It used to be that you could select a specific table that you can beat, now you have to select a specific stake level that you can beat. It is a fairer system and will force out people who play artificially higher than their poker skill set allows.

It's a new way of thinking for regular players for sure and I get why some don't like it but it is a fairer system than what we have now and negates some third party software that has a massive net negative on game ecology.

Table selecting is hunting >>> hunting is bad for the online poker ecosystem

It really is that simple in my eyes.

I am not complaining. You are. Like someone wrote before, FTP is trying to go the unibet way but with much better and smoother software and I applaud that. Move your action to PS instead where you can seat select all you want.

yea you're right I can see how seating scripts are intimidating for the recs playing 200nl+ but it really has nothing to do with guys playing outside their skill level, being able to table select is beneficial to anyone who takes their game seriously enough regardless of whether you're a crusher or a marginal winner, though many choose to ignore this potential advantage.

I agree that the new format is a lot better for rec players and may be beneficial in the long run but the whole "cleaner lobby" thing is just to act like there were other goals in mind when discussing the idea. Omitting bumhunters was 95% of the agenda here, the "cleaner lobby" was the other 5%

Great, now I gotta switch to HM2 to get this going again? Was quite happy that it would still work on Stars and FT.
Way to chase the few remaining players out. Oh well, unless the americans are coming back, games are pretty much dead anyway...rip.

Actually, regs getting better is what is bad for the online poker ecosystem. Selection changes nothing beyond that the image is bad and the atmosphere is bad. Fixing the image problem fixes the negative effects on the online poker ecosystem. A bunch of mediocre players getting pushed off the site, not appearing in mtts and other areas they are -ev doesn't help anything. I certainly agree the most intense selecting players contribute the least to the site, but it isn't negative.

The sites ideal reg would be a really weak reg with a tiny winrate. Well this change certainly doesn't make for regs getting worse.

Your not being honest if you can't admit the single biggest issue with the online poker ecosystem is that regs and pro's have continued to get better while new players stay new players and so the experience a new player has now is extremely intense and difficult and they basically cannot win. If they could play easy games that would change but easier said than done.

so what is your complaint exactly?

You state youre one of the biggest winners at your stake, the breakeven regs will die out, means more fish per reg ratio for crushers like yourself.

Fish that were jumping from stud 08 to 100nl hu to jackpot sngs have a better chance of sitting your games while receiving more money in rewards than winning players do, therefore have more cash to spend on your tables.

You play 25nl the way your going on your 2k bread and butter games have been reduced to 200nl tables and you have to move you 100k roll else where.

Think these are good changes. It's a proactive and somewhat experimental move but FTP were in a great position to do so.

I'm intrigued to know if

Do you expect any changes coming to mtt's at all? (Guessing not due to recent schedule changes?)

Do you foresee HUD's being allowed for the foreseeable future on FTP?

my point is that by the time the fish-reg ratio makes up for not being able to table select its probably gonna be over a years time and thats IF it makes up for it and even IF it does it's probably not gonna be that much more profitable then if they just kept it the way things are

huds are allowed...?

Very good work FTP, this is deff good for poker overall, ull hear 1000 of ppl whine and saying BS about this and its all just bec they are lazy bumhunters.

adopt, adapt, improve bitches

More MTT changes will probably happen in the future but I don't expect anything dramatic due to the recent shake-up you mention.

HUD's/Third Party software in general will likely be something that changes but I hope we don't move to a no HUD site because I think that isn't good for the games because it will encourage very tight play imo. I think a simple HUD built into the client is the way forward but that is my personal view.

Shyam did tweet earlier today that HUDs are up for debate at some point.

Some of this might not be so bad, and they needed to do something.

But removing game selection and making reward worse (if true) is horrible. If they at least slightly increased rewards to make up for less tableselecting and predatory behaviour. Right now FTP is the biggest predator here.

They would get more sympathy if they somehow sweetened the pill by giving something from the site to the players, and likely more people supporting their new philosophy by playing there.

