chat with Lee Jones

[rchandra]

I don't know if he does this often, but Lee Jones was chatting with players at a $1/$2 Omaha/8 table for a while. Talked about music and the site, and some random stuff. He mentioned that razz might be added, and eventually (not for a while) triple-draw 2-7. Mixed games are being very seriously considered, but since people can sit out games they don't like it might only be tourneys.

Wow Stars is awesome.

[Larimani]

[ QUOTE ]
but since people can sit out games they don't like it might only be tourneys.


[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[William]

Maybe Lee will be reading this thread and we can ask for a few things we forgot about in the last one.

-The stats function mixes all the tables you are playing at and of course it is absolutely prehistoric and worthless (and I don't even mention how silly it is when you are multitabling different games). Each table you open should have their own stats.

- Is it really necessary to have to wait 48 hours from your last deposit to be able to withdraw? You guys are always talking about how you do things so much better than Party. Well here there is a something they do way, way better than you.

_And of course, if Aces could hold once in a while, it could be nice....

[TylerD]

Fair enough, say a player likes HOSE but not Razz, if they introduced a HORSE cash game you would probably get a player sitting out every 5th round which is obviously not good.

[stigmata]

There must be a way round this...... Like you have to post a Dead if you just sit out one hand. That would suck when your connection drops though. Any ideas?

[ QUOTE ]
There must be a way round this...... Like you have to post a Dead if you just sit out one hand. That would suck when your connection drops though. Any ideas?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah make the player post blinds during ALL rounds sitting out or not. This should only be in mixed games. Also, if you get up from a mixed game you cannot sit back down for 1 hour at that same table.

[timprov]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There must be a way round this...... Like you have to post a Dead if you just sit out one hand. That would suck when your connection drops though. Any ideas?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah make the player post blinds during ALL rounds sitting out or not. This should only be in mixed games. Also, if you get up from a mixed game you cannot sit back down for 1 hour at that same table.

[/ QUOTE ]

The second idea seems somewhat reasonable, but if they have enough traffic table-hopping becomes too practical no matter what you do.

One solution is making all games in a mixed game ante-based, and not allow sitting out. It would give a little extra flavor to the holdem rounds as well.

[timprov]

[ QUOTE ]
There must be a way round this...... Like you have to post a Dead if you just sit out one hand. That would suck when your connection drops though. Any ideas?

[/ QUOTE ]

Most mixed games switch games on a round-by-round basis, rather than each hand.

[Sciolist]

I don't know if Lee is going to be reading this thread, but I do know that management will if you mail in with your suggestions.

Don't make me look up your AA hands so far this month!

[MarkGritter]

[ QUOTE ]
Mixed games are being very seriously considered, but since people can sit out games they don't like it might only be tourneys.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's really nothing stopping somebody in a B&M from doing this, is there? I can see how online would let the player multitable and continue playing, I guess, but is it the case that a mixed-game player is required to play all rounds?

A fairly simple solution might be to require a player to either leave the table or continue posting blinds and antes for an entire rotation. So, you could hit + run during a Razz round, but if you continued sitting at the table you couldn't avoid paying until the other 3-4 games had each had a round.

Or, you could just give up and let assholes be assholes. It's not like there are no high-stakes tables at Stars for specialists to play at. And we don't try to come up with mechanisms for preventing a Stud player from playing 5 minutes on and 5 minutes off which still ties up a seat for 50% of the time.

[CCx]

[ QUOTE ]
- Is it really necessary to have to wait 48 hours from your last deposit to be able to withdraw? You guys are always talking about how you do things so much better than Party. Well here there is a something they do way, way better than you.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've always wondered the answer to this question too, maybe Lee will read this and shed some light.

Personally it's not a question of not being able to wait the 48 hours, rather like the OP stated, how come other major poker sites offer this convenience, but the arguably best poker site out there does not?

[stigmata]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There must be a way round this...... Like you have to post a Dead if you just sit out one hand. That would suck when your connection drops though. Any ideas?

