Yoo, show me 1 high stakes game where they have splash the pot? Should I care about some random high stakes game that is televised SPECIFICALLY to entertain. Should we now all suffer??? Entertainment value might be there in those games but to recreate it for normal games, ffs gimma break!!! I'm not looking to be entertained when I play poker, it's different when watching for sure, it could make for some interesting dynamics!!

GG network, that says it all brother! That network is rigged, no wonder they think its a neat idea!

Also I am talking PLO only, not NL. PLO is already very variance heavy, often we see 30-50 buyin downswings multiple times a year, compare that to NL and it's like 20 buyins once a year or w/e. That's without stp, imagine stp, and you can see how it will impact the game of plo.

Also read my posts again, its not just BIG stp's, it's all the small ones as well. Have you played PLO on RIOP?

No. You can allso choose not to play rio. And why do play there? Based on your posts there is not a single thing you like atm.

https://www.runitonce.eu/news/runnin...two-months-in/

I choose to play to support the site, yes it is true that I dislike almost everything about RIOP right now, hopefully things get better from here.

I can't believe that someone like Galfond still does not understand that no crypto = no highstakes. How is that even possible?

i'm sure phil gets it, regulations are the problem

If he does understand it, he certainly hasn't ever acknowledged the issue (in context), which seems weird.

he's addressed it a few times. one time was itt

Exactly the sort of nit who kills games, and should not be paid by any incentive scheme!

A poker winner's business model is selling variance to recs. Low variance has to equal low earnings else the market fails.

So 99% of the poker population?

Every poker site would go bust according to your business model! There just aren't enough recs, they make up such a small amount of the total poker players!

I doubt you have even played PLO on RIOP, until then let the grown ups talk!

As mentioned before, I wonder how many people are in the same boat as me.

I don't want to deposit 600 euros (with exchange rates) to get the full bonus, but would deposit a small amount to try the site out if I could get the full bonus later.

I just updated the client to look at the front end and see just the same two games and not very many people playing.

I'll never deposit until the software is more stable and more games are supported.

I was a games programmer in the 1980s and then was a PC programmer involved in pharmacy software into the 1990s, and then a database based programmer for industrial applications. There is no way that any software that I was involved with would leave with this many reported bugs.

I played a ton of sites back in the boom days, mostly via bonuswhores, and I would guess that 99% of all of the (very few) problems I had were due to my ISP, and not software problems in the client.

You need to get your software team sorted out.

Do you realize what century you are in? Everything has bugs out the ass these days from poker apps to video games to operating systems to random programs. Everything is released in a ****ed up state cuz, in my only guess, is that it's that hard to roll out a live software that won't be buggy.


To me, as a consumer it's super standard. It's annoying as hell but it's life these days and it's no big surprise.

The above post from MikkeD makes a lot of sense and it isn't the first time I've heard this sort of thing said. There are a number of other negative comments on here, and some of them I agree with, and some of them concern me, but not too much because it's not my money invested in the place.

I am thinking about an exchange of ideas I had with Mike Haven on here about eight years ago. He wrote two of the best posts I have read concerning online poker and how things develop. It was on the Yachting Poker thread, and they pretty much got everything wrong and failed.

I have always thought if I were to run a site I would want to get customer service right as my first priority, and try to be honest. I made a withdrawal request recently, received amazing support and very quick service. The money was in my account the next day. They don't treat you with contempt or like you are being a nuisance for wanting your money. That's why I can overlook some of the things I don't like about the place.

Often on forums if someone disagrees with someone else they usually accuse the other of being whingey whiney, or whatever. Basically that means one disagrees with the other. There are so many on here who obviously hate some of the poker sites and the way they are treated. I don't mind people playing and complaining occasionally. I also don't mind people leaving a site then complaining continually on how bad they were treated, but I am not going to have much respect for anyone who clearly hates a place, continues to play there, and then complains continually.

Here is a site that treats people like people, rather than undeserving scum that are not worthy to get their money back without jumping through hoops. I'm on their side because of this, and because I believe PG is trying to build something worthy. A business model that deals with satisfied customers. It's not for everyone and is still in beta. Anyone who hates playing there simply shouldn't play there.

"I played there and I hated it, so I played some more, and found out it really SUCKS, so I played more tables, and it's even worse when you play more tables, because you keep getting disconnected, so I played more tables. I HATE everything about the place, so I played some more so I can come here and continually complain about how awful it is." Yeah right.

