5 Things I would Change About Online Poker Part 3

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

Continuing on with my goal to condense the player pool in an effort to insure that the most popular games and stakes are thriving let me explain another elimination I would make –don’t worry, at the end of this series I will talk about things I want to ADD as well.

Change #3: Eliminate all tables above $10/$20 NL and $50/$100 Limit

I’d even be willing to compromise and bump the maximums to $25/$50 NL and $100/$200 limit, although I’d prefer the slightly lower maximums.

While I’m not interested in taking away anyone’s livelihood we need to keep the player pool contracted, especially in these balkanized markets, and let’s be realistic here; if you are playing $200/$400 Limit Holdem just move to an area where these games are spread live and you can play as high as your heart desires.

Online poker was not meant to create millionaires, and for many years we got by perfectly fine without having high-stakes tables. I’d much rather see a couple dozen $5/$10 and $10/$20 tables running than a handful of $25/$50 and $50/$100 tables with four players sitting out waiting for a fish. All this does is subtract from the $5/$10 and $10/$20 player pools.

Another concern I have with these high-stakes games is the cheating, scamming, hacking, and even organized crime they seem to draw. Once you start talking about tens of thousands dollars changing hands it’s virtually a certainty that criminals will target the players and the industry.

We’ve already seen this happen multiple times, with hackings, cheating rings, robberies, and all manner of crimes being committed against and by high-stakes online poker players.

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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