Regulation won't fix poker. Getting rid of HUDs won't fix poker. Limiting tables, being friendlier to "fun players," segregating player pools, improving its reputation as a game of skill -- none of these will fix poker. And contrary to popular belief, reducing or eliminating the rake won't fix poker (not in the long run anyways).

New variations of poker that are simple, fun and easy to play and nearly impossible to [even approximately] solve will fix poker. Let's come up with some ideas.

And heres me thinking the future of poker is mother****ing spin & gos

I would say we need to enter better economic times to fix poker, there is little disposable income vs previous era's. If we get some lasting inflation we see it immediately in growth of poker.

Agree in theory but I fear there may be an inherent contradiction here.

ive got all kind of fun games, sadly they aren't offered online

3 5 7
buck-up
chicago
acey-ducy
5 & 1/2, 21 & 1/2.......

beat me to it.

of course its geeks on a cube playing HoldemX

op isn't wrong.

but the game he is looking for probably doesn't get played with a 52 card deck.

Don't think new games is the answer. I think out of the things OP mentioned a form of segregation and table limiting and software banning can get poker "healthy" again

And by healthy.... I mean so a rec player can jump on with a beer in hand and know they will get a fun chatty gambly experience that they actually have a chance on winning in.

The main obstacle to this is the armies of silent nitty mass tabling pros who are the cancer on the game which will kill it. So reduce as much incentives as possible for the grinders and it has a shot at surviving.

Maybe withdraw penalties/tax/delays

Max cash outs ceiling then ban for the remainder of the year

More transparency with govt depts so the scummy tax dodging ones are under more scrutiny

The sites where i play could be regulated in a way that anyone making anything illegal will have to answer to law, not just to the site, and of course, my money and fair gaming should be secured. Limiting the number of tables to four is a major improvement.

"fix" poker? What's wrong with it?

90% of people still play Holdem refuse to try PLO. I don't think ANOTHER brand new variation of poker that nobody has ever played is going to cause a poker boom. Poker revolves around rec players. Those players know how to play holdem and have played it for years. They are not going to wake up one day and say "im done with holdem, let me play _____ from now on."

Your post and theory are turrible.

At the same time, though, they only know Hold'em because the media only gives them Hold'em, they can learn the rules and basic strategy of Hold'em by watching TV or maybe a couple of movies (including one of the most acclaimed James Bond movies of all time) but you have to actively research the rules and basic strategy for Omaha and Stud. We saw proof of that when JCarver live streamed his third place Stud8 win in the WCOOP and the Stud traffic rose in Stars. If ESPN televised the The Poker Player's Championship the same way they do for the Main Event, then Poker would be in a much better shape than it is now. It wouldn't depend on the boring AF NLH ecosystem to survive.

What Poker needs is a media push for Mix games. Jason Sommerville streaming Mix games every now and then is a good start, but we need the WSOP and EPT to make a similar push.

Personally I think Stud is better for audiences, as the extra bit of information makes it more exciting, even without hole cards. But maybe I'm biased.

I invented a hu game called Warr . You deal 26 cards to each player. Then the players turn over cards , simultaneously, one at a time. We will call these Batttles. High card wins each batttle. These won cards are returned to the bottom of the winners "deckk". The winner's own card first, then followed by the loser's card.

The players keep playing until one player has all the cards. I am still hashing out the betting but there will be multiple tiers.

I know this sounds like a very complex game but once people get their 10k hours in it should really start feeling familar. I think this could fuel a worldwide boom from 2025-2030.

Thoughts?

If it can be successfully televised, that is all that matters from a marketing standpoint. In theory 5 card PLO should be the favorite game, but it's not because in reality it's a more advanced game. NLHE was the ultimate balance between easy to grasp but virtually impossible to master so it became the most popular. If we can find a similar variant and push it during prosperous economic times we might see a boom.

Clearly, what poker needs is more threads about what poker needs.

Frankly I don't see what makes NLH any more easier to grasp than Stud Hi or PLO. IMO, It became the most popular because it had the most exposure in the years preboom, and it had that type of exposure because it was Doyle Brunson's favorite game and Super System sold really well.

If you're not a part of the solution you're a part of the problem!

I'm not sure if you're serious or not, but either way you have a point. My snarkily sarcastic post, born our of frustration at all of the threads we get on the same topic, probably didn't help OP, so I'll try to be part of the solution now.

OP, I think you've made a mistake starting this thread. It's a mistake commonly made on forums, especially here in NVG. The topic at hand has been discussed many, many, many times, in a number of threads. The problem with this is that rather than building upon previous discussions, we end up repeating many of the same points that have been made before, and usually not hitting all of the good ones, so each thread has a large percentage of the same content, and a little bit that is unique. A much better approach would be to search through existing threads, and try to advance an ongoing discussion.

That's my opinion, anyway. Or, to paraphrase a wise fictional character - that's just, like, my opinion, man.

Your humble servant,

Bobo Fett

If that's the case (I'm a newbie here) I think it would be helpful to have a ''How to Fix Poker'' mega thread or to stick one (maybe this one) to the first page in order for it to be more easy to find and add to the topic.

Lol I played this game when I was a kid, and the name is identical, so I don't think you invented it.

Live PLO

Economical upswing for the middle class is the only thing that can give poker some sort of resurrection.

Bernie for president and there will be loads of people with a little bit more money, and some of them will play poker with that money.

Subscription based sites without rake. It would of course be hard to get recs to these sites, but I think it would be interesting for regs. Th games might be a bit tougher, but you wouldn't need a huge edge to be profitable.

Pl Soko soars in popularity.