By Alexis Russell

10/07/2008

                It seems it was only a matter of time before the economic downturn in the US and around the world started claiming its first online poker victims.  Of course the most recently launched poker rooms that have had little time to establish themselves are the most susceptible.  For those like Duplicate Poker it just wasn’t the right time to go all in.

                It was just weeks ago that Duplicate Poker surpassed the 250,000 user mark but things seemed to have drastically changed since then.  The poker room that claimed to be the only legal online poker room in the US has now released a statement about their folding:

“We are a small victim of the global financial crisis. . . Hopefully at later time and in a better economic climate Duplicate Poker will re-appear.”

                Duplicate Poker offered players a new way to play poker in which they weren’t playing against players at their own table but instead a player at another table that was being dealt corresponding hands.  In order to win you must out play the other player who’s using the same cards, thus taking the luck (and so called illegal) aspect out of the game and basing a win on skill of playing the cards right.

                Duplicate Poker reports suggested that online poker players were taking to the new form of poker very well with a 20% increase in players a month.  That is why the news of Duplicate Poker’s closing came as such a surprise to many.  Clearly it’s simply a matter of capital, credit and financing which is hard for any business now, let alone one just starting out.

                Duplicate Poker is completely open about letting players withdrawal their accounts and access them at this time by filling out a form.  Hopefully, this is the first and only online poker room we’ll see succumb to the financial crisis, but only time will tell.