4 Reasons Why Poker is Tough in 2021

Anyone old enough to remember the “old days” in the noughties when poker was easy will recognise it’s not the same anymore. Poker has got tougher than it was. The average mid stakes player of today could clean up a 15 years ago. But what has happened since then to make poker tougher? We explore that question in this article.

1) More Content Available

In the mid 2000’s poker was booming but there wasn’t an abundance of content on poker strategy. There was some books and a few training sites popping up but most players learnt through experience. Whilst this is fine, it takes time and therefore the bad players who didn’t work hard would not improve quickly.

Nowadays, there are countless poker strategy sites with excellent material offering things like hand charts, poker cheat sheet guides and free videos to help players learn. This has raised the overall standard as even newbies will access the great content.

2) Poker Software

It’s staggering to see how much software has been developed in recent years. Whether you’re interested in hand range analysis or poker stat tracking at the table, there is innovative software to assist you. They are far more commonplace than years ago. Moreover, they are more cost-effective and readily available too.

Even the players at micro-stakes are using the software and it’s making the game tougher. Utilising advanced poker software is a huge deal as it helps players make better decisions. This is contrary to what we want bad players to do! Therefore, the standard is tougher across all the major poker sites.

3) Social Media

The presence of social media has permeated society and extend to the poker community. True, social media was around in the 2000’s but not to the same extent. It’s a free resource that players are cleverly using to help them improve quicker. Players can now subscribe to the best poker channels and twitch streams to access tips.

4] Poker Community is More Experienced

As time goes by, new ideas and strategy come to the fore which help us understand things better. This is definitely the case with online poker. The poker community is more experienced and wiser than 15 years ago. We know things now that never heard of before. This is a natural evolution of a game that is as complex in poker. Ideas like game theory optimal poker and exploitative poker were not even discussed back then whereas now they are on the tips of everyone’s tongues.

Summary

As you can see, poker is certainly a more challenging hobby now than years ago. It means you need to work harder to stay ahead of the competition. You can’t just turn up and expect to win without any preparation. However, the are reasons to be hopeful in the future, for two big reasons that will help you beat low limit poker games.

  1. Poker sites are taking a stand against poker HUDS. This is a big step forward as it removes a huge edge that experienced players have by using poker stat tracking software to understand their opponent’s behaviour. Many sites are already banning this which is a huge deal as it will incentivise new players to play more and losing players to return as they will realise the grinders edge will diminish.
  2. Slowly and gradually American states are permitting online gambling. This is a massive reason to be hopeful as they represented a huge percentage of the poker community and with it, loads of fishes. By permitting poker again there will be new generations of poker players that have never even played online. What does this mean? More fishes and easier competition.