Resolutions For The Poker World

I’m not really a resolutions person. I never have been. In my younger years, I thought resolutions were silly because I didn’t really understand why the calendar changing from one day to the next, signifying a new year would mean that I should change something major about myself. Why not just continue to try being a good person?

When my wife and I got together, however, she would always create goals for the new year and review her goals from the year before. It was a way of looking back at the previous year and looking forward to the new year to see how her hard work was paying off. I started to join in this activity and it helped me to focus on what was important to me at different points in my life. It’s not that much different from a resolution, but goals seem more practical to me. They’re clear, they have defined steps, and they are easy to tell when they’ve been reached. I don’t feel like I can create goals with defined steps for someone else or a group of people, so I’m going to have to settle for resolutions for the poker world.

1. Big Blind Ante As The Norm In Tournaments

2018 will be marked as the year when the big blind ante busted onto the scene. Instead of everyone anteing each hand, only the big blind does in this format and it’s so much nicer for the players and the dealer. Before 2018, big blind ante was prevalent in high rollers and super high rollers but not much else. Last year, it trickled down to some World Series of Poker tournaments and some other events throughout the year. This year, I’m hoping that it becomes the norm in tournaments throughout the world. It’s vastly superior to the old format. So much so that I wonder why it took so long for such a simple advancement to be made.

There will still be a few things that need to be standardized (like ante first or blind first, and whether to reduce the ante at final tables) and there are perhaps a few dissenters still around, some of them with extremely loud voices, but overall, it seems like it’s here to stay and I’d like to see it in tournaments from local casino $20 nightlies to the WPT, WSOP, EPT, and any other multi-initial poker tournaments there are. In fact, I think it’s even more important in the smaller tournaments where things are less formal because it leaves less room for mistakes and accusations. If the ante is missing, we know who didn’t put it in. Plain and simple, no problems. So tournament directors, let’s see it everywhere!

2. Competition Driving Incentives For Players

For a long time, you had the WSOP, the WPT, and the EPT and not much else. Now, there are tours at all different stakes and the new old friend Party Poker has come along to drive some competition with big guarantees and big prize pools. Seemingly as a response, PokerStars introduced the Poker Stars Players Championship, a $25,000 buy-in tournament guaranteeing $8 million, adding $1 million to first place, and giving away 300 seats.

I hope that these types of incentives become more widespread in the poker world. Competition in this industry is always good for the players. It drives rake down, incentives and givebacks up, and attracts new players to the pool. All of these things are good for professionals, enthusiasts, and recreational players alike. The more the sites and tours are competing for your business, the more you benefit and as long as one group doesn’t get a monopoly on one aspect of the business again, that competition should continue.

3. More Exposure To Different Games

With three kids aged six and under, I don’t play that many tournaments anymore so the above two resolutions aren’t really a huge impact on my life. This one, however, is a little selfish. I almost never play hold‘em anymore. The more people that are playing non-hold‘em games, the better for me. So, I’d like to see all of the tours offer more non-hold’em games in their tournaments. The WSOP has done a great job of this lately and the L.A. Poker Classic is always offering innovative games and formats. The more of these there are, the more likely someone is to find a new game that they enjoy and the larger the player pool gets for the games that I like to play. Hold’em is fine, but in my opinion, it’s boring compared to lots of other games and I’d like to see an opportunity for people who wouldn’t usually be exposed to the games to have a chance to play them in a reduced-risk environment like a tournament.

I recognize that all of these resolutions are tournament focused. That’s really the only format where industry-wide resolutions can actually come to fruition. Because they travel from casino to casino using their policies, tournament tours are leading the teaching and innovation across the country and the world, and it’s where new things are learned by the largest groups of people. Here’s to a great and profitable 2019! ♠

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG