PokerNations

That's a good question but I am sure Rush Poker will be here for a long time. The fish and pure gamblers aren't always as rational as we imagine. It's all about having fun and jumping right in.

Like someone said in your blog post, the craps tables always have someone standing in line. And craps is known to be unbeatable. With poker, people know they at least have a chance.

The games will get a little tighter over the long run but not ridiculously tight. There is always someone willing to jump on and play. From Full Tilt's perspective, it's all about the rake.

Also from Full Tilt's perspective, the fact that players reach the "long term" sooner is good due to the rake. They get that money now as opposed to later. On one hand there's a chance the fish notice and stop redepositing but on the other hand, it might mean they redeposit sooner. Some of those fish may even decide they need to work on their game and they become tight grinders who generate even more rake.

I think one of the reason fish remain in the game for an extended period of time is that they don't notice their losses most of the time.

If you ask a losing player if they're winning or losing you'll often here:

I'm about even

or

I'm up/down a little


They don't really pay much attention or keep records/stats. But when you provide them with the volume and quickness of something like Rush Poker, you run the risk of making them catch on that they aren't all that good at poker and are bleeding money at the tables.

While some may adjust and learn from it, and some who are gambling and don't care will continue to do so, I still feel the larger segment of fish will be overfished from this sort of game too early.

I think RushPoker will inevitably tighten up over time, however I don't think it will ever dry up. I am a prime example and player type that is perfect for Rush.

I am not a professional player, nor am I a winning player for that matter. However I like RushPoker for the action and exact reasons you stated.

The RushPoker concept is great for a player like me. It allows me the opportunity to see lots of hands and in the short term see some nice swings. Although I do think losing players like myself could lose their "bankrolls" much quicker, the fact is that the limits right now only go as high as 1-2NL. These lower limits are no doubt intentional and for this reason by Fulltilt.

Likewise I think many players at these lower limits offered on Rush fund their poker playing hobby through other income sources and thus will always have fresh money to deposit and play.

I do agree though that it will be interesting to see how this sustains itself over the next couple years. My biggest fear is that they will slowly raise the limits (which will break many players) or that the games will become so tight, they won't even be attractive to the fish and action seekers like myself.

From an affiliate standpoint, I am just waiting for the day that we get an email stating our payout will only be 12% MGR on RushPoker games or some new ridiculous clause like that. Would anyone really even be surprised?

Great post.

And then there is one point which is paramount for FT: by offering this format, they can increase their share of the market (at least for a while, because I can't see how they want to keep other rooms from offering a similar format - I don't think you can get a patent on this).
While the effect of players reaching the short term earlier, as the OP described, may be bad for the industry as a whole, the FT as an individual room will benefit from the effect of more rake and a bigger share of the market.