Modernizing Internet Poker

To introduce this column, I would like to quote from a portion of the words that knowledgeable columnist Steve Zolotow wrote in the Feb. 27, 2004, issue of Card Player. By doing so, I can both use his eloquence and show that my views have support from a worthy source. Here was his prediction: "The most successful [internet poker] software will be created by someone who realizes that online poker is not an imitation of live poker, but a different, more modern way to play." … "The first ones to make this paradigm shift will seize market share and revolutionize poker as we know it." Right on, Z!

When a new medium comes along, you have to adjust your thinking to take advantage of its strengths. This goes for real life as well as poker. Look at the history of warfare as an example. British military theorists John Fuller and Liddell Hart developed a theory that tanks would be used to launch long-range offensives before foot soldiers could arrive. The tanks would be supported with air power, and infantry that moved in vehicles. Their ideas were ridiculed and rejected by their own country's military. It took the proper adaptation of them by German tank commander Heinz Guderian of creating armored divisions to display optimal use of the tank. After Poland fell to the Germans in World War II in a few weeks, the rest of the world was shocked into understanding the superior way to use tank power. We even had to take a new word into the English language, "blitzkrieg," the German word that meant "lightning warfare."

In poker, there is no blitzkrieg to wake up everybody in one dramatic act. What we do have is lots of new companies entering the world of Internet poker. You can be sure that some of them are going to try out the philosophy of website graphics suggested in this column. Most people who play on the Internet are shoppers in this highly competitive market, and we will see where they choose to shop.

Let's look at some specific areas in which there is a question of whether to mimic the traditional poker way of doing things or make use of the special qualities of the Internet. Playing-card design is a good place to start. A regular card has the rank and suit printed so that it can be read no matter which way it falls on the table, or whichever way you put it in your hand. But for Internet poker, printing on the bottom part of the cards is of use only to a yoga practitioner who wants to play online in front of his computer screen while hanging upside down from a bar affixed to the ceiling – hardly a large enough group to merit receiving special treatment. So, there is nothing of practical value gained by using the traditional card design, other than making the player "feel like he is in a regular game." Is there any harm? Yes. When the bottom is cut off and the card is increased in size, the print is larger, so it is easier to read. If you go traditional, you lose ease of visibility. Some virtual cardrooms use the traditional card design, and others a card design specially designed for the Internet. As you can tell from my introductory comments, I strongly support the latter group.

Who deals the cards on an Internet poker site? For sure, it's not that icon that sits behind a display of a chip rack. Some websites use a picture of a dealer sitting behind a chip rack in the top center of the table, whereas others simply have an empty rack. Why use these images? Evidently, the purpose is to "give the look and feel of a regular cardroom." I would be willing to bet that more than half the poker players who play online have never even been inside a regular cardroom!

In the virtual world, space is at a premium when talking about the inside of a window that shows on your monitor screen. A window that is small enough to fill only a quarter of the screen is much better for playing in several games at once than is a screen-hog. Function buttons can be made bigger if room is available. That area taken up by the dealer and/or chip rack can be used for an extra player, a control panel that enables you to buy chips instantly (so you do not get dealt out the next hand when going broke), or many other useful purposes.

Should the poker be played with a group of players sitting in chairs around a card table? That would be nice – if those were your opponents. Of course, they're not. That sweet-looking blonde with a smidgen of décolletage may well be a middle-aged man from Brazil or China. That handsome young man could be someone's grandmother. The whole scene is a bit too far removed from reality for my tastes. Once again, the space for those figures can more profitably be put to other functions.

There are lots of new people coming onto the poker scene. Most of them are not yearning for a virtual cardroom that closely resembles a real cardroom. They are young and flexible-minded, and have little or no experience playing public cardroom poker. Whoever caters to their needs and desires by having superior functional graphic designs is going to have a large and steadily growing customer base. And as we know, it is more fun to play with the newer poker opponents – and more profitable.

I am well aware that quite a few people like the traditional look, and established poker websites are doing well with it. I do not suggest that these websites do away with their present graphics. Rather, I think they are well-advised to offer the player an option of which type of layout to play with – traditional or modern. You presently have the option on many websites to play with a two-color or four-color deck. Give players an option regarding some of the other features I have discussed. That way, you will keep current players and attract new players.

In my lifetime of playing games, I have seen a lot of conflict between art and practicality. My tastes are pragmatic. I do not like to play chess with pieces that resemble a brigade of King Arthur's knights. I do not like to play bridge with cards that have Picasso paintings on their backs. Rather, I believe that art should be subservient to functionality, at least in the world of game playing.

I do admire beauty, but it is the kind of beauty that is derived by a design beautifully crafted for the purpose for which it is used. That extended cross on the top of a chess king's head is liable to break if the piece falls on the floor. If we give him a round head, he won't get injured. For chess pieces that are in a glass case to be admired, let the art flow. But if they are to be used for playing the game, let them be suited for that purpose. The same applies to poker. If I am to watch a display of poker playing, that is one thing; if I am actually going to play in the game, it is another. I want to play with graphics that are the most practical, not the ones that are the prettiest or the most nostalgic. It does not take long for the mind to adjust to the difference in appearance – and to find beauty in functional efficiency.

Editor's note: Bob Ciaffone's latest book is Middle Limit Holdem Poker (332 pages, $25 plus $9.95 shipping and handling), co-authored with Jim Brier. This work and his other poker books, Pot-limit and No-limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Holdem Poker, can be ordered through Card Player. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons. E-mail [email protected] or call (989) 792-0884. His website is www.pokercoach.us, where you can download Robert's Rules of Poker for free. On the Internet, he is an "expert" on RoyalVegasPoker.com and an affiliate of PartyPoker.com.