I am looking forward to an update that banishes the bugs, and then hopefully we can someday see some mtt's and stt's. I can wait, because my life does not revolve around online poker. For those whose lives do revolve around online poker, there are plenty of places to choose from. Some will eventually filter through to Rio, but it's not life or death, it's just online poker. Get a life.

I would have thought that things should improve as time goes on, not get worse.

Pokerstars is still the best software out there whether you like it or not.

Why would you would accept buggy software? I wrote software years ago that affected peoples lives if I got it wrong (if people had medications that clashed) and and so we had to test it properly before it was sent out.

It is obvious that the software team that is involved is not really up to the job.

I find it sad to say but I think Phil has lost the plot. His software team are taking him for a ride and he thinks the team has produced this great client!

i bet, if the software would be "stable" and more games running, the next complaint (from many - not you in particular) would be, that the games are a reg fest. i don't want this to be a personal attack, but rather take this comment as an example, what's wrong with the mentality of the community, b/c i think this is the problem in a nutshell.

grinders are entitled, and not willing to give up something. always seeking the max EV, b/c it's business, right? idk how many rec fish donation it takes, to 'feed' a reg, but it will takes ages for RIO to grow, if the community is too scared to give up something.

i know, if you grind for a living, you wanna win, and that's okay. but why wait until RIO has grown until you can harvest the crops, instead of just playing w/o any entitlement? i think everyone is waiting for another PS 1.0, and that's a mistake.

again, this isn't against MikkeD - and he made a few good point - but rather a general problem. i don't say put your whole bankroll on an "unstable site" with limited action, but i believe if you donate a few dollars (even it ruins your potential bonus) it's not the worst decision either.

Deposit 600, play few hands, cashout 500 and play one hand in a month (?) and you have 20% waiting for you.

you missed the "exchange rates" part.

I do think once the "marketing" starts and once the bugs get fixed we will see an influx of players, I hope anyway. Like he said, all the small improvements will add up to a more polished site and therefor feel like it's a big improvement over what has been released.

I have been very vocal on here, I am probably Phils harshest critique but believe me I just want him to have a good client that people enjoy playing on.

There are some things that Phil should be implementing straight away, things such as the deposit, if other sites can save you from "exchange fees" then so should RIOP. It's been mentioned already yet Phil has not risen to the occasion. It cost me £20 to deposit 500 Eur, that's around 5%. I assume it will cost as much again if I withdraw.

Do we expect Stars 2.0? Or in fact Stars like it was? Hell no, not yet, but given some time, you'd expect something similar. This is not rocket science here, we have the blueprint, it's simple, yet nobody in the poker world wants to give the players what they deserve, and that seems to include Phil too. Either they have crappy software, or they overcharge in rake, they allow bots or name any other problem, we deal with all of them on a daily basis.

I really thought Phil was going to address all these issues, well at least that's what I would of done! Like how hard can it be to JUST have a simple yet clean and playable client, how hard can it be to have a good VIP program with some added promos every once in a while? People like treats, something extra, I always loved the gadget races that some rooms offered, or a re-deposit bonus, anything really.

Honestly while this Splash the Pot looked good before playing it, I am not convinced it is the way forward. Just wait until you have played it to form an opinion. Some people crying about killing games or nits or what ever...It's just NL, it's not the problem how people play the game, it's the game initself that is the problem.

If you want more action, then play PLO, Limit NL or play short deck. Or even better go play a casino game where you have lots of action but will never win. If you want all action at NL, and are crying because players are not playing your style of game and you can't beat them, then perhaps you have a warped view of NL, you have set unreasonable expectations for your competition. It's not a healthy way to look at the game.

I'n not sure what people are expecting, perhaps they play live NL 200 and see many recreationals or they played in 2007 when every fish came online and expect NL to always be like this?

I'd love that too but it's just not realistic. I am sure that recreationals that like to play poker, still enjoy it even if they are playing "nits", nits are not problem imo, it's the expectation set by a player in my opinion. The golden days are gone for NL, replaced by people who are solving the game, working on their game and bots, yes many of you are probably playing vs nitty bots and you don't even know it.

Not sure why Phil is making this so complicated Stars 1.0 is the blueprint, NOT Unibet!!!!

