GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 24 - April 2013

By Jeremy Enke As the online poker industry has continued to mature, so has the poker ecology. With the advancements in player technology, as well as the increased skill level of many players, the industry as a whole has been forced to take a closer look at ways to maintain a healthy overall poker ecology. Before we go too much further, however, it’s important to first understand exactly what the “poker ecology” is. The term refers to a balanced (or unbalanced) system in poker of weak losing players (fish) and strong winning players (sharks). Without a fine balance in the poker ecology, a poker room could simply dry up, with the winning players capturing all the money while the losing players lose their bankrolls and quit playing. This has raised a controversial topic in the online poker industry; several online poker rooms have recently been exploring ways in which to maintain a healthier ecology within their own operations. Recently Party Poker came under fire when players on the popular TwoPlusTwo message boards discovered evidence that Party Poker was segregating players based upon skill levels. Depending on players’ individual histories, the losing players were able to see more tables in the poker lobby; whereas long-term winning players were only seeing a limited amount of tables. This practice was essentially segregating and protecting the fish from the sharks. Party Poker did not deny the claim and responded to the players with the following statement in the forums: “We are continually looking for ways to balance our poker room ecology. As we have said before, we are testing various features to make poker a more fun and entertaining game for both new and inexperienced players. Our extensive research shows that new and inexperienced players enjoy the game more and continue playing for longer if in the early stages they play with players of a similar ability; this includes, but is not limited to our welcome lounges. These players are free to play on any table they choose.” When online poker first hit the scene over a decade ago, the term poker ecology was non-existent. Operators gave no real significant thought to the importance of attracting fish versus sharks. The most important thing in these early days was simply acquiring new players and watching the overall rake grow. And in fairness to operators, new players were entering the market by the thousands each day. So worrying about turnover and the poker ecology was somewhat pointless. Fast-forward a decade, and millions of new online poker players later. The poker ecology has rapidly become much more difficult to balance. With the inception of rakeback, multi-tabling, hand history tracking and HUD software, the grinders and long-term winning players have become much more of a threat to the poker ecology. This advanced technology, combined with the slowdown in the U.S. market, as well as limited poker rooms to play at, has rapidly unbalanced the poker ecology. Simply put, the recreational players are greatly outmatched. While players and operators will undoubtedly disagree on an equitable solution to solving the existing problem with the poker ecology, poker affiliates have an interesting position in the debate as they work with both players and operators. We reached out to some of the top poker affiliates in the industry to gather their thoughts on the affiliate’s role in the poker ecology as well as operators practicing segregation. This is what they said: “Most of your ‘good’ players aren’t reading your typical poker strategy websites. Most of their improvement revolves around forums, training videos and peer group chats like Skype, private forums, sweat sessions, etc. I don’t even consider myself a ‘good’ player, but I’ll tell you that once I got to a certain point (by being coached, being a part of said private forums, Skype groups, etc.) that if I ever had a question about a hand or wondered about a certain play, I asked my coaches/peers. I never went to a website. Most aren’t written for better players.” ~Matt Geer The future of the poker ecology – what affiliates have to say The future of the poker ecology – what affiliates have to say 35