5 Things I would Change About Online Poker Part 5

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

We’ve now gotten to the point of this series where I will discuss something I’d like to see ADDED to online poker, and it concerns buy-ins.

Change #5: Allow deeper buy-ins

Besides concentrating the player pools I would also like to see poker start to move away from the current trajectory of being a “solvable” game. One simple way to accomplish this is to allow for a wider range of buy-ins. So instead of the 20BB-100BB stretch I’d like to see these raised to 40BB-250BB.

Let me preface the rest of this article with what I mean by a “solvable” game: I’m not implying that poker is or will become “solved” in the near future, what I mean is that most general scenarios of the game are solved in that there is generally a right line to take.

Now let me get back on topic here.

First off, I want to get rid of short-stackers who are playing a boring, unexploitable style of poker, taking advantage of a loophole in the buy-in amount. Short-stacking is bad for poker, and I’d like to see online poker sites work to eliminate the issue –I will add that I’m fine with someone buying in for 100BB’s, getting stacked, and then buying in for 25BB’s, but your initial buy-in should have to be for 40BB’s or more at every new table.

More importantly, I want the maximum buy-in raised so players can no longer focus on playing against 100BB stacks (which is starting to become a “solved” structure, and now must deal with players with 50BB, 75BB, 100BB, 150BB, and even 250BB stacks, which changes the game considerably.

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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