Will online poker catch on in china?

[mbiz]

I'm ready for a poker boom, I missed the first one. China is obv on the up and i read about macau being a nice poker haven - does anyone know how poker fares generally in the C H of INA ?

[Jack Sawyer]

Hmmm, considering how notoriously fucked up censored Chinese internet is in general, I'd bet (heh, get it) that this kite will not fly for a long time to come.

[Galapogos]

Hmmm, considering how notoriously fucked up censored Chinese internet is in general, I'd bet (heh, get it) that this kite will not fry for a rong time to come.

true that

[boost]

I'd also be a bit surprised if poker was the game. I'm pretty sure they have several of their own card games (based on different decks) that would be instant hits. But I could be wrong.

[wufwugy]

We will never ever experience a Chinese fueled poker boom

[baudib]

Asians don't play poker.

[manfredi]

Does anybody else ever wonder about the relative scale of buy-ins for second or third world countries? Especially in micro or small stakes?

If I, a U.S. player, sit down to play 5NL or whatever, I'm playing for lunch money and some foreigners are playing for blood. Five dollars could be a days pay or more in some countries. This gives them a form of advantage in that they can play against a huge pool of newb donks for an amount of money that can significantly improve their quality of life.

[a500lbgorilla]

Supposing an internet connection probably puts them in a position where they're probably valuing 5 dollars similarly to you. Nice to win, fine to lose, etc.

The people who would find 5 dollars a lot are probably not playing poker on the internet.

[wufwugy]

The most winningest countries are poor. China getting on our tables would be a disaster. But it will never happen on mass scale

[a500lbgorilla]

I'd crush the Chinese. I'd eat them for dinner and still be hungry for more.

[wufwugy]

Also, a "boom" has more to do with fewer good players than more bad players. The US markets opening up wouldn't be much different than Euro sites

[wufwugy]

Also, the most important practical aspect of "fish" is access to disposable income.

The premiere reason for the games getting tougher is that it took a few years to fix the enormous "talent gap". The second most important reason is the Great Recessionary Era or whatever you wanna call it

[manfredi]

Supposing an internet connection probably puts them in a position where they're probably valuing 5 dollars similarly to you. Nice to win, fine to lose, etc.

The people who would find 5 dollars a lot are probably not playing poker on the internet.

There are micro players who make the equivalent of ≈ $200/month (from their real job). Cheap internet service is available, it's not like you need a cable speed internet connection to play poker. They can easily have nearly a days pay on the table and there's no way I put that much value in my chips when I spend more than that at Taco Bell.

Plus, they're playing against beginning players. If nothing else, they can make a very nice supplementary income at the micros.

[a500lbgorilla]

There are micro players who make the equivalent of ≈ $200/month (from their real job). Cheap internet service is available, it's not like you need a cable speed internet connection to play poker. They can easily have nearly a days pay on the table and there's no way I put that much value in my chips when I spend more than that at Taco Bell.

Plus, they're playing against beginning players. If nothing else, they can make a very nice supplementary income at the micros.

How many of these 200 dollar/month people are there? That you know of some doesn't paint the entire picture. If they're a small piece of the overall player pool, then they're negligible. If it's a common sight, then I'm probably wrong and the micros post-China-boom will become srs bzns.

[mbiz]

Yeah i figured they would probably take up some other game if anything. Still, a man can dream.

Wufwugy surely any mass influx of people would have a good:bad player ratio that is good for regs initially. But yeah Americas wierd no online poker law is so silly....the country misses out on billions$ of revenue which goes to where...israel? lul.

[wufwugy]

Wufwugy surely any mass influx of people would have a good:bad player ratio that is good for regs initially.

Generally, yes. But not if they come from Asian cultures, especially poor Asian cultures.

Western white folk are the dumbest and most thrifty in the entire world. Bring in people from cultures that teach them to work and not lose (most Asian ones), and you'll get a shitload of good players

After the game achieves equilibrium (it pretty much already has) then improving the fish/reg ratio is about disposable income of player pool

[bikes]

i'm sorry wuf have you ever played against an asian live? they are often the most lol mark ever

[Ash256]

i'm sorry wuf have you ever played against an asian live? they are often the most lol mark ever

Yeah but these are rich asians. We're talking about poor asians here.

