Will online poker revolutionise B&M

dux · #1 07-07-2003, 01:04 AM

The 'Big Bet' community post made me wonder about the future of Brick and Mortar PL and NL.
Firstly I have to say I have little to no experience with B&M poker rooms, and zero experience with big-bet poker apart from online. But, as far as I know, most live casinos do not have maximum buy ins as such, or to say the least you can bring a very large stack to the table. Subsequently, it is much easier to take all of a bad player's money very quickly, and games die off, because the fish all return back to limit holdem (how is my reasoning so far?).
The explosion of online poker has brought with it an explosion of PL and NL poker with it. Online rooms have a maximum buy in, usually of about 50 or 100 big-blinds (a 25c/50c PL room might have a maximum buy in of $50. This makes the game more accessible to a smaller bankroll.

I guess all I'm asking is does anybody think B&M will offer a lot more NL or PL games, and if so, will the max buy in be used (or reduced)?

Thanks.

TAFKAn · #2 07-07-2003, 03:40 AM

I would be surprised to see max buy ins introduced to live games. But, I think it would be a good idea. Not to protect bad players from losing too much, but to make the game less intimidating to new players.

The idea that bad players get broke too quick in no limit is kind of a myth anyway. (And I am not referring to raw beginners, just bad players. Raw beginners are certainly better off in a limit game. But in a no limit ring game, the "bad" players have hundreds of hours under their belt. They are not helpless, they just have holes in their game. And they can survive quite a long time in the same frustrating manner as the bad limit players).

Greg (FossilMan) · #3 07-07-2003, 01:50 PM

Well, I have heard that my old club, Oceans 11 in San Diego County, has started spreading a 2,3 blind NLH game where the buyin is $100. Exactly $100. That is both the minimum AND the maximum buyin.

If I still lived there I would probably not play in it, unless I was killing time waiting for another game. I wish the buyins online were bigger compared to the blinds, and this game is 1/3 smaller than the typical online maximum.

There are just too few decisions in the game to play well when the stacks are this short. Only about 3 bets/raises and you're all-in.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)