Online Poker History
- The history of online poker so far has been short, but punctuated with compelling stories and significant dates. Here are our top eight. 1998 – January 1st sees first real money hand played online Planet Poker. Planet Poker holds the distinction of being the first online poker.
- Scott Tom was one of the founders of a poker room Cereus Poker Network. Back at the time, it was among the top ten largest online networks in the niche, consisting of Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker.
- The game of poker may go back as far as 200 years, but the online version as we know it today is only a mere 13 years old. Online poker history started in the mid 1990’s and a couple of years later the first real online poker rooms saw the light of day. The first online poker room was Planet Poker launched on January, 1998. Planet Poker was founded by poker.
'As Nas' and 'Poque' Set the Template. While some historians suggest the Persian card game As Nas.
12 - UIGEA Puts Paid to US Online Poker
Although online poker sites had been offering real-money games to American players for some years, things took a turn for the worse in 2006 when the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) was introduced.
A tacked-on piece of legislation to the SAFE Ports Act, UIGEA essentially outlawed real-money payment processing between financial institutions and online gambling sites. [11]
As a result, major sites pulled out of the market in America including PartyGaming and 888, therefore losing their market lead. Sites who disagreed with the new legislation, such as Full Tilt and PokerStars, continued to supply poker online to US players, albeit while based offshore.
The fallout saw two founders of online e-wallet, NETELLER, arrested and charged with money-laundering, while another big e-wallet used for processing online payments to poker sites, PayPal, pulled out of the US market altogether. [4]
Meanwhile, online qualifiers continued to flock to the World Series and its new home of the Rio Hotel & Casino. The Main Event registered its biggest-ever turnout for a Main Event (8,772 runners) with an incredible million prize for the winner; to this day a record. [12]
Former Hollywood agent Jamie Gold went on to win the first prize and make more poker history.
$8 Million Guaranteed Venom continues this week
The Winning Poker Network reached for all-time highs with its currently-running $8 Million Guaranteed Venom tournament. The $8 million in promised prize money gives this edition of the Venom the distinction of offering the largest guaranteed prize pool of any U.S. online poker tournament in history.
The $2,650 buy-in tournament continues this weekend, with the final two of four Day 1 flights playing out on WPN. Day 1A and Day 1B both wrapped up over the weekend, with a total of 1,431 entries registering for the two flights combined.
That attendance puts the player-contributed prize pool at the $3,577,500 mark, with still two flights to go. Day 1C plays out on Jan. 29, while Day 1D offers the final chance to enter the Venom on Jan. 31.
Day 1D will likely produce the biggest turnout of any of the four opening flights. With the prize money already almost halfway to the guarantee, this edition of the Venom stands a good chance of far surpassing the $8 million mark.
Putting the $8 Million Guaranteed Venom in perspective
The current edition of The Venom marks the fifth time WPN has offered the $2,650 buy-in tournament. All of the previous four offered at least $5 million guaranteed, making all five chapters of the Venom among the largest guarantee online tournaments in the history of online poker in the U.S.
The winner of the $8 Million Guaranteed Venom will come away with at least a $1 million first-place prize. The winner’s purse could go well over that mark, however.
Americas Cardroom Team Pro Michael Loncar sees the escalating prize pools offered on WPN as a sign of further growth for U.S. online poker in the 2020s.
“This indicates that online poker is only growing and that we can only expect to see even BIGGER prize pools over the next decade!” Loncar wrote in an email interview with Poker.org. “America’s Cardroom has been growing every year and I definitely expect that trend to continue as more people are realizing they’re only a click away from being able to play multiple tournaments from the comfort of their own home.”
WPN’s The Venom at a glance
Can The Venom reach the $10 million mark?
WPN introduced The Venom in July 2019, guaranteeing $5 million. The most ambitious tournament ever put on by the network at the time, it shattered expectations with 2,552 entries, a $6,382,000 final prize pool, and a $1,050,559 winner’s prize.
Each of the following two editions of the Venom reached for an even higher guarantee. Both the December 2019 Venom ($6 million guaranteed) and the August 2020 Venom ($7 million guaranteed) stood as the biggest guarantees ever offered at WPN at the time.
October 2020 saw WPN run a progressive knockout version of the Venom. The Venom PKO Main Event played out as the biggest PKO tournament in online poker history, with the prize pool going well past the guarantee and hitting $6,777,500 by the tournament’s end.
The August 2020 Venom smashed expectations again, with the final prize pool ending up at $9,680,000. Can the current edition of the Venom become the first-ever U.S. online poker tournament to eclipse the $10 million prize pool mark?
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it hit the $10 million mark,” Americas Cardroom Team Pro Ebony Kenney said. “I’d be ecstatic actually.”
The Venom setting the bar for U.S.-facing online poker tournaments
WPN operates as an international online poker network, with three skins (Americas Cardroom, Black Chip Poker, True Poker) allowing access to U.S. players.
Biggest Loser In Online Poker History
All five editions of the Venom offered some of the largest guaranteed prize pools ever seen in the US. If the current edition of The Venom surpassed the $10 million prize pool mark, that would put well above the biggest prize pools ever offered anywhere in the world.
Successful recent online tournaments in the U.S. include the WSOP Online Bracelet Events $1,000 NLH Championship, which produced a $2,019,700 prize pool.
Online Poker Tournaments History
The U.S. side of the 2020 World Series of Poker Main Event ran on WSOP.com for the first time this past December. The prestigious $10,000 buy-in tournament drew 705 players, with the prize pool finishing at $6,780,000.