It was the advent of the Internet which spawned this revolution. Naturally the game had been around for years but trying to find four, six, eight or ten like-minded people that lived locally to organise a poker game had never been easy.
But as online poker became a colossal business with thousands of people playing concurrently – all enticed by poker offers from around the web – and tournament prize-pools becoming obscene the intimacy the game once enjoyed became redundant. There was no, as the Irish would say, craic or banter, and most tables quickly resembled a meeting of the United Nations with a translator required to understand one another ...if there was any talking and not just the occasional comment in a chat-box such as ‘NH’ or ‘WP’. (Nice hand / Well played)
Of course people chatting to one another freely has its dangers, it pushes the door ajar for potential collusion. The one thing no player or online poker site wants is two or more sharing information about the strength of their hand.
And so online poker sites now have to police their games, particularly cash games, to ensure players are not talking to one another. Regardless of this chat being simply friendly chat amongst friends, if an online poker room knew that two people sat at the same online poker table were chatting on the phone at the same time, they would have their accounts closed immediately.
The Covid-19 Shutdown Has Opened Up Private Games
But following the Covid-19 shutdown things may well change long-term for the better. Hordes of people sitting housebound has seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of people playing online poker but it has also seen more and more requests for ‘home games’.
These private tables are for groups of individuals that have traditionally played amongst themselves but for one reason or another (such as social distancing) can no longer do so unless they converge online. Alternatively they are just a group of friends that are happy to play online poker and gamble their money with one another whilst having their traditional friendly / social time together.
In any case, online poker rooms have finally cottoned-on to the huge appetite for social online poker play and embrace the demand for private games. Many now heavily promote their willingness to host private games keeping tables locked away from anyone apart from invited players.
And as these private games are invite only and facilitate ‘friends only’, online poker sites can rest easy knowing stringent policing is not required. Indeed chat amongst friends is encouraged and since the Coronavirus lockdown many people in private poker games have set up Zoom meetings meaning they can take the social experience forward by seeing one another and socialising as they would in a traditional get together. How times have changed…