[boost]

meh, I'd posit that 99%+ of people who first start playing poker are quite bad for quite a long time. The people who sit down and start crushing are few and far between. You'd have to both have the skill set necessary to beat your first limit and also the scope of vision to see that you need to continually improve your game. Most people suck forever, for a long time, or are are decent but plateau due to over confidence.

And I cannot see why this would be any different for a large influx of Chinese players. Either they will practice avoidance because poker is the rhelm of degens, or they'll dive right in and gamb0000l because they are infact degens.

[kfaess]

There's plenty of rich people in china. If we were to see a large influx of chinese players into online poker I bet the majority would be from the top half/top third of the population in terms of income.

i.e. you're going to see, more often than not, well off degens and not the hard working grinder type.

also I agree with boost that it takes any person a while to actually get good at poker.

[OngBonga]

Does anybody else ever wonder about the relative scale of buy-ins for second or third world countries? Especially in micro or small stakes?

If I, a U.S. player, sit down to play 5NL or whatever, I'm playing for lunch money and some foreigners are playing for blood. Five dollars could be a days pay or more in some countries. This gives them a form of advantage in that they can play against a huge pool of newb donks for an amount of money that can significantly improve their quality of life.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. I see on TV a fisherman in Indonesia who risks his life daily to earn like 60c, and then I'm making $5 in an hour or two playing badugi. I've been trying to figure out if I could be a micro-stakes pro by moving somewhere where the dollar is worth so much more than it is here in the UK.

[boost]

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. I see on TV a fisherman in Indonesia who risks his life daily to earn like 60c, and then I'm making $5 in an hour or two playing badugi. I've been trying to figure out if I could be a micro-stakes pro by moving somewhere where the dollar is worth so much more than it is here in the UK.

To an extent, yes you can live in a 3rd world country playing relatively low stakes. But definitely not micros. You have to remember that the standard of living is lower, and this is why the dollar holds more value. The person making 600USD a year probably doesn't have running water, electricity, etc. If you want to live a similar life to the one you live in a modernized nation, then you'd end up paying less but not dramatically so.

clifs: 2,000USD/month in Thailand is prob enough to be comfortable, but you wouldn't have some crazy amount of disposable income unless you lived in the slums.

[thatpokergirl]

If my relatives are any indication, the Chinese are really interested in learning to play, but don't really know how to approach it. From what I know, Chinese people LOVE to gamble. On Chinese New Year, after everyone gets their red envelopes full of money (Think Christmas, but instead of presents, you get cash only) everyone gathers around to play their favorite gambling game, mahjong, dice and what not. Kids do this along with their parents.

I think it's unlikely that we'll be playing with the Chinese in China via online poker anytime soon since their government has a pretty closed off mentality when it comes to the internet. So certainly, the market is there but the government is in the way.

[donkbee]

On Chinese New Year, after everyone gets their red envelopes full of money (Think Christmas, but instead of presents, you get cash only)

I never get Chinese New Year money. I'm the most deprived asian girl in the world Or I'm fake asian I dunno

[kiwiMark]

I never get Chinese New Year money. I'm the most deprived asian girl in the world Or I'm fake asian I dunno

prolly just means your parents lied to you and you're actually only korean or japanese.

[donkbee]

hmm interesting... which one should I hope for, Korean or Japanese?

[boost]

Probably Japanese. They have sushi, probably will be the first country with indistinguishable sex bots, and they pwned the hell out of Nanking.

[d0zer]

There's totally a chinese poker boom. no culture can fight the sweet allure of american glam.

it's only a matter of time before the peasants get some more middle classitude, finally see casino royale -- the great firewall of china is toppled and BAM

game's ez

[wufwugy]

Any poker boom from China would come from their wealthy, not a middle class. For a comparable middle class to the West, oil would have to be trading ludicrously high at like 300$/barrel, yet at those levels it couldn't support any middle class in the first place

It's moot though since the government would not let it happen

[mbiz]

you're moot!