Equivalent EV, Different Streakiness

[RocketManJames]

Hypothetical question I thought about for a bit tonight. Currently, poker is a game where you typically piss away chips slowly, and every so often you win a pot or two that basically jumps you right back up. So, assuming you're a winning player, you will bleed chips and get sudden bursts where you win lots of chips.

What if poker were such that your EV would be exactly the same, except you'd be winning chips very slowly, and every so often you would suddenly lose a large amount. I understand that the game would have to take on some funky rules or a different betting structure to accomplish this.

But, my main question is... how would this change the game? Would poker become more lucrative, since most of the time people end up small winners, and every so often they get slammed for a lot of money? How would this affect most players psychologically?

-RMJ