5 Things I would Change About Online Poker Part 2

There is never a shortage of opinions when it comes to improving online poker, and you probably have heard all of the arguments about Anonymous Tables, Tracking Software, and VIP programs. While I have my own opinions on all of these topics and more (there is never a shortage of opinions coming out of me) in this column I’m going to focus on basic changes to online poker; changes that could be made tomorrow by any online poker site.

These changes I am about to propose are for the greater good and not for the benefit of winning players (although these players will benefit down the road) and will likely be laughed at by many of these players who will see these proposed changes as an attack on their livelihood. But I have my reasons and will explain my rationale for each proposed change.

• Change #1: Eliminate All Heads-Up Tables and Short-Handed Tables of Less Than Six Players
• Change #2: Eliminate All Tables with Stakes Lower Than $.05/$.10 NL and $.25/$.50 Limit
• Change #3: Eliminate All Tables with Stakes Above $10/$20 NL and $50/$100 Limit
• Change #4: Eliminate All of the “Trendy” Tournaments and Structures
• Change #5: Allow Deeper Buy-Ins

As I said in Part 1: My goal throughout this series will be to consolidate player pools and increase the long-term liquidity of the game; it is NOT to appease a certain group of players or make everyone happy.

The next few installments will focus on the fact that we need to realize that there is no longer a global player pool that can sustain any number of games at virtually any stakes. We need to keep the player pools robust, and we need to do this by paring down our offerings.

Think of it like an episode of Restaurant Impossible, where the menu is so large that it’s tough to maintain a high quality across the board and it simply confuses most of your customers. So with that in mind let me move on the second change I would implement.

Change #2: Eliminate all tables below $.05/$.10 NL and $.25/$.50 Limit

If you want to play penny limit games to learn the basics then I suggest getting your start at the play money tables. All the online poker sites are doing by spreading these limits is thinning the player pool and allowing players that would be playing higher to get decimated by the rake and act as if they are exercising proper bankroll management. I’ll take on each of these points now:

First, the rake is unbeatable at these stakes, and if it’s not unbeatable it’s crippling to the player.

Second, there is no need to exercise bankroll management when your bankroll is roughly three hours of work at a minimum wage job. This fallacy that bankroll management needs to be exercised at all limits is laughable. Players with $25 or $30 in their account don’t need to worry about bankroll management and play $.01/$.02, just sit in a $10 buy-in game and take a shot.

In 2003 there was no such thing as penny games, at Party Poker you either played $.50/$1 Limit games or you played $25 No Limit, those were the lowest stakes offered for many years, and it never hurt their traffic.

Read Part 1: /blog/5-things-i-would-change-about-online-poker/

Read Part2: /blog/5-things-i-would-change-about-online-poker-part-2/

Read Part 3: /blog/5-things-i-would-change-about-online-poker-part-3/

Read Part 4: /blog/5-things-i-would-change-about-online-poker-part-4/

Read Part 5: /blog/5-things-i-would-change-about-online-poker-part-5/

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