I'm more than happy to admit the biggest issue with online poker is the widening skill gap.

Very bad measures, both highstakes reducing and new lobby.
I think it will be zero traffic and if you make this on stars, 888poker could be new leader.

the key thing here is ''if true''. People are guessing about what is going to happen. The way players are rewarded and what for is going to change but that doesn't necessarily mean less rewards.

Please wait to see the other pieces of the puzzle before you jump to conclusions.

could you explain how the rakesystem changed? it seems like small pots @NL400 dont get raked anymore. so is rake now taken based on the potsize or how does it work?

888 has been having disconnection issues for months

This is really stupid of them to do. I hope they see it as a mistake as people like to play HU

Rake at 400 has not changed

Haha, not a chance 888 will become the new leader.

They're a total shambles right now.

It's also worth noting that a different 'reputable' site like PartyPoker introduced segregation silently without the players knowing and that in the current set-up there is no way of knowing that Full Tilt will not eventually do this as well.

Of course, Full Tilt will defend itself saying that it's a perfectly reputable company (obviously proven by removing all kinds of games with little note in advance, unwilling to provide alternatives, etc), but in the end it boils down to simple trust.

Not to mention that Full Tilt closed with everyone's money on it at some point in the past so that we all should question whether trusting any poker site about anything is ever a good idea at all.

Still from FT's perspective I understand literally all the changes... It's the best way to reach a higher deposit -> net-rake ratio and I've long wondered why all sites have been so stupid in 'allowing' poker games that lead to much lower deposit/net-rake ratio's in the past. This is also what they worry about in what their data show about rec's HU play by the way.

And of course, even those recs who solely wanted to play HU will probably mostly move to PokerStars anyway, so they are not lost to Amaya at all.

The only positive for rule-abiding regs I see is that data-mining is being solved on Full Tilt by these changes.

GG

What about other stakes?

Its FTPs fault people are guessing when they dont manage to inform of all changes at once.

People (for good reasons lately renline poker sites) fear the worst.

Will it be less rewards for any player group? Will all get better rewards?

Will the total effective rake go up?

Thats only true because for quite a while you fail to attract new players. In a larger player pool, it wouldnt be such a big issue.
Sure, thats only partly your fault, many markets just fell out, however, you might wanna concentrate your efforts on bringing more players in again, instead of trying cosmetic changes to the look and playing experience. The car (system) is broken, its not gonna be much better with a new paint job.
Merge tables with Stars if need be or buy more competitors.
Also, you are killing the avg regs on the smaller limits with your rake. You know its barely beatable for a huge number of players, who still beat it 2-3 years ago. The bb/100 rake on those limits is robbing the games blind, and you know it.
Your choice: to lick up the last crummies of a dying economy or to revive at least low-med stakes by creating beatable games and attracting new players.
Those changes you did now, wont accomplish that, because thats not the main reason new players arent coming to the site.

I'm sure there will be some teething troubles with the switch to the new model (traffic/liquidity will probably nosedive initially, before recovering strongly in the longer term), but I think it's the right move.
Looks like I've finally got some reasons to make an FTP account.

it seems that you are not informed about all the changes. go ahead and play some 400 rush. for example take this hand. yesterday you had to pay rake in those minraised pots. in this hand i didn´t pay rake. so something did change...


Full Tilt - $4 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

Hero (CO): 113.5 BB
BTN: 60.18 BB
SB: 101 BB
BB: 103 BB
UTG: 129.39 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 8d 8h
fold, Hero raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 1 BB

Flop : (4.5 BB, 2 players) Qd Tc Jh
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn : (4.5 BB, 2 players) 2h
BB checks, Hero checks

River : (4.5 BB, 2 players) 7c
BB checks, Hero checks

Hero shows 8d 8h (One Pair, Eights)
(Pre 81%, Flop 89%, Turn 95%)

BB mucks 3s 3c (One Pair, Threes)
(Pre 19%, Flop 11%, Turn 5%)

Hero wins 4.5 BB