There have been a lot of developments in the poker world since the US Department of Justice shutdown the online poker industry on April 15, 2011 (known as Black Friday in the poker world), and while many people have been adversely affected by the ongoing saga that is Black Friday there have also been a few glimmers of sunshine for certain people and groups. In this series of articles I will look at the winners and losers that have emerged in the aftermath of Black Friday, beginning with the major losers –the next installment will take a look at the winners in the poker world post-Black Friday.

Black Friday Losers

Online Poker Players –Online poker players are bearing the brunt of the Black Friday burden for a couple of major reasons:

1. Players have hundreds of millions of dollars frozen in online poker rooms, most notably Full Tilt Poker

2. The US market has been cut off from the online poker world, which means less fish for the other players around the world, and the total inability for US players to participate in online poker games

Second-tier US Poker Pros –Lesser known US poker pros are going to have a very difficult time getting any type of sponsorship deal after Black Friday, and many have watched as their contracts were left to expire. Winning a major tournament or having a really good year is no longer going to result in a lucrative sponsorship deal.

Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson – Two of the most respected and most influential players in poker have now joined a short-list that includes Russ Hamilton, and well… Russ Hamilton I guess. The outrage over these two players’ actions –especially as the news broke that they have received some $65 million in payments between them, with Ferguson still “owed” over $55 million.

Online Poker Sites – While some online poker rooms have seen a small boost in traffic, for the vast majority the troubles of Full Tilt poker –a once highly respected company—have only highlighted the need for stricter regulation in the industry. Until players are once again comfortable that their online poker funds are secure it’s likely many will stay away, or at the least keep far fewer funds in their online accounts.

Affiliate Industry – The online poker affiliate industry was big business until the government got involved, and now with the overwhelming majority of their players cut off from online poker entirely, and no way to send new players to poker rooms, US-centric affiliates have taken a major hit.

Read Black Friday’s biggest winners

Tags: Biggest Losers, Black Friday, Brunt, Chris Ferguson, Department Of Justice, Full tilt Poker, Glimmers, Good Year, Howard Lederer, Online Poker Games, Online Poker Rooms, Outrage, poker players, Poker Pros, Poker Sites, Poker World, Respected Company, Sponsorship Deal, Us Department Of Justice, Winners And Losers

This entry was posted on Monday, September 26th, 2011 at 8:24 pm and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.