Quote:
Originally Posted by Two SHAE
There are two lobby views. The other is the normal one.
It's been a few years since I went to NJ and played on the site, but I was under the impression that you couldn't see who was sitting at a table in any of the lobby views, is this incorrect? Regardless, that is what needs to happen to keep cash games healthy. While I personally prefer being able to table select for my own benefit, I can see why it needs to go away. I can't imagine with this many years of data that the casino backed US facing sites wouldn't be smart enough to at least limit what you're describing as much as they possibly can.
Of course the money is going to filter to the top regs who have been continually grinding since BF, but I think you're seriously underestimating the amount of people who would play poker online if they thought it was safe and legal.
The majority of time when I tell people I play online the first question I get is "Isn't that illegal?" and the 2nd is "What sites can you even play on?". The average recreational has no idea that online poker is still as big as it is in America. A lot of the ones that do know aren't willing to jump through the hoops of depositing/withdrawing and fear FTP 2.0 is destined to happen on these sites.
With legit sites to play on, heavy advertising, and easy deposit/withdraw options online poker in America has a pretty long shelf life as long as the operators take the proper precautions to deter scripting, bum hunting, collusion, real time assistance software, etc. If it is explicitly illegal to do nefarious things and it's enforced, that will deter the majority from doing it. You'll never stop it entirely, but if it's not being done in mass that gives the sites a lot more time to find the ones breaking the rules.