[/ QUOTE ]

Most mixed games switch games on a round-by-round basis, rather than each hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahhh. Then it's virtually impossible to regulate, because anyone who doesn't play an exact multiple of 45 hands (HORSE, 9 handed) can use this to their advantage. I guess pokerstars has thought of this more than us /images/graemlins/wink.gif

The best solution beyond only having tournaments is to allow private mixed games, that would rule.

[punter11235]

[ QUOTE ]
Any ideas?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would love to see mixed games (HORE and HORSE mainly but anything else would be nice). My ideas for solving this problem :
-When the table is full every player pay 1/2money required for antes/blinds in full round (full round = 4orbits in HORE and 5in HORSE) then all the blinds/antes are posted for 1/2prize (if you sit out or leave you just dont post but your money is not refunded). It can be made 1/3-2/3 if 1/2 is too severe.
-(better one I think) : you normally play can sitout eveyr moment you like and leave every moment you like BUT after any hand you played you would get one "point" for that game. After one hand of holdem you receive one point for holdem, etc. Maximum diffrence between points for diffrent games would be settled for say 50 (should be good enough to never affect players sitting out randomly). If the diffrence reaches this 50 the only solution would be to sitdown in your rarest game next time to gain some points.. Something like that I think it can be improved.

Thoughts ? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Spook]

Actually, 8 handed because of the stud rounds.

In a B&M players can sit out the rounds they do not like - no problem. I don't think this should be too big of a concern online, as the table can be set to automatically boot the player out of the seat after so much inactivity.

[phish]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know if he does this often, but Lee Jones was chatting with players at a $1/$2 Omaha/8 table for a while. Talked about music and the site, and some random stuff. He mentioned that razz might be added, and eventually (not for a while) triple-draw 2-7. Mixed games are being very seriously considered, but since people can sit out games they don't like it might only be tourneys.

Wow Stars is awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

God, I hope they add mixed cash games. One way to get around people sitting out games they don't like is to simply alternate games every hand.

[TylerD]

Ask support if they think this is a good idea. They would get 100s of "but I thought it had switched to Stud/8" emails every day.

[timprov]

[ QUOTE ]

There's really nothing stopping somebody in a B&M from doing this, is there?

[/ QUOTE ]

One big difference in B&M is that mixed games are almost always paid by time. If you have to pay the time charge for Razz anyway, sitting out isn't nearly as beneficial.

[stigmata]

[ QUOTE ]
time charge

[/ QUOTE ]

Could this work? Rake free game. You pay pokerstars for a complete HORSE circuit.

[timprov]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
time charge

[/ QUOTE ]

Could this work? Rake free game. You pay pokerstars for a complete HORSE circuit.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think it would be great, and mixed games are a nice spot to experiment with it. Eventually it might be seen to be superior to the rake model. I certainly hope someone tries charging time online at some point; Stars, with more educated players, seems an ideal choice, but I doubt they'd do it.

[Jeff W]

[ QUOTE ]
God, I hope they add mixed cash games. One way to get around people sitting out games they don't like is to simply alternate games every hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, but how will this work w/ holdem games vs. stud games? Position is determined by dealer button in holdem and by high card in stud. Also, there are antes in stud and blinds in holdem, so there is potential for abuse there as well.

[Fraubump]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
God, I hope they add mixed cash games. One way to get around people sitting out games they don't like is to simply alternate games every hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, but how will this work w/ holdem games vs. stud games? Position is determined by dealer button in holdem and by high card in stud. Also, there are antes in stud and blinds in holdem, so there is potential for abuse there as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

Stud can be played with blinds. You have the blinds for the first round of betting and then switch to best board to determine order of action. It doesn't actually alter the nature of the game that much.

[MicroBob]

Why is everyone so hyper for mixed-games?
just not something that interests me I guess.


If you want to play mixed then just table-hop and create your own 'mixed-game'!!!

I guess it would be kind of fun for a KOTZ event sometime...but otherwise I wouldn't be that attracted to it.


edit - Oh yeah....it's pretty classy of Lee to just show up at a table and chat with some players...receive feedback and suggestions, etc etc.
More sites should have hosts who occasionally do this.

