by the book. After the Moneymaker effect in 2003, the games became much more lively. As the general public hopped on the poker bandwagon, a flood of easy money fell right into the pockets of solid poker players everywhere. Eventually, though, and for a variety of reasons, the games got tougher. Today, good players are often found at stakes much lower than they were at just six years ago, and there has to be a reason for it.
Why is it Tougher?
As mentioned previously, there are a handful of reasons why Texas Hold’em in particular has gotten tougher. First off, the implementation of the UIGEA in 2006 (or, rather, the introduction), scared off a large portion of the online poker playing population. Virtually overnight a lot of the easy money was simply taken off the table. In addition, newer streams of easy money were never given the chance to form. In short, 2006 was the beginning of the end for the super easy online Hold’em games. Now, did this mean that there was no longer a significant amount of money to be made playing poker? Absolutely not, it simply meant that players were now going to have to face a little bit of competition if they hoped to earn their piece of the pie.
The kill off of weak players was a primary contributor to the increased difficulty of the games, but it was far from the only reason. Training sites, poker forums, the ability to mass multi table, poker software, and so on and so forth were all able to aid players in their efforts at the table. It is tough for many players to have a valid complaint about this, however, as much of any current player’s success can largely be attributed to these tools. The difficulty of online poker is very real, but it is also something where a “give and take” approach needs to be appreciated.
If you want to get better at poker, there is nothing wrong with using the tools and weapons available to you, but don’t complain when someone else does the exact same thing. If anyone has a legitimate complaint in regards to the difficulty of the games, it is the old school players who use little to no tools and were once raking in the money as a result of other’s inability to play the game properly. There is a segment of players who are able to remain profitable without the help of poker tools, but this pool of players is relatively small.
Are Other Poker Games More Difficult?
We have established that Texas Hold’em has gotten more difficult over the past few years, and this is the general consensus, but what about the other popular forms of poker? This is an area of the game that is seldom discussed. Texas Hold’em is, and has been, in the limelight. The media, commentators, and even players themselves are seldom interested in who is beating the big Razz games. It is like looking at the NFL, and then trying to analyze the Arena Football League.
The NFL is wildly popular and virtually every North American resident has their own bit of insight into the league. But when you talk about the Arena Football League, many become disinterested. This is just how it works with Texas Hold’em versus Stud, Omaha, and other similar games. The general lack of interest in non-mainstream forms of poker makes it a challenge to accurately determine the progression of skill levels, but it is safe to say that these games are not much tougher. Omaha is most closely related to Texas Hold’em, and it has the second largest following.
It would be a fair assessment to say that the Omaha games are marginally more challenging than they were a few years ago. But, on the other hand, there is also a larger number of “fish” in these games. As a whole, Omaha has gotten tougher, but only by a slight margin. Many have speculated that Omaha is the next big thing, and that it is the place to be if you want to make a killing in poker right now. Let’s face it, Hold’em is very competitive these days, but Omaha really isn’t. The same can be said about other games, including draw games and their variants. Poker has gotten tougher as a whole, but only when you identify “poker” as Texas Hold’em alone.
Why Aren’t They Tougher?
To some, the reasons why non-mainstream forms of poker have remained beatable are obvious. Since virtually everyone is devoting all of their energy to improving their Texas Hold’em (and sometimes Omaha) skills, there is all kinds of money to be made in games where there is little proper competition. There are a lot of players who want to play Stud, but how many great Stud players are out there? Beyond this, how many great Stud players know how to turn on a computer. In other words, the competition has not improved in these games like it has in Texas Hold’em.
If Stud and various draw games were to gain more national exposure, it is likely that they would get tougher, but these types of games don’t generally broadcast well, particularly to uninformed viewers. It is unlikely that, for the foreseeable future, games beyond Texas Hold’em and Omaha are going to become exceedingly difficult. This doesn’t mean that the day where they are tough to beat will never come, however. Remember, at one point in time a lot of players thought they would be overnight millionaires because of just how easy the online Texas Hold’em games were. Things can, and do, change very quickly, particularly on the virtual felt.
What Can You Do?
If you want to remain profitable in an increasingly competitive online poker space, there are a few things you can do:
- Find the fish. Although sites like PokerStars and Full Tilt have gotten much tougher over the past few years, there are still several easy-to-beat poker sites like Sportsbook.com and Bodog Poker. Also, make sure you properly analyze the tables in the lobby to find the easiest to beat players. The easiest way to make more money is to play against players who lose more money.
- Improve your game. Read poker strategy articles, sign up at poker training sites, and read more poker books. Join a poker forum like TwoPlusTwo.com so you can get your poker strategy questions answered properly.
- Learn new games. As you learned in this article, less popular games are easier to beat. If you can become even an average Stud or Draw player, you can win a lot of money online.
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Written by Bill Nye on August 31st, 2010