Problem #1: Table blocking in 6max.

Table blocking is the practice of sitting into 6max or fullring tables (primarily at high stakes) with no intention of playing until a perceived fish sits in. This insures the bumhunter gets a seat at any table in the lobby a fish sits at without having to play any hands versus another regular or work to start a table. A further part of this practice is filling a table up completely with all or all but one player sitting out in order to deny other bumhunters the opportunity to secure a seat at a table a fish might sit at. This practice also makes it difficult to start games as there may be no open seats on the table for two game-starters to play in.

The poll options here will be as follows:

(1): No change
-This means that either a) the current system is better than any proposed change, or b) it isn't a problem in the first place.

(2): 'Sit out one, sit out all'
- This means changing the client such that sitting out on one table makes the player sit out on all tables.
-I want to note a potential problem with this solution is dealing with timing out on various tables.

(3): '2 min, 5 min Timer Rule'
-Give each player a two minute timer to sit out on a non hu table where there is no action. After this the player cannot sit at the table for 5 minutes. If they sit in for < 2 min and then leave and sit in again their timer picks up where it left off from before.

Force players to auto-post when they sit, and if you leave a table before X hands are played, you have to pay your opponent 2bb's.

Scansion.... stop pulling these arbitrary numbers out of thin air. Nothing about the pay your opponent rule makes sense and it will only confuse players about the software.

it's already kind of fixed.

http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/room/policies/ring/


The rules just lack enforcement. lots of HSLHE people are actively reporting people who are snap-sitting out when fish sit out and remain at the table since it's apparently against stars rules. the rule just, as i mentioned, lacks enforcement and therefore is useless ( and makes people who try to follow the rules lose money since they get button'd constantly.)

further reading: HSLHE thread discussing it http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/18...l#post30374308

true its fixed imo. look at other sites like ipoker or party. there is a lot blocking going on and stars nearly eliminated it throgh their rules.

I think it should be more like 2 min, 20 min people should just be sitting down at tables they want to play at.

A player should only be allowed to sit out when no action is present for a given time period (the average time it takes 3 orbits for the given game), the player should then be removed from that table for a reasonable amount of time like listed above, but I do think using the avg time 3 orbits takes at that game would be a good number to go off.

Also, what if Pokerstars had a "Poker Room Manager" who's job would be to oversee the higher stake games running and would have the ability to pull these people sitting out off the table if it is clogging the games up. Pokerstars proved they have the ability to do this during the attemped protest a month back.

I do think on the subject of excessively long waitlist a player should have a cap of some sort as to how many waitlist they can join, perhaps it could be like a sliding scale between 0 and 36 for total tables a player is sat at and total waitlist he can join; so if a player is on 0 tables he can join 36 waitlist, if player is on 12 tables he can join 24 waitlist, and if he is on 24 tables he can join up to 12 waitlist. This would cause the waitlist to be well shorter while still allowing the mass tablers to get on 24 tables quickly.

+1

sit out one sit out all seems like a very obvious solution to this issue

Can someone explain to me, how in the world can a fish sit onto a table if every seat is occupied by a bumhunter that is sitting out?

+1

Sit out one sit out all is dumb and will never be implemented. There are perfectly reasonable situations in which someone wants to sit out at one of their tables.

The only issue is when hands aren't being played at the table at all (otherwise ppl get booted after an orbit or 2 anyway right?)

Care to share what those situations may be? I understand if you are on a ton of tables or something but If you have a couple minute buffer time to get yourself sorted it shouldn't be an issue. I've been playing online poker for 6 years now and I can't remember a single time where I absolutely needed to sit out at one table while playing others. I could be wrong, though.

for instance?

For "sit out one = sit out all," wouldn't a "sit out next BB all tables" button solve most potential problems?

I too would like to hear what situations cowpig (and others) have in mind.