Welcome to the second article in our retrospective series, in which we look back at some of the top poker articles we’ve published throughout each year we’ve been online. In case you missed it, here’s our first, where we looked back at 2010. We’ve now reached 2011, which was most notable in the poker world for Black Friday. On April 15, the US Department of Justice seized the domains of the world’s biggest online poker sites and forever changed the trajectory of our industry.
As far as Cardplayer Lifestyle’s trajectory, Black Friday marked a big change for this site as well. For the first time, rather than just willy-nilly think of topics to write about, I felt compelled to do a professional job covering what was unquestionably the biggest story to ever hit, nay rock, the poker world.
Basically, it was in 2011 that I actually started to take the poker blog seriously and turn it into a proper “side hustle”. We started seeing traffic surges for the first time, making a little money for the first time, and perhaps “mattering” in the poker world for the first time.
Looking back at the 100 or so articles that we published that year, our column space was dominated with Black Friday-related news, coverage, and analysis. Now 14 years later, we invite you to have a look back at how those events unfolded (on our pages) throughout 2011, as well as a couple other interesting pieces.
The Poker Cube; No Not THAT Poker Cube
Well before the idea of a poker cube was a twinkle in Alex Dreyfus’ eye (IYKYK), some marketing genius came up with the Poker Cube. Yes, it was as stupid as it sounds. We wrote about it anyway.
The First April Fools’ Poker Gag Article
I guess I thought this was funny 14 years ago. Now, I’m kind of cringing… To think that then-President Barack Obama would’ve hosted a high stakes poker game on Air Force One full of Poker Hall of Famers is, well, kind of stupid. Then again, a former casino owner subsequently became the President… twice. So, I suppose anything is possible! On the bright side, thankfully our April Fools’ Day gag articles have gotten at least a little better.
The First Poker Strategy Articles
Poker strategy articles have become a hallmark of the content we publish at Cardplayer Lifestyle. Beyond some top-notch pieces by experienced and creative poker writers, we’ve also published plenty of training site reviews and articles written by some of the sharpest pro poker minds out there.
Anyhow, based on my personal experience I felt qualified enough back in 2011 to pen a two-part series on how to survive poker downswings (part 1 here, part 2 here). Why did I break what was essentially a top 10 list into two parts? Who knows? Like I said, thankfully I’ve gotten to be a better writer and publisher over the years, lol.
Black Friday Coverage
Most of us didn’t know it at the time, but the January news that Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth parted ways from UltimateBet was the proverbial canary in the coal mine.
On April 15 came the big news itself: Black Friday had hit. Shortly thereafter, Absolute Poker/UltimateBet declared bankruptcy and DoylesRoom ceased operations as well. The US online poker shutdown had significant repercussions for various stakeholders in the poker community. Professional players who relied on online platforms for their primary income faced sudden unemployment, leading some to consider relocating to countries where online poker remained legal. The future of many sponsored pros was thrown into immediate limbo.
Casual players lost a recreational activity, while the broader poker economy pivoted hard towards Europe and elsewhere outside the US, with PokerStars leading the way forward. Full Tilt Poker’s license was suspended, and a big class action suit followed. The news had the poker world reeling, and the once-good names of Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Ray Bitar were forever tarnished. Famously, Phil Ivey even decided to boycott the WSOP.
In time, Full Tilt Poker’s assets were purchased and a deal was reached with the Department of Justice to eventually get affected players paid back.
If you weren’t around in the poker world back in those days and those three paragraphs sound like quite the whirlwind, it’s almost impossible to describe what it was like living through those crazy times in the poker world. And I was just “on the sidelines” writing about it. For the players, especially in the US, times were grim indeed.
US Online Poker Legalization
In the immediate wake of Black Friday, a whole bunch of articles discussing how to get online poker legalized in the US began popping up. Many wondered which online poker operators would lead the legalization charge. To be sure, I wrote my fair share of “legalization articles”, monitoring the issue’s progress, including breathless hot takes on court decisions. With all that said, as entire companies and hundreds of websites pursued “that route” of obtaining traffic, Cardplayer Lifestyle (thankfully) went down a different route.
By all accounts, 2012 was thankfully a better year in poker and for this poker media site.
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