Markus Lind at Inside iGaming wrote an interesting blog post, Fight for fifth, in which he discusses the poker networks and who will take the fifth place after PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, PartyPoker (this used to be linked partypoker.com but bwin.party asked me to remove the link) and the iPoker network.

It is true that PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker have an advantage accepting american players, but I believe they would still be in the top even if the didn’t. The main reasons:

• They are not a network, insted they run their own operation and focus on their poker product
• They make massive advertising on tv and in magazines which makes the brand very visible to new players
• They have the best software in terms of functionality

To be the winning poker network in the future you need to do two things:

1. Focus on both the business and the players. Get to know what your players want, why they play poker and build poker software that makes your players coming back over and over again.
2. Innovate. Today’s poker clients are all almost identical. Where are the innovations? Be bold and innovate!

I believe that there is plenty of room for innovation if only gaming companies are willing to put effort into it (and of course money). When will we see a new way to play multiple tables insted of opening them all up in new windows? Today all windows have the same controls and layout. I’ve played around with having one window where you have all your tables and show controls when you either move your mouse over the table or you need to make an action on the table.

So start to innovate! And if you need help then just send an e-mail to staffan.schroder@inuse.se 😉

/Staffan