In the week that marks the anniversary of poker’s Black Friday, various players have taken to X/Twitter to share their own personal memories of this seismic event in the history of online poker.
Cole South was a familiar name in the nosebleeds for a decade, before moving into e-commerce. South posted an honest and revealing story about what he did immediately after Black Friday, including both good and bad decisions.
Firstly, South went north, moving to Montreal and doing whatever was needed to establish Canadian residency and cash out his balance. Then, with his regular PLO games no longer available, he cast around for new games and new sites. Unsurprisingly, taking on no-limit draw specialists at their own game did not go well, and his results took a six-figure tumble.
South then zoomed out his focus from the biggest online poker sites and decided to give some others a try, finding softer games where he could continue to play from his new home in Canada. He also started using crypto for online transactions, “battling against dark web drug dealers who had more Bitcoin than they knew what to do with, and no clue how to play cards”.
While acknowledging he didn’t get into crypto as much as he would have liked to, South credits Black Friday for helping him make major changes in his life, ultimately resulting in him leaving the poker world behind. He realized he was burnt out, and was spurred to find a new passion.
Check out South's tweet below for the full, fascinating story.
Jaka, Arieh and more look back
Faraz Jaka was already living somewhat of a ‘poker nomad’ lifestyle, but remembers how many pros were forced to move out of the US to continue their online poker careers. He also shares how he and his friends would wager with IOUs that were fully dependent on “if we got our poker money back”!
Josh Arieh, who was a Full Tilt sponsored pro at the time, tells the hilarious story of how he flew to London to film an episode of ‘Poker After Dark’, only to quickly realize that not only was his trip in vain, but that he’d lost all the money in his FT account. He played nine holes of golf on "a shitty course" by way of consolation.
Canada’s Ben Wilinofsky was fresh from winning the EPT Berlin Main Event, and taking part in a PokerStars press day. After his first media appearance he was told that “everything was canceled”, but remembers how players who had left their desktop clients open were still able to transfer funds and even play until the next software update.
Dan Zack, former WSOP Player of the Year and winner of last month’s PGT $10k 8-Game Mix, shares some honest thoughts about how Black Friday may have ‘saved his life’, forcing him out of a cycle of addiction and depression and helping him take a much-needed break.
Not everyone is able to look back on Black Friday with positive memories, but it’s heartening to know that some were able to take something good from such a dark day. For more on Black Friday, check out the brand new Only Friends podcast below.
What are your memories of Black Friday, assuming you are old enough to have been impacted by it? Let us know your thoughts on the PokerOrg socials.
