Bwild: I would imagine (well hope) that after the testing was done a Tournament would be great.
Of course this means Fencer would have to write some more code and it could run like a proper Poker Tournament. The only difficulty is as Poker here is live EVERYONE playing at a certain table would have to be here at the same time (may not be easy).
I know you just gave an answer to this Fencer. But, I really think they should be forced. There is a checkbox to sit out the next round, so that is their out without having to lose a blind. Otherwise, it is too easy for a player to manipulate the system and never post a blind.
I know...Blinds are so small anyway. But I'm hoping for bigger blinds when the "test" phase is over.
coan.net: When it is their turn to post a blind...simply stand up...then sit back down after the deal (skip a hand or two)...You can then play with never having to post a blind. Of course, players can always do this, but its harder if blinds are forced.
Summertop: maybe if it becomes an issue, an idea is maybe make it where if someone leaves a table, they can't get back in the game for 5 minutes or something.
Summertop:Its always possible to do that in sit&go tables, even with auto blinds, you can check "sit out next round" when blinds are coming to you. But its so ridiculous, i dont think lot of people would do that..
I've noticed that in the list of poker tables, there are always a number of tables that have, according to the list, 1 observer. However, when I go there, there's noone else.
Below are a list of current suggestions & ideas. Some Fencer already commented on, some might be new. But figured I would make a nice list of them.
1. Sound (so when the game is waiting for you to do something, it will beep - that way you don't have to stare at the screen all the time.)
2. Be able to turn off chat - if there is a person or conversation that is going on that you don't want to be distracted by, be able to just turn if off.
3. Be able to turn off system messages. Maybe you just want to chat, without all the system messages (xxx checks, yyy bids 20, etc..)
4. When a person does not have an icon, it just looks strange to me - and many times I will quickly glance and think the person has already folded - when they are still actually playing. Yea, the cards are still right below where the picture should be - but for some reason my eyes play tricks on me. I think it would look nicer if maybe when a person does not have a picture icon, just use the BrainKing logo in it's place or something.
5. Why does the chairs have legs and the table does not. (OK, not really a request, but someone else observed this in a game I was playing - found it funny and thought I would share.)
6. If you have someone on your blocked users list, would be nice if somehow the chat from them was automatically hidden.
7. Check/Fold before your turn. With 10 people on a table, it can take awhile for it to get back to you. Some of the time, I already know what I will do (like Check is possible, or fold if someone else bid already) - would be nice if I could before my turn to have an checkbox option that reads "for this turn, check/fold" - so when the turn comes around to me - if no one has bid, it will automatically check for me. If someone has bid, it will automatically fold for me. Again, just that turn. If everyone checks & another card comes out on the table, I would have to choose that again if I still wanted the same.
8. "Sticky" buttons - that is the fold button always in the same place. The check button always in the same place. What has happened to me (and others) (for example), I'm ready to raise and raise again, but when the option disapears on the limit table, the Fold button is put in the same place - causing you to hit fold because we are trying to move quickly. So if the buttons could some how always be in the same area, that would be helpful.
9. Cheat Sheet - I'm not a big poker player, and I know I can't tell you off the top of my head if a flush is better then a strait or is better then full house, etc... (I know if I have any of those to bet like crazy.... but I've never really remembered the exact order.) So maybe a "cheat sheet" of what beats what (similar to what is in the rules) - maybe under the board (that is under the observers & everything (just above the User Agreement | Privacy Policy ...... area)
10. Would be nice to somehow look back at a past hand - would also help in checking out bugs. For example, in a game I was watching, both people had similar hands (making 3 queens for example), but one was thinking that it should have been a split since the other 2 high cards to make the hand were on the table (and both cards in their hands were lower then the 2) - Since the hand will contain the best 5 cards, and if those 5 cards are the same for both players, then any other cards don't matter. I personally wasn't paying enough attention, and there was no real way to go back and look at the hand in more detail. I'm not sure what a good solution would be or an easy way to do this - but thought I would throw it out there in case you can think of an easy doable way to do this.
