PokerStrategy opens doors to US players
Community site introducing subscription model, although it will continue strict policy of not directing Americans to any online poker sites.
Poker community site PokerStrategy.com has announced that it will give American players access to its training content for the first time under a new subscription model.
Players will be able to subscribe to any of the Gibraltar-based company’s tiered video and article packages, from as little as US$19 for three months.
However, consistent with the site’s policy since launching in 2007, no players from the US will be directed to any online poker sites.
PokerStrategy.com spokesman Hannes Hanusch told eGaming Review that the subscription element had been in the pipeline “for a while,” as he expects to see regulatory movement in the US “sooner rather than later.”
He cited recent deals between European operators and American land-based partners, such as bwin.party’s agreements with MGM and Boyd, as reason to believe federal regulation is edging closer, saying: “We hope to see something happen in the next 12 months.”
However he was quick to admit that “It could also be complicated as there is a reliance on the Democrats and Republicans coming to an agreement on regulation.”
Hanusch explained the need to prepare for any movement across the Atlantic, saying: “We wanted to give ourselves the chance to apply our European [and Rest of the World] model to US players in the future and that begins by bringing in a subscription service that allows Americans to sign up.”
He explained that – as the company still does not drive American players to poker sites – “There was no real need to go through the authorities. Indeed we would not have had a problem before providing we didn’t offer poker rooms to [American] players.”
Hanusch said he did not believe PokerStrategy,com’s previous dealings with Full Tilt Poker would upset American authorities or impact adversely on any future business with US-regulated poker rooms.
“I don’t think that will be an issue considering we made a point of never taking Full Tilt’s American players as we wanted to stay clean,” he explained. “Looking forward, the most important thing for us is that we work with those who will be licensed in the US, and not dealing with anyone who is not legally approved.”
Still, he admitted there are no plans to offer PokerStrategy.com members the chance to sign up to the growing number of subscription sites “ which include PurePlay and bwin.party-owned Club WPT – and free-play sites permitted to operate in the United States, such as the one introduced by South Point Casino this year.
The subscription service will range from ‘silver’ membership (from US$19 for three months) to the premium ‘diamond’ content (up to $4,000 for a year). Hanusch confirmed that a number of players have already signed up to the diamond subscription.
While American players will only be able to access the content by subscribing, players from the rest of the countries served by the community will still be able to earn points by generating rake and use those points to access video and written content.