Joined: Jan '11
Location: Germany
Age: 50 (M)
Posts: 513
While its owners have not issued an official public announcements, reports in the poker media during the past week indicate that the Ongame Network will be shutting down on October 15th. The Ongame Network’s roots date back to well before the poker boom, but after peaking in 2008, the network had gradually declined to irrelevance. From a seven-day average of 4,800 cash game players in April 2008, the Ongame Network was down to only 140 as of when the news of the closure broke last week. That is one hell of a steep dive.
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
Comes as no surprise. In it good days Ongame was always bwin and a few other rooms. Then bwin left and made the merger with Party, and all that was left at Ongame were a few minor rooms. That could not work long time.
Posted by shokaku: Comes as no surprise. In it good days Ongame was always bwin and a few other rooms. Then bwin left and made the merger with Party, and all that was left at Ongame were a few minor rooms. That could not work long time.
oh, thanks for the information Shokaku, I was wondering what this network was. The name sounded familiar but I forgot what rooms it was affiliated with.
Seems weird that Bwin was in such a small network all these years. They had a good amount of players and didn't need it whatsoever. Merging with party was a good move, because if 888 and party die then we're left with only 1 giant poker room and that can't be a good thing for the customers.
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Greece
Age: 47 (F)
Posts: 14136
It had some good names in the past, this network. Then one by one either started leaving or closing down. This will just strengthen the few that are up and running. Although we all know who runs the market the last couple of years
Joined: Aug '10
Location: Germany
Age: 52 (M)
Posts: 2219
The online poker boom was over and another nice Network go´s down. There are some nice poker rooms there in the past like bwin, Red Kings, Betsson and so on. The ongame sowtware was simply but ok to play.
and I do not care ... I'm in this network rooms did not play so nothing to regret ... in the comments people write that it was a good net .. umm ... ok maybe so ... but all good things always come end ... most of all I'm sorry for full tilt was great ... but the room PokerStars killed him
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Greece
Age: 47 (F)
Posts: 14136
The less options you have, the worst it is for you. I dont think that this is hard to understand. When it gets close to monopoly, then you can forget many things that are happening now in the poker world. Like it has happened so far. A simple example, when the poker was in its glorious days, most no deposit bonuses were 50 US$. When was the last time you saw one like this?
Posted by Mober: A simple example, when the poker was in its glorious days, most no deposit bonuses were 50 US$. When was the last time you saw one like this?
Well, at least the ten dollar ones does not have ridiculous wagering attached as opposed to those old fifty bucks no-depos...
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
Of cause there are no good bonusses around. The market is shrinking. The established rooms either do not have the money to issue a bonus, or do not need to (Stars), and new rooms no longer enter the scene.
Joined: Oct '08
Location: Germany
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 2025
Posted by shokaku: Of cause there are no good bonusses around. The market is shrinking.
is it ? i think the market is constant. its just not growing like back the days but not shrinking. even the black friday has not reduced the player pool in online poker.
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
It is. Nearly all rooms see a slow erosion of the player base over the last few years, especially in cash games. Even Stars. And mergers like Party and bwin or Stars and FT do stop the trend only for a short time.
Joined: Mar '14
Location: Japan
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 8946
Things went south years before 2011's Black Friday. Ongame's business severely affected by George Bush's Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that he passed in 2006. Ongame today has less than 200 regular players.
Joined: Oct '08
Location: Germany
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 2025
Posted by shokaku: It is. Nearly all rooms see a slow erosion of the player base over the last few years, especially in cash games. Even Stars. And mergers like Party and bwin or Stars and FT do stop the trend only for a short time.
it truly is. right after my post i did a bit research over online poker. since 2011 its decreasing 10-12% per year. i didnt find a statistic for 2015/16 but i guess its the same.
Joined: May '08
Location: Lithuania
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 10090
yes indeed the market is shrinking at the same speed as my salami is shrinking after an active session and there's no stopping it (the market that is..) i guess we need some sort of new impulse, new form of gambling to flood back to wasting our dollaros without a second thought.
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Greece
Age: 47 (F)
Posts: 14136
The requirements werent crazy at all. With a good bankroll management was easy to reach the whatever play through there was, because the capital was big. Not to mention that in some of them, you could cash out the winnings, while hitting the minimum cash out, and the original bonus was remaining intact in the balance, after the request.
Posted by shokaku: It is. Nearly all rooms see a slow erosion of the player base over the last few years, especially in cash games. Even Stars. And mergers like Party and bwin or Stars and FT do stop the trend only for a short time.
Yeah, and I can see why. The game is getting harder to beat every year. Mostly due to the 10% rake in my opinion. And also the conversion fees when you deposit/withdraw can be total b******t.
It's already hard enough to be ev+ playing poker without all of these handicaps. Now only a small % of players actually make profit. And it's mostly at mid/high stakes, where all the microstakes money ends up eventually. If the rake was smaller I would play a lot more volume.
And I dont understand why rooms in general don't offer more deposit bonuses. When I wanna deposit I usually just wait for a good bonus and just don't deposit if there's none...
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
It is not only the rake. Those players that lose money will finaly stop playing. At least the majority of them. While the winning players will most likely continue to play. So the competiton gets harder over time.
