TLDR: A recreational losing player would like having PTR up and running again. It was fun and it makes him feel more safe playing online. We players should insist that everything is transparent and that we can see all the hands online on some site. PTR was good for poker!
I was/am a losing player but I always liked to look at graphs on PTR, seeing people arguing on PTR, calling each other donk, nit, hit&runners etc.. Yeah, my graph looked very bad but I was still playing and it was fun chasing different badges and arguing (trolling) with people, reading comments etc.
It also made me feel more safe playing online, because there were many people who used PTR to catch Chinese DoN SNG ring, to catch shortstack colluders and softplay between Stoxtrader and his buddies.
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...-tl-dr-757267/
Now poker sites don't show your name and and I refuse to play online because there is no transparency and I don't know if there is a collusion ring ran by some rogue employees. If AbsolutePoker/UB had anonymized names, then we would never know about the cheating that was going on. In a casino everyone can see if you are winning or losing, but these players still come there to play because it is fun. All my friends who are losing players said that it was more fun back in the days, and they miss PTR. They all think that sites are rigged, and that there is a collusion even when there is no foul play. Having PTR and independent people who could investigate the sites and players would make them feel that it is ok to play online. It is not only important that sites are honest, it is important that fish have a feeling that sites are honest. You all know how many threads about rigged sites there are.
Sharskope helps a bit, but some sites do not allow them to show all the data so it is harder to catch another Chinese DoN SNG ring or something like that. In a casino or WSOP we can see the list of people and who won what. The same should be for poker sites so that it is easier for us to catch colluders. Also there are no comments below graphs so it is less social than PTR.
I will never play on anomymized tables because I don't want to experience something like AP/UB scandal.
If you want more fish online, make everything transparent and let the fish have fun. Let them send you a message that you should not bet kk into trup qq! It was fun back in the days when they could write that down on PTR.
Also everyone can see that they lose when they play in a casino but they still come because they don't feel cheated and it is more fun.
Last edited by stecak; 03-28-2019 at 05:58 PM.