qft

There are obviously going to be people who don't like some or maybe even all of the changes, that is always going to be the case when you have a major shake-up.

I for one am with you, I think overall these are good changes and they are just one piece of the puzzle like I said before. There is some really cool stuff on the horizon.

There are ways to reduce the feeling of being hunted without such dramatic changes. What people fail to realize is a game that runs between 5 run of the mill bumhunter and a recreational player is likely a BETTER game for the recreational player than what this lobby incentives. Recreational players now only will get to play the best players on the site at their game/stake. Period.

The problem with bumhunters and bumhunting is how bad it is for the environment and atmosphere on the site and that I am sure we all agree with. The problem is NOT bumhunters playing recreational players itself. That's better for recreational players than the alternative. This change makes games harder. Not softer. That is a bad thing. A lot of bumhunters are pretty weak players and only eek out positive winrates playing horrible players. The regs that will last in the lobby now will be extremely strong players and recreational players will get destroyed at even worse lose rates.

There are ways to clean the lobby without anything else changing and that is preferable to removing table offerings that made new players enjoy and deposit to play.

Since you work for FTP, I think you should make clear where you are coming from here. Kind of unsurprising you agree with changes when you represent the company making them.

I think this is important - they are trying some new things and FT has never been a company that is scared to try new things and if they don't work they try something else.

I like that mentality and of course sometimes it means you make mistakes but sometimes you re-shape the entire industry e.g. Rush Poker

could it be possible that ftp is the lab rat for stars?

If sites can emulate some of what bovada is doing that good for everyone involved. I don't see why any reg wouldn't want that game quality.

You can never get rid of the best players from a site because they don't need rakeback or to hunt to win.

By forcing out hunters you adjust the ratio of winning to losing players and that creates a healthier eco-system and increases the likelihood of tables with more than 1 rec player.

insideman - your scenario where only the best are left playing as all weaker regs will leave would be good for recs, DUCY?

I agree. Nice update FTP.

Last I checked Bovada has HU tables.

As someone who doesn't really play at FTP anymore, these changes don't affect me much. I'm just surprised to see a major site make such drastic changes. It's a bold move, and I'm curious to see how it works out.

What really surprises me is that it seems FTP is transitioning into becoming the exact opposite of what it used to be. FTP was the site where the railbirds could watch nosebleed stakes, people would battle HU4rollz, and where you could 'play with the pros'. Even up until recently FTP was represented by baller degenerates like Blom/Dwan/Hansen.

I'm not saying the changes are bad, necessarily. It's just that based on its image, and how it was markted in the past, you'd think FTP would be the last site to implement changes like these.

Actually, no, I don't see. The main segment of bumhunters that are going to be driven out are the worst skilled regs on the site. The average reg quality will go up AND there are still far too many regs for you to actually think there will be tables running with a bunch of recs at it more than once in a blue moon.

I think this has been a good move by FTP.

Sure, HU players are disappointed and I understand why but they have adopted the Unibet Poker model which has been applauded my many but they're doing it on a much better piece of software and I expect that their ring game traffic won't decrease because of it.

My guess is that most sites will eventually use this model, or an adaptation of it, so folks better get used to it, or find something else to do with their time.

I hope it works out for them.

Really disappointed with the changes, as a player who only plays HU this means I won't be playing any hands there anymore.

Why is KOTH working for PS, but wouldn't work for FTP?

You've now gone from 'only the best will be left' to 'only the very worst will leave'.

The average reg quality may go up, it's impossible to say which regs will stay and which will leave yet really. The main issue with online poker was that it would almost always be 1 rec vs. 5 regs in the past (seating-scripts) and this is now FAR less likely to happen as a result of these changes. That alone makes if difficult to argue against these changes benefitting recreational players.

Again, you just sound like someone who is upset because these changes affect you personally. That itself is entirely understandable, nobody likes losing $$$, but your argument of this being bad for recs doesn't really hold up.

On the face of it I'm quite happy with the changes.

Heads up is absolute aids for a poker site and I'm surprised it's lasted this long.
35bb increased to 40bb is a start. It needs to be increased more though. Literally no need for it to be less than 50bb.
No ratholing for two hours is nice too.

Six table max at any stake though will need to be reflected in the new vip programme. You can't have the same rewards for six tables as you would sixteen tables.

So yea maybe this MIGHT be a good longterm plan so if it works for ftp then kudos to them, but it will probably take quite awhile until the reg-fish ratio makes up for the decrease in rakeback (rewards program) and the fact that you can no longer table select. So for those looking to make money from poker (cash games) ftp probably isn't the place to be for the next year or so.

As for the whole rewards program thing this is just a way for them to make more money imo and with this specific topic I doubt they have the players in mind. Majority of rec players know nothing about how their rewards program even works and they just play for the "love of the game".

Also the whole casino thing was a bad move for ftp poker games, I won't be surprised if they start hosting sports betting next year.

There are plenty of players on 2+2 posting great graphs from zoom/rush games with no seat selection. You have to be good at poker though.

Removing heads up completly and all stakes above 10/20$ and calling it rec friendly. Thats a very clever way to describe a money grab.

Heads up the rec gets destroyed to fast for FTP and they don't rake enough. Everything above 10/20$ just sucks for a site since a rec is losing his money way to quick to rake enough from it.

How would you describe your casino, a great way to get new players to FTP and enjoy even more great products on our platform. Also interesting that the max bet in a single hand in the casino is 2.5k$ and a max buy in on a poker table is now 2k$... For a second I would think you might have a total other goal than being rec friendly.


If you weren't the ambassodor of FTP I would say solid troll post.

Care to give reasons why you think this ? There are enough players out there who simply like HU cash more than other forms of poker. That alone should be plenty of incentive for any site to offer it.

I don't understand why 3 people are required for a game to start. If I'm sitting at an unpopular stake and someone wants to play, the game should start but it doesn't. So if it's a rec player, he see's someone sitting, joins, game doesn't start and he leaves. Site loses, I lose, rec loses. Why this terrible feature?

Cant filter cash game lobby, cant see who is sitting/playing where as zoom/rush you do, cant start table HU

The lobby looks pitiful now, even to recreational players. They like to select individual tables too, you know. It looks like all the action has died (well, it actually did anyway), but at least with individual tables it still looked like there was some action going. Now you cant even railbird other games, am i seeing that right?

Just look at the player numbers, its a joke, this way you never get tables starting. At least with regular individual tables, you could sit with 1 other player and start a table, no more now.
Also HM doesnt work anymore, the hands are being read, but no HUD is showing. Is that intentional?
Please take back those changes asap, before games are officially dead.

I have one of the highest winrates at my stakes on ftp, explain to me whats wrong with seat selection, I'm looking out for my best interests as is everyone else including the site I play on. I hate shortstackers but the reason they shortstack is cause they accept the fact that they're sh*t and its what is the most benificial for them. It pisses me off when I see people complaining about why people are trying to increase their profits

and yea thats a good point that panem has, many rec players like playing against players they've played with before or they enjoy a social element in their game and wanna talk with their "buddies", I agree that the new lobby is still better for rec players but I honestly don't see what was wrong with the basic view lobby. I really want someone from ftp to explain that to me, the basic view lobby was as straightforward as it can get, anyone with a brain could figure it out

HUD issues will be temporary until HM and PT get a patch out.