Although there may be online encyclopedias that offer information on the world of poker, there are major gaps of information in them. One online poker room is looking to help fill the void with its creation of a poker-specific Wiki.PKR announced the launch of ThePokerWiki this week, a free poker encyclopedia whose goal is to provide the critical information that people might want to know about the game. ThePokerWiki will be built much like Wikipedia was, using information that the general public contributes to the site, meaning that there are a plethora of areas that could be covered. It’s definitely still a work in progress and is just in its infancy.
Anyone can access the site and you’re encouraged to provide information that someone may feel is useful for the further development of ThePokerWiki. Players can write biographies (although it is encouraged that a player writes his or her own bio) and blogs, websites can add informative articles, and poker reps can add details about their individual rooms. The possibilities could be endless as to what ThePokerWiki may become.
While PKR has been at the forefront of starting ThePokerWiki, the poker room is now at the point where it will be turning further development over to the general public. “PKR has worked with a team of writers to get ThePokerWiki up and running, but from now on, our involvement will be very hands-off,” PKR Media Manager Dan Grant stated during the announcement of the new site.
Grant continued, “ThePokerWiki's future is now in the hands of the poker community, who we hope will pick up the baton and contribute content to help create the world's foremost repository for all things related to poker.”
Some in the poker world may think that this is just another avenue for PKR to earn revenue, but that’s not necessarily true right now. A quick overview of the site reveals no affiliate ads for any business, indicating that – like Wikipedia – user donations could be how the site will be funded.
Having been up for only three days, ThePokerWiki’s articles are currently small but expanding. Since the launch on Monday, there have been 123 articles added to the site. ThePokerWiki has the appearance of Wikipedia, with the latest news and information displayed on the main screen along with a list of recently added articles.A particularly interesting feature that ThePokerWiki has is a “random page” selection. After selecting this feature, ThePokerWiki takes you to a random entry on the site. Hitting the selection a few times took this author to such articles as the history of PartyPoker, a biography of 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel, and the complete background of the Aussie Millions from its inception in 1998.
There are drawbacks to some of the information on the site right now, as the site is still young. An entry on the history of the currently dark Full Tilt Poker does not provide any background as to the actions of the company in 2011, when it collapsed. Additionally, there is not a definitive compilation of the aftermath of Black Friday, although several articles do mention the events of April 15th, 2011.
Following the lead of Wikipedia, entries have a reference section to cite the source(s) that contributed information to the overall creation of the article, helping add credibility to each entry.
How successful ThePokerWiki will be depends on the same people who would enjoy it the most, the poker community. If solid information is added to the site, it could be an excellent resource for users. If it devolves into an ashcan of misinformation, however, it probably won’t gain traction as a reputable source.
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