All this white-knighting with anonymous tables and splash the pot to deter bots or to protect the recreational, really??? Or is really just so you can RAKE more and screw over the pro's???

Why else would you do it. You are making it harder for pro's implementing these things, which in turn will result in more money being raked, which in turn favors YOU!

Splash the pots, is similar to ante's or a straddle, the game plays much larger, especially at PLO, you regularly see 3-6 way allins for 5bb+. That's all RAKE baby, rake that never would of happened without STP.

Guess what, small STP are very regular and guess what these pots get contested constantly, which in turn boosts RAKE! I can see why Phil won't change this, and it's got nothing to do with deterring bots or whatever, all rake baby!!! Rake that wouldn't of existed otherwise!!!

If I subscribe to this site, can I write it off my taxes as a "bad beat"?

There are surprisingly some incisive and intelligent posts on here, that is one of them.

There are thousands of players using huds and programmes all telling them what to do, and all of them expecting a god given right to make a profit. Yes, but there are still some who make a profit online because they are better at analysing the results their programmes give them. What I do when I play live is observe what others are doing, then try to analyse and adapt. Despite this knowledge I am not the best player in the world, or the country, or the county, or my own village, because others are better. I can live with that. If you are trying but failing to make a living with increased rake, collusion, bots and all the other stuff, get a job.

What Phil Galfond and his backers have done is try to level the playing field as far as collusion and bots are concerned. With all the criticism aimed at a number of big name sites, this place is an inspiration, because it is good in it's own right, but as a template for future sites to deal with bots and collusion, I consider it to be a great site already.

Everyone wants things easy. They want to be able to sit on their backsides and watch the money roll in. Some on here would make great CEO's. You have to be able to work at it and if we want change, we should at least be willing to work and contribute a little. Yes it's contributing to PG's pockets, but it's also good for us. That's the whole point, that is why he is accessible and answers questions. That is why he has great customer service and an online community on Discord. They are the building blocks of a great poker site, not something with great looking software run by people who treat you like sh*t.

I only play micro/small stakes for fun now - I guess I am rec who can play a bit in the games I am decent at.

So I might not be the kind of person that RIO is looking for anyway?

I'm not anywhere near being qualified to judge whether a software team is up for a job or not.

Take it FWIT, but a few nights ago me and my wife went out for drinks with some of her friends. A husband of one of them is a software developer with a very impressive silicon valley based resume. There were two other colleagues with him also developers of the same caliber. One of them happened to be a poker enthusiast and of course I brought up RIO. Their collective take was that it's hard to evaluate RIO's software team without knowing what's going on internally. Development delays could be caused by management and other internal company specific dynamics. But the guy familiar with RIOs situation agreed that in his opinion there should have been more progress on the development front.

We are two months into it. I'm perplexed that there haven't been not only any new features added but major new bugs haven't been fixed and HHs still cannot be downloaded.

Maybe that's just how it goes in the development.

But if there is a problem this is a test of Phil's leadership. I'm sure bonds were formed during the prolonged development process and RIO team is on friendly basis for the most part. Which makes it hard for someone like Phil to make drastic personnel changes.

But if there is a problem, I hope Phil is capable of judging that that's the case. Or is willing to tap into independent consulting for help.

And most importantly be a true leader and make necessary personnel changes if needed.

The main thing I’m worried about is the traffic and the potential to grow. The site is currently a beta, so I can deal with the bugs and occasional glitches. RIO has even said that if a glitch costs a player money, they will refund.

Online poker has an uncertain future what with increased rake, less fish, less money in the game in general, bots, solvers, bots/players running solvers in real-time...
The online game needs a White Knight and the hope of a new site to make a difference. RIO is the probably the best we can hope for. So I think we need to give it a chance. At least wait until it’s out of the beta phase.

It doesn't cater to recreationals because there are no spins, hypers, tourneys or marketing.

It doesn't cater to regs because there are no big games, no huds, no tables selection and you have to gamble for your rake back.

Summary: Dead Site

This had the opportunity to be everything that Pokerstars isn't but it's not.

I mean how ****** hard is it just to offer poker where you can make reads on your opponents and where there is decent fair rake.

Recreationals like to make reads on their opponents as well. This random Avator crap is donkey stuff.

They somehow managed to mess it up.