Online Poker Now Growing Amid Current Events

A few states in the US have already legalized poker online, and many more are already in the process of either signing bills, or in advance stages of voting to expand legal online gambling within their jurisdiction.  Online poker is currently legal in the states of Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

In New Jersey, there are a few great poker rooms such as Borgata Poker, PartyPoker and BetMGM Poker.  

Following online sports betting and online casino, where you can access a fully-licensed, regulated casino or sports-betting app or website and play safely and securely from wherever you are, there are also a few states that have already regulated online poker.  So, you can create an account, log in and enjoy an exciting game of poker straight from your computer of mobile phone.

But like every other aspect in our lives, the gambling industry has been severely hit by the recent closures and distancing regulations, with many land-based casinos, sportbooks and poker halls being shut down. 

But despite of traditional gambling venues being closed, or most likely due to many people staying at home, there is a surge in online and remote gambling, when many people are playing through legal casino and poker websites and apps.  Sports-betting mobile apps are used less, obviously due to the lack of sports to bet on, however there are still options for sports betting in leagues that are still active around the world, eSports and more.

Poker is a social game, and it is played with other players, be it around a table in a casino, poker room or a friend’s house.  Online poker is not really knew, and similar to many other areas, it enables people to connect and interact with each other from remote places around the globe. 

These days when the Coronavirus forces most people around the world to stay behind closed doors, poker mobile apps allow people to play with each other, interact and beyond the excitement of a game of poker, also provides people with the human contact and interaction many of us miss so much.

So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that online poker in the US is now in an all-time high, with a surge in players, tournaments, revenues and prizes all around.

International Poker Tournaments

One international poker tournament held last week was one of the highest ever, with an $18.6 million prize pool, and if factoring in also the number of participants and buy ins, it makes it one of the largest online poker tournaments ever to be played – with thousands of people playing and watching via their computers or using their phones or other mobile devices and playing through mobile poker apps.

In last week’s “Sunday Million” tournament, online poker operator PokerStars, parent of US online operator FoxBet reporting an $18.6 million prize pool, with close to 61,000 players combined.  This created over 93,000 entries for this $215 buy-in tournament.

A Brazilian player (screenname: “AAAArthur”) was the winner of the tournament, with all 4 finalists agreeing to play for a split of the remaining $3.67 million from the original prize.  “AAAArthur” came on top, and won the Sunday Millions with a full house on the final hand: twos over jacks.

“AAAArthr” won $1,192,801; runner up “CrAzY_sTeFaN” won $921,328, followed by “Salonteskis” and “Caroline2963” taking $826,919 and $786,873 respectively.      

US Poker Tournaments

Another example of the surge of online poker comes from the online Super Circuit Series that is brought by the WSOP (World Series of Poker).  The WSOP.com and 888.com are the operators that run this event, and it is unique given it offers shared player liquidity – so the player pool consists of players from Nevada and New Jersey that can play against each other online on the same poker tables, using their computers of mobile poker apps.

The Series has a guaranteed prize pool of around $1.5 million, and comprises of 18 events.  With every event almost tripling its guaranteed money, for example Event #1 ($320 No-Limit Hold’em Double Stack) had a $50,000 prize guarantee, but with 570 entries reached a prize pool of $171,000. 

Event #2 ($215 No-Limit Hold’em) reached $188,200, and many more events were saw a huge turnout in the last few weeks, a lot more than previous years.

So whether you are a shark that has been playing poker for years, a good player that plays with friends for fun, or just now learning the wonderful game of poker – this is your time download a poker app and jump into the excitement and poker is here, it’s big, and it’s getting huge. 

So Check out our poker section to find how you can join the action today!