Poker association or No-Limit Hold'Em association??

[SirPercival]

The APAT team have done a fantastic job of promoting good quality, friendly games with no registration fees and sponsor added prizes.

In many threads people have expressed views on improvement for season 3 and it is quite clear that Des and the team will never please everyone all of the time.

Some want to increase the buy-in, some don"t. Some want more games, some less. some prefer online, some live and so on and so on....

What about other poker games? I was brought up in the days before the NL Holdem "boom" and enjoy playing Draw, Omaha, Stud, 2-7 Low, etc etc Limit, Pot Limit and No Limit.

Any views on more variance for Season 3 ?

[HaworthBantam]

I think there"s an improvement already in season two with regard to other poker variations. In August there is due to be a Razz, Omaha and Stud tournament at the Grosvenor in London.... http://www.apat.com/schedule_S2_National.php

I do agree with Stuart that APAT does concentrate on NLHE, but I suspect it may be a "let"s walk before we can run" scenario - APAT is, afterall, less than 2 years old. The events due to be played in August may be in place to test the water before decisions are made for season 3.

I would suggest that we do all we can to support those events in August, and hopefully more will follow.

[kinboshi]

I"d also suggest that 90% of the members only (or mostly) play holdem.  So it"s providing what the market wants.

There"s definitely a place for other variations though, and like Ian intimated, they"ll probably be introduced slowly over time.  Online probably more so than live (I"d guess).

[tumblet]

What a great thread.. As soon as i saw it, i was thinking YES..

I would love to some of the other games, the only other game i know anything about it Omaha (which i call dirty poker)..    The only reason because I see other play it and thinks its nuts..

I want to learn the other, I suspect people will just say learn it then, but I want it to be fun, and with like minded people who are learning with me, the same as it was when i learned NLH..

Great post sir..  

[kinboshi]

We need to learn how to play holdem properly first...

[Swinebag]

We need to learn how to play holdem properly first...

Isn"t playing other games (badly as well) supposed to help your holdem

How about a bit of limit and Pot limit Holdem to mix it up too

[swordfish]

Some Limit HE would be the business, as well as PLO or PLO8.

[SirPercival]

I"d also suggest that 90% of the members only (or mostly) play holdem.  So it"s providing what the market wants.

Did this 90% know they wanted NLHE before they started playing poker?

[SirPercival]

Great post sir..  

ty  

[RioRodent]

I"d also suggest that 90% of the members only (or mostly) play holdem.  So it"s providing what the market wants.

Did this 90% know they wanted NLHE before they started playing poker?

It"s a well known fact that 90% of people don"t know what they do want!  

[nosey-p]

Great post sir..  

ty  

Big Head

[kinboshi]

I"d also suggest that 90% of the members only (or mostly) play holdem.  So it"s providing what the market wants.

Did this 90% know they wanted NLHE before they started playing poker?

A lot, yes.  They"ve seen in on telly, and want some of that NLHE action!

Most people who play in APAT events aren"t playing their first poker though are they?  They"ve played a bit before somewhere.  I"d guess that the majority have played NLHE.

In the current market, poker in the mainstream is synonymous with NLHE.  GUKPT, GBPT, EPT, etc. - they all focus on NLHE.

I agree that some others thrown into the mix would be a good idea, but I still think the majority want NLHE.  Probably about 72.96% do anyway.

[nosey-p]

More like 79.45%

[GiMac]

Of course you are all diregarding the fact that 94.8% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

As far as other variations of poker are concerned, it is funny but I played 4 x GUKPT"s, the Grand Prix and the Euro Deep Stack Champs in the last 12 months and the game everyone, including the top pro"s enjoyed playing far more than NLH was the Pot Limit Omaha Events. They also hold quite a bit of prestige in the pro ranks, even if the cash prize is far less. Unfortunately because of the grip that NLH has, i.e. from sponsorship, TV etc, it"s a game that is fast dying out. Shame, cos in a tournament format, it"s a game which involves quite a lot more skill than NLH, and 88% of pro"s interviewed for this post agreed.  

[SirPercival]

Great post Gordon.

Many of the the top pros (87.6% I think) want the world championship to settled by the $50,000 HORSE event rather than the current $10,000 NLHE.

I think it"s sad that even the HORSE event turns into NLHE for the final table for the purposes of the TV. Are TV watching poker player to stupid to learn a new game? I don"t think so and I"m sure 98.6% of them aren"t.