GGPoker Makes High-Stakes Games Invitation OnlyOnline Poker Site Draws Criticism From Pro Players |
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Looking for some high-stakes cash game action at GGPoker? It will help to know someone, according to recent reports.
The online poker site, which recently completed a purchase of the WSOP, has decided that all games above $10-$20 will now be run by private hosts and are invitation-only affairs. Players must now first contact a host to be approved and seated in one of the games.
Why would an online site want to limit who plays in their biggest games? It’s the same reason why high-stakes live games have become more privatized in recent years. Simply put, the sharks eat the fish, and when there too many sharks, the fish get eaten too quickly. And the feeding frenzy gets amplified when you replace the fish with a whale.
When professionals are lining up to play against certain wealthy, high-stakes amateurs, it can often be bad for the game. And if the game is bad, it doesn’t run. And if the game isn’t running, the operator isn’t happy.
Players Criticize The Move
A GGPoker representative has stated that the change came at the request of high-stakes players, however the move was not received well by others. Posters at the TwoPlusTwo forums said that GG is acting as a monopoly by limiting the opportunities for anyone to play at higher stakes.
“Now they are making a shift to not even allow the regs a chance in the first place, funneling any pros who still want to or are forced to play on their site into lower stakes that are raked even more and being able to have full control over recreational players on their site and where their money goes,” one TwoPlusTwo member noted.
“Effectively it kills the dream people have of watching high-stakes regs battling it out for tons of money hoping to end up in their shoes one day – the same route live poker has taken, making all high stakes public games practically obsolete, letting a small amount of people who control the game collect all the money off recreationals they recruit into their closed doors environments.”
Some of the games now offered will even require players to VPIP (voluntarily put in pot) at a high enough rate or face a ban. Other games will force tighter players (nits) to pay a penalty for failing to win a pot.
Other TwoPlusTwo members noted that the move shields inferior players from having to possibly play against better players. Another player echoed the words of others by pointing out that players must now know someone or be a nice “fit” to get in a game.
“Quite sad, online poker used to be the real meritocracy,” the player noted on Twitter. “If you thought you were the best, you could sit in the lobby vs. the best at the highest stakes. Now it will be live poker style politics.”
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