In an ongoing effort to shift its customer demographic towards the recreational player, tomorrow partypoker will be introducing “Casual Cash Games,” tables for those who just want to play a game of poker and aren’t concerned about maximizing the number of hands they see per hour.
Casual Cash Game tables are no different than any other table, except that nobody on them is playing at any other cash game tables at the same time. And that’s the point. Anyone who wishes to play at one of the special-marked Casual Cash Game tables (denoted by a smiley face), is only allowed to play at that table and no more. Similarly, anyone playing at more than one regular cash game table is not permitted to play at a Casual Cash Game table until they leave the other tables. Players are still allowed to play in tournaments while at Casual Cash Game tables, though.
The thought process behind these new tables, as mentioned earlier, is to promote recreational play. The strongest players, the ones who take the money of the weaker players, tend to multi-table in order to a) get as many hands in as possible and therefore increase their hourly win-rate, and b) increase the rewards they get from participating in raked hands. But because these players take the money of “fish,” they are seen by poker rooms as drainers of the poker economy. Many poker rooms, of which partypoker is one, are trying to increase the percentage of recreational players on their sites, the kind of player that doesn’t care as much about winning as much as he does about having fun. Enter Casual Cash Game tables. It is unlikely that many “sharks” will play at these tables, since they would not be able to open any more cash game tables at the same time. Their ability to win and earn rewards would be limited. Recreational players could then feel comfortable knowing they are playing in game with other people just like them, people that they might have some sort of chance against, and may more importantly, people with whom they can have fun.
partypoker is also instituting a new cash game sit-out feature tomorrow. When the feature is turned on (it is optional), a player who is multi-tabling cash games will sit out at all tables if he chooses to sit out at one. The player can sit out for 27 hands or 20 minutes, whichever comes first, before the system removes him from all tables. If the feature is turned off, players can sit out one table at a time, but will then have only fifteen seconds to sit back down before being booted.
These new features will appear on partypoker’s international sites, not on national or regional sites, such as partypoker’s New Jersey offering.
