Poker Forums have become an extremely popular method of both honing skill and meeting other people, albeit in cyberspace. They offer leagues, discussion groups, feedback on both land based and internet poker rooms and all types of related and unrelated items, including commerce.
Presently it could barely be argued that the three most popular forums are Online Poker Tour, Poker Cartel and Poker Analysis. These three forums represent more players between them in a popular online "Forum Challenge" than the other 97 forums represented combined. Their approaches to their niche markets is as different as the people who play on them.
Most players on forums participate in forum games at various site in what are termed "freerolls". This means there is no entry fee charged to enter a tournament, but there is prize money awareded to the top players in some amount that is usually supplied by the poker sites. In this way the poker sites provide some real money that will allow players who have not deposited yet to play at their tables. This prize inducement not only allows players who would normally just play in the "fun" (play money) games, it makes for more players, i.e. more "action" and hopefully will provided incentive for the players to actually deposit and continue to build the sites traffic/business.
Forums provide a service for both their members and their affiliate sites. The larger forums can bring traffic to new and established sites in droves. Poker Cartel recently brought over 1000 of its member to a new site in a months time and Online Poker Forum exceeded that number by 350 according to one poker room manager. Those types of numbers are a big boost to a new poker rooms' business.
Members of forums range from the very involved to the uninvolved. There are those who will spend hours a day communicating with friends/other members "posting" their opinions on various topics displayed on "threads". These "threads" allow for lively discourse, jokes, business connections, poker strategy, new bonus options at different sites and as wide a range of other topics for the membership as the imagination can come up with.
Poker Forums
