Clash of the Poker Training Websites?

The ever-competitive industry of Poker Training websites just got a little bit more, well….competitive.

An announcement was released this morning through several poker media outlets that revealed that CardRunners and Stox Poker would be merging their companies together to form one of the biggest alliances the poker training market has ever seen.

CardRunner co-founder Taylor Caby was delighted about the decisions to combine the two, saying he was “…delighted to add breadth and depth to our poker training resources while delivering a decisive competitive advantage to more than 14,000 members.”  He went on to say that “members now have two separate platforms to choose from as well as a no-sign up fee option which many customers have requested.  Whether you are new to poker or playing nose-bleed stakes, we’ll make sure you’re ready with the top resources behind you.”

Both sites will still operate on their respected web brands, but both will be making sure to cater to each specific market in the poker training niche.  For example, a lot of the low stakes and mid-stakes games will still be handled with a more hands-on approach with Stox Poker, while the more advanced games and higher stakes will be taught by the CardRunners team, who as many of you all know are all Full Tilt Red Pros. The big kicker out of this alliance is that both sites will be waiving their $99 signup fee for new clients, as well as give a significant discount on their montly fees.

The merge of the two mega training websites might affect how other big sites like PokerPwnage and Real Poker Training might handle their own business.  Both of those sites have some of the best teachers in the game today, and both offer significant advantages over a lot of other similar places - however, it will be interesting to see if any similar moves might be made by either of those to keep things fresh and affordable for its customers.