Why Party Blackjack is Wrong

[Bosox]

You might think that this is a post about me tilting away my bankroll at blackjack. This is not so. I am writing because I am pissed off at what party blackjack is doing to my poker game and the status of partypoker itself.

Blackjack is not a bad thing. Going to casinos to play or even playing online has its cocaine-like advantages. I love the game. The problem is that when Partypoker decided to include blackjack in with their main poker program, they have done damage to the dynamics of their poker room. This is the problem:

We poker players recognise that playing anywhere other than our own homes will require some sort of cost in the form of rake. That is generally accepted, and small enough to be little more than an inconvenience. Despite this, poker is for the *most* part a zero sum game for us. When one fish goes on tilt and blows his bankroll, the rest of us are right there to scoop it up and that's mostly how we make our living (not playing against other good players). This isn't really news to you.

The problem comes when you add blackjack to the equation. Blackjack is a black hole of fish money. Now, when something clicks inside the addicted gambler or fish on tilt's head that makes him go crazy and decide to lose half his role, the path of his money to us is blocked. Sure, he can try and take his shot at 5/10 or 10/20 against the pros where he would have to play for hours to tilt up a reasonable sum. But why do that when he can just throw it all down on blackjack and burn it up in three and a half minutes? Partypoker wins again, and instead of the fish's money going to the deserving sharks he feeds, it is sucked out of the system but the now not-so-insignificant establishment.

Again, I am not against blackjack or online casinos - if you want to get your gambling fix (and i do from time to time) that's allright with me. What really pisses me off is that by partypoker including the casino features within the poker program, they have robbed the successful players of a significant portion of their income by sucking out the tilt money that would have trickled up to us eventually.

No longer is the establishment a necesary evil skimming a little bit off the top each time. Now, in their greed, partypoker has robbed us of our best source of income and in doing so, marred the once pure arena of texas holdem.