An apology to Party Poker re"Steps"

[slavic]

As many of you know I was extremely critical of the "Steps" tourneys and the devistating rake that this has created for the average "Steps" player. Certainly the rake hasn't changed but the one thing that the steps have done is made it easier for new players to play significant numbers of hands for a relativly low entry fee. It is not unreasonable to have a learning payer play for weeks on a $5+1 entry into the mini-steps and thus lowers the cost of tuition into sit-n-go tourneys. Yes I realise that the payout is very flat and that decent players should not really waste their time, but then again isn't that what a newer player needs?

As for the rest of us who aren't tourney focused, I have to acknowledge that most new players are going to be drawn to SNG's and that only later will they mature into the ring games and MTT's. So while I use to think of this as a pure fleecing of the fish, I have to admit that it does more good than harm.

Thanks for allowing me to eat my hat.
-Slavic