Name: A raft of games, formats and tweaks, specifically designed to speed up the game.
Age: Let’s call it a century or so, ever since the invention of Texas hold’em.
Appearance: A whole section of the industry calling the clock.
I love Slow Poker’s videos, what’s the problem? We’re not talking about Slow Poker, we’re talking about slow poker. It’s a complex game that throws up difficult decisions, requires deep thought, and, in the case of tournaments, often involves huge numbers of people gradually playing down to the money over hours, days or even weeks. A lot of us love it but, for certain people, that’s a problem.
People like who? Restless players, for one. Good poker requires patience, attention and calm — these aren’t traits that everyone possesses, especially in a casino environment. Some find the pace of the live game frustrating.
Who else? Industry operators. Live poker takes up a lot of room in a casino, keeps players in place for a long time, and generates a lot less profit than something like slots. Just this week we’ve learned another Las Vegas poker room will be closing for good.
Okay, but isn’t that what online poker is for? Sure, and the introduction of multi-tabling did a lot to redress the balance between what WSOP-winner Tom McEvoy called poker's “hours of boredom and moments of terror”. But in an attention economy there are many who still feel that even that is too much of a time commitment. Big money online tourneys can last multiple days, which is not always a great draw for casual players.
So what’s being done about it? Everything they can think of. You could argue that the invention of hold’em, which is basically a spin-off of 7-card stud, was one of the first attempts to speed things up in the live arena. Then more recently you’ve got the creation of short deck hold’em, an even faster and more action-packed version of the game.
There must be solutions that don’t involve inventing entirely new games? There are shot-clocks to help keep the action moving in live games, but online poker is really where the major innovations have been attempted.
Like what? Fast-fold poker was a literal game-changer when it launched on Full Tilt in 2010 under the name ‘Rush Poker’. As soon as you fold, you’re seated at a new table, with a new hand to play. It was quickly picked up by just about every other operator under a range of different speedy-sounding names, from ‘Zoom’ to ‘fastforward’. It’s a great way to play more hands in less time.
But you still need to play a lot of hands? The next big advance addressed that issue too, as ‘jackpot sit & go’ tourneys became all the rage. French site Winamax launched its ‘Expresso’ format in 2013, 3-handed turbo tournaments with a randomized prizepool that are over in minutes. Again, the other major operators quickly followed suit with their own versions.
And that brings us to now? Oh no, there’s still plenty of energy being spent figuring out how to make poker even faster. For example, ‘all-in or fold’ poker reduces hands to a single decision (you can probably guess what it is), while ‘flip & go’ tournaments shrink a tourney’s runtime by a ton. Everyone gets three hole cards, discards one and flips them over, all-in. Only the winner advances — often straight into the money.
Where’s the skill? There isn’t as much, obviously. Generally speaking, the shorter the game, the less skill is a factor. That's not a plus for everyone, but may be another reason the operators like these fast formats: they help to level the playing field for new and inexperienced players.
Surely there’s something in between a crapshoot and an endurance test? Sounds like you might like the ‘mystery bounty’ tournament format, a development from the past six years or so that runs just like a regular tournament, but with the potential for huge prizes even if you don’t run especially deep. Eliminate a player once you’re past the bubble and you get a mystery prize, which could even be as much as first-place prize money.
So the key to getting people to play more is getting them to play less? Now you’re getting it.
Fascinating, tell me more? No, gotta keep it moving; time is money. Go read another Player Notes: just like a normal article, but quicker to read. Links are below.
Do say: “Clock!”
Don’t say: “Jackpot sit & go tourneys are a great way to get a quick poker hit. I should know, I’ve been playing them for 8 hours straight.”
