I recently received an email from a reader on the site who had some questions about a job he was considering in the online poker industry so I thought I would share his questions and my answers. My answers are in bold.
Hi,
I have played poker like 5 times in my life and almost never online. I’m so glad to be finding all sorts of websites around poker (including yours – poker job search! WOW!)
I’m a web/mobile product manager currently in talks with poker software maker for possible employment.
From my research it seems that poker industry is fairly big (including some public companies).
It would be very kind if you could answer some of my queries:
1. How big are (or could be) the “poker software makers” (no consumer business)? What’s there share in this $ 24 billion (?) industry value-chain?
It depends on what you mean by makers. For instance, a lot of companies claim to be software providers but actually provide online gaming via a different corporate entity. Effectively they have one client and all the employees work for the entity that has the least legal exposure so as to shield the staff and management. So a lot of the answer to your question really depends on what exact niche of software provider you’re talking about.
2. I found numerous poker softwares available online. What could be the possible differentiating factors? Is it not a mature industry in terms of development and growth is only in distribution and newer markets?
That’s pretty much a good analysis of where things are at though I would add that liquidity is a major factor. For instance, if you worked for Pocket Kings which is the provider of software for Full Tilt Poker you would effectively be working for the second largest online poker site in the industry. The bigger they are the easier it is for them to get new customers either via the new markets or increased marketing spending (or both). On the other hand if you worked for No Name Poker Inc who has about 20 players on during peak hours that’s a much riskier proposition because many players will look at the lack of games being spread and go to a room with more tables in play.
The key here would be to look at who they are providing software for. You can check out PokerSiteScout for stats on how many players on each of the major online poker sites which should give you an indication of where their clients rank in the industry.
3. Can pureplay poker software makers be really big without their own consumer business?
Probably not if they are true pure play and don’t have some behind the scenes relationships. Like I discussed when I mentioned liquidity the bottom line for many rooms is how many players there are on the site so that there is a good selection of games at various stakes. Even companies like Yahoo who have an online poker site have opted to join existing poker networks and leverage the existing customer base while they provide basically a skin that sits on top of that network. Many top European betting shops have taken that route as well. If a company thinks they can go out alone without a network and they are not already in the top 10 or so rooms it’s going to be very difficult so the demand for standalone software wouldn’t be anywhere on the level as it is for network providers who also provide the service of running the poker games and can pull together players from many different skins.
4. Any advice that you might want to give (i’m learning poker already!) and useful links that you’d like to share?
It depends on if you’re asking for advice on learning the games themselves or if you’re trying to learn about the industry. As for the games there are tons of books which are probably better resources for learning than websites as they are usually authored by top experts in that game rather than affiliates trying to make money sending players to the online gaming sites. In terms of poker anything by Sklansky, Ed Miller, or Harrington is going to be top notch material.
If you’re talking about the industry that’s a lot more difficult. There are sites like eGaming Review that cover the industry from a business aspect but despite the massive revenues it’s a fairly small industry so news passes around pretty quickly. 2+2, PokerNews, Gambling 911, Wicked Chops, and even my site BillRini.com are good resources. I don’t write about every news story but I do try to give a unique perspective on poker news and dig into past the press releases into what a story really means.
Please assume that when I mention poker it also includes the usual casino, bingo etc. (gambling) games.
Thanks a lot in advance!
(I just realised it’s a pretty big questions but would be very happy if you could spend some time. cheers!)
If anyone has any questions about the online poker industry or about the poker job market please feel to shoot me an email and I will do my best to answer it for you or to hunt down someone with specific expertise who can answer it for you.
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