So my suggestion is simply to limit the free chips to 2500 per day instead of 2500 whenever someone gets to under 500. If this is too little maybe limit it to 5K total per day or thereabouts, which would be 12.5 full buyins at the lowest stakes (1/2 at 400 max buyin).
My reasoning is twofold. Firstly it would make the chips more valuable (meaningful) to those receiving them, making the games more fun/rewarding and encouraging better play. Secondly it would minimize annoyance from people sick of others just going all in every hand then getting more chips indefinitely.
As a bonus the newest and weakest players also tend to be the most rude (certainly this way in chess, in poker too I assume though I have a much smaller data set with poker), and such a limit would limit the annoyance from their bad behavior at the tables as well.
The trouble is that new players and beginners who lost all their chips might not want to wait to get more chips and might never return to the site and become RP addicts.
One way to bypass the shove-every-hand merchants would be to buy some chips so that you can play at levels that people who have just obtained their quota of free chips cannot reach.
Incidentally, I started with the free 2500 chips and have never bought any chips (though I have contributed free copy to these annals). If you choose the type of game carefully, you can find people who want to play poker and not just shove every hand. I started playing in NL Hold’em sit-and-go games and worked my way up to MTTs once I was winning consistently so that I could win more prize money per entry, if this is any help to you. Winning the first 100,000 chips and then the first million is by far the hardest part of getting on your way.
I still remember the first time I encountered an opponent who had 13 million RP chips. To me that vast bankroll suggested I was up against some kind of Doyle Brunson or Phil Ivey type player with almost infinite resources.
I got my biggest break early on soon after I had won my first million, and then entered a tournament for 250,000 and won it the first time and picked up a prize of a few millions.
Once you get into the bigger buy-in tourneys–I would say 1/2 million and above–you will find more players who are more consistent who don’t throw away their chips quite so readily.
I think RP is very fair in that you do not have to give them credit card details to sign up for free games, so there is that. You can learn to play poker to a competent level and have hundreds or thousands of hours of fun with people from all over the world for no cost whatsoever.
I’m “rude” and exhibiting “bad behavior” for making a suggestion (albeit without the prior knowledge of the 7 tier system) based partly on maybe 1000+ games of a similar (calculation & logic based) game? Really?
As for Replay Poker “knowing what they are doing” I don’t disagree in general, but if they weren’t open to suggestions they probably wouldn’t have a “suggestions and feedback” forum now, would they?
Maybe attacking those making suggestions is not a great way to make the forums an inviting place, or “promote the community forums” as you suggest in this thread - Community Forums
I don’t know if there is a correlation between “new” and “rude,” and haven’t seen any evidence that this might be the case. Since we were all new once, and all weak once, the notion seems a little suspect.
However, the idea of making free chips a little more dear is a good one, and we are here to talk about ideas, not personalities.
One of the biggest, most widespread, and persistent complaints on the site is the disruptive nature of “bingo” players. I personally don’t see this as a huge issue because we are playing no-limit, after all. But many do.
If this kind of player has a negative impact on the enjoyment of a large segment of the player base, this would have to be offset by some positive benefit for the site. Frankly, i don’t see the positive benefit.
Limiting the number of chips one could get in a day would reduce the proliferation of this disruptive play, and result in a better experience for many players, but at what cost?
I doubt this kind of player is going to be buying chips any time soon. If they did, they would value them more and be less prone to shoving every hand and disrupting the game. I don’t see the downside to making free chips a little harder to get.
I don’t really understand this sentiment to somehow discourage all in bets. Pot limit and limit formats already exist, and are the natural game for someone that doesn’t like to face “bingo” players. I don’t really see a need to keep players from doing something that fundamentally defines the difference between no-limit and these other styles of the game. I also notice that no-limit seems far and away the most popular form of the game… I suspect that while those that dislike pre-flop shoves (and any other play from opponents that disrupts their habitual strategies) are often quite vocal, they are not a majority, and that many of them are actually addicted to poker in part because of the sense of potential danger this creates.
Concerning the availability of free chips on the site, I think the site should do whatever they think will attract the largest pool of players. I wonder if they shouldn’t have a bank roll cap for that, though? I personally would have preferred never getting any free chips. The $2,500 a day makes very little difference, but I’d rather every chip in my bank was a chip I’d won the hard way. Maybe even something as simple as a way to opt out?
I don’t either, except that a lot of people complain about it. It’s a problem if a large enough percentage of your player pool thinks it’s a problem.
I can’t remember ever seeing someone play like that except in rebuy tournies where it’s considered a valid strategy, so meh.
Still, extending the cooldown period should reduce the incentive for that kind of play if that’s what they want to do.
I played in a small 75-player tournament the other day and it was actually won by a player who seemed to be shoving about 50% of his hands.But it was a 4-max table tournament, so probably that is a legitimate tactic in that format. Also in heads-up it could be viable if opponent does not defend enough. I have never really seen it in sit’n’gos.
In an unlimited rebuy tourney like one I played here the other day, the best tactic is to shove any playable hand until you have won at least 6x orginal stack (not hard as you may have 9 players all shoving, then just sit tight until 25 minutes is up and play normal poker after the rebuy period as you will have an adequate stack versus the blinds at that point and there will be lots of chips to win.
