If you take a look at Party Poker, they have pretty much gone to the toilet. I've only played on their site a couple of times, but every time I've played their site would be busting at the seams with players. Wait lists were long. Players were crazy. Log on now and it's like an abandoned city. Wait lists are virtually non-existent. In fact, it seems Party Poker is ashamed of their own being because they've canceled several of their promotions as well as taking off their player count indicator.
I must give kudos to the rest of the poker sites that have kept their US customers. The new bill that was passed affects little of the poker industry. Most people who used to play on Party Poker will move to other sites that still allow them to play. I have seen an increase in players at Full Tilt Poker myself. The area that will be most affected by this law will be satellite tournament entries. I bet anything that upcoming tournaments on the WPT circuit as well as the WSOP circuit will show significantly reduced numbers in their tournament entries. Casinos here in the US will not be able to accept satellite entries from online casinos. For sites such as Full Tilt, satellite winners receive cash value for their prize package. Responsibility to register for the featured tournament will now be at the winner's discretion. Now, I can only imagine that most of the winners of these satellites will not be able to hold on to $12,000 in cash for very long. By the time the main tournament comes around, that money will be long spent, thus reducing entries.
Another note to mention here...I would think that ESPN and Harrah's Entertainment would be fighting this law like crazy. The poker industry has become Harrah's bread and butter since their acquisition of Binion's Horseshoe and the WSOP. I'm sure ESPN has seen a big jump in profits by airing WSOP events. This won't be the case anymore now with the new law. Most of the entries into these televised events come from online qualifiers. It would be in their best interest to do all that they can to help the poker economy thrive.
If anyone likes playing tournaments but doesn't like the huge fields of players, try playing private tournaments. Yeah you have to know the passwords for those tournaments, but most of them you can find searching through the Full Tilt forum, google, or players blogs (like mine!). The DADI tournaments are an ongoing series which looks like it's picking up some momentum. Seems like it would be a fun tourney for $24. I'd play, but I have a music rehearsal to go to that night. Ohh well.