I know that Mike O'Malley would probably say that he would be fine with doing this...except that he doesn't have enough hours in the week as it is and they have so much to work on already.
Well....Stars takes 5 minutes to respond to your e-mail.
Party takes...well...a lot longer (I've e-mailed my VIP-rep 3x since Friday and still haven't heard back).

Simple solution for Party:
Hire more people. You can afford it. There's no excuse for saying you're too busy.
If you don't have enough time to look after your customers (as Stars clearly does) then do something to fix that.


I think the previous thread where Lee responded to various ideas and this thread where someone saw him chatting with players at a 1/2 table shows you the lengths to which Stars is going to satisfy their players/customers.

again....(and this is about the millionth time I've said this)....Well Done Stars.

[stigmata]

[ QUOTE ]
Why is everyone so hyper for mixed-games?
just not something that interests me I guess.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm much more interested in doing it for a bit of fun on occasion rather than as a profit making exercise. Variety is the spice of life, after all....

[rchandra]

[ QUOTE ]
Why is everyone so hyper for mixed-games?
just not something that interests me I guess.


If you want to play mixed then just table-hop and create your own 'mixed-game'!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

This way one gets to play the same people in all games, so you have edges going both ways. I'd much rather have it as tournaments, also letting me get practise for a fixed fee.

[Lee Jones]

No wait - I didn't say that! (that we might deploy mixed games as tournament only)

I remember the conversation at the table. I pointed out my concern about players sitting out certain games in a mixed-game series. Somebody else said "Wouldn't have that problem in tournaments" and I said "Yea, verily" or words to that effect.

We are not close enough to deploying mixed games that I'm yet ready to say if we'd deploy them for cash or not. You folks have (quite intelligently, I thought) pointed out some of the various issues involved.

I know that in the monster mixed games at the Bellagio, it's just considered bad form to sit out, and that counts for something there. That's, regrettably, not true anywhere I'm aware of on the Internet.

Also, the Big Game at the Bellagio often has a mix custom-tailored to the, ah, "generous" players at the table. Which means they're playing the game they want to, which means the Iveys, Greensteins, Harmans, etc. are playing the game they want to. Isn't it great when everybody gets what he/she wants?

As I said, when I see us getting closer to deploying mixed games, I'll give you guys a shout.

Regards, Lee

P.S. R*keb*ck - no. But keep your eyes peeled for an announcement of something Real Soon Now that I think will all but put that issue to bed.

P.P.S. To those of you who complimented us for my hanging at the tables with the players, thank you. It's easily one of my favorite parts of the job.

[excession]

'R*keb*ck - no. But keep your eyes peeled for an announcement of something Real Soon Now that I think will all but put that issue to bed.'

Put the lack of rb on PS to bed?!

Only things I can think of that could possibly do that would be:
1. some form of frequent player bonus that equates ro RB (ie rb by another name)
2. I'd guess reducing the rake?
3. What on earth else would 'put it to bed'? (well maybe giving up on ring games altogether I guess /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[crosse91]

[ QUOTE ]
something Real Soon Now that I t

[/ QUOTE ]
why is this capitalized??

i'm curious....

[Sniper]

[ QUOTE ]
why is this capitalized??

[/ QUOTE ]

Its been noted elsewhere that...
Real Soon Now = likely before the end of the year!

[Lee Jones]

"Real Soon Now", when capitalized, carries a certain caveat. [1] It means that yes, it will probably happen relatively soon, but various business or marketing issues could get in the way and prevent it happening, so don't take it with quite the faith that you would if somebody said "It's going to get dark real soon now."

Best regards,
Lee Jones

PokerStars Poker Room Manager

[1] I can't take credit for the term - it originated with Jerry Pournelle - a sci-fi/technology writer who used to have the closing article in every issue of Byte magazine, around the time that most 2+2er's parents were thinking about conceiving them.

[Exsubmariner]

I hope it comes in the form of frequent player points being tradable for bonus $. That kind of player appreciation would put other sites to shame. Stars is already pretty good at doing that when it comes to customer service and marketing. As a friend of mine likes to say "It would be the cherry on top of the cowgirl."