PokerStrategy – the largest poker community and training site in the world – has opened its doors to customers in the United States for the first time. In conjunction with its venture into the US market, it has also revised its business model to include subscription-based access to its training resources.
PokerStrategy consists of a community of 5m members and provides access to poker training videos, strategy articles, coaching sessions, hand reviews and world-renowned strategy forums where members can discuss hands. Though immensely popular, US residents have not been permitted to join – until now.
Traditionally, the only way someone could gain access was if they first signed up to a “partner” poker room and generated rake through one of their affiliate programs. In the post-UIGEA environment, PokerStrategy did not permit US players to join their community even though online poker sites such as PokerStars and Full Tilt continued to serve the US market.
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“We felt that our business model might collide with the legal view of the U.S. authorities,” CSO of PokerStrategy.com Lutz Enke told pokerfuse. “We always took a very cautious approach … we wanted to take a safe route, even if it meant missing out on the largest market.”
“The introduction of our subscription shop changes that.” Instead of only allowing access to content via a point system based on the amount of rake a player would generate through an affiliate agreement, “players can opt to buy one of four different status packages that grant access to comprehensive content and individual services.”
Subscription packages range in price. Available on a three-monthly or annual basis, the basic package is available from $7 per month (“Silver” status), and $30 a month for Gold. But prices rocket up from there: up to a staggering $333 per month for complete access to the premium content.
Why is the Diamond level so expensive? “We chose the price to maintain exclusivity to our Diamond status,” explains Enke. “It grants access not just to more videos and coaching, but to special live events and an individual service.”
Adding the new subscription based options was also in response to requests from the community, says Enke. Some members played higher stakes but did not achieve the volume needed to access the materials at that status level; others who had already signed up through another affiliate “had the choice to either play at their favorite poker room or earn [points to move up levels],” Enke said. “Now, we have an offer to cater to these members.”
PokerStrategy hopes the subscription-based access will improve the quality of their community by increasing its availability to more experienced players – “an important part of the wider poker community,” notes Enke – and by generating additional revenue that can be used to improve its content and services.