Bwild: Yes, I have folded early on sometimes, and would like to be able to see how I WOULD have done, had I not folded. The cards disappear, and I don't always remember what they were.
I'm trying to figure out the usefulness of the buy in. Except from barring people having less chips than 250 to play poker, what does it do? If the buy-in on a table is 400, and in total I own 800 chips, I can bring 600 chips to the table. Why would (wouldn't?) you do so? Now, I understand 'buy ins' if there's a house raking in a percentage, or if everyone starts with the same amount, and you play to some people are eliminated, but here there's no house and people are free to enter/leave each round. So, how much does the 'buy in' enhances the players experience here at BK?
I noticed that if you timeout while having to put in a blind, you're kicked from the table. But when you timeout while you have to fold/check/call/raise, you just fold and remain at the table. Earlier today, I played some poker when one of the people repeatedly timed out. It wasn't until he was left of the dealer he got kicked.
IMO, it would be nicer for the other people if a timeout means the player gets kicked - he/she can always rejoin if she/he returns to the screen.
Eventually, my chip count will drop below 250, and I can no longer join a poker table. Will be get new chips? If so, how often? Do we have to buy new chips? Can I rob other players and get their chips? Can I play a chess game for chips?
Fencer: If the answer to my question is to be found on my profile page, it's well hidden. I see my current number of chips, and the table am I playing at.
coan.net: About your n°10 suggestion : the easiest way is to display each player hand in the dealer message box with the result, so everyone can check who won and why. (and find bug, if there is any...)
Another (small) detail : when you win a hand before river is turned (everyone else folded), remaining cards should not be displayed on the table.
AbigailII: Speaking of the buy in - it can be important on the no limit page.
That is for example, the 250 buy in on the no limit page. So if I'm playing and someone else has 2000 chips and goes "all in" - if I only came to the table with 250, I know I can call (up to my 250) and know I will lose no more then that - if I had come into the table with 2000 chips, I may not want to take the chance for that many chips.
As for the profile page - I believe if you are below a certain amount of chips, on your profile page will be an option to get more chips. But you won't see that unless you get that low I believe. (have not seen it myself yet.)
Fencer: I believe when a person has the ability to refresh to 1,000 chips if they fall under 500, it allows for those people below 1,000 to play very agressively without penalty since they can simply go to their profile if they lose a bunch and start over at 1,000 chips. If someone wants to play aggressively; that is fine by me; but Brainking should not allow for a vehicle to do so again and again and in turn abuse the system. I believe that the refresh should be to 500 and not the current 1,000 chips. This would still allow for those who have dropped to zero to still play... but only starting with 500 chips... this will allow a much fairer advantage to those members who have gone about earning their chips in a legit fashion. this also will not flood the poker boards with excessive amounts of chips which I can see beginning to happen already...
I talked to a couple of people in one of the poker rooms about it and I think there is support for this... I hope this can be considered.
rednaz23: I agree somewhat - that is you don't want to make it too easy to regain lost chips.
I think currently (correct me if I'm wrong) - if a person drops below 500 chips, they are allowed to go to their profile (limit = once a day?) and increase their total to 500?
I'm not sure of a good solution, but would like to see a "little" more work for it - maybe like after they lose their chips (or go below 250 - which is currently the lowest buy-in table), at the end of the day (midnight or whatever), their totals are increased to 250 automatically. (so they can at least play on a table every day if they want). Then maybe once a week, they can request the 500 total chips (so if they last requested 500 chips on Monday and quickly lost it, on Tuesday it would give them 250 chips.... and any other day if they are below 250, it will increase automatically to 250) - then on next Monday, they could request 500 again.)
Also I think it is nice that Pawns get to play - but I also think there should be something "lower" for pawns. I'm not sure how - somehow again to let them play at a table at least once a day... longer if they don't lose, but think there should be a difference in "free chips" between pawns & bishops+
... and this post is just a quick example I thought of... i don't think it is the best solution, but can't really think of a better one right now. Any other ideas? (again, I think the goal should be that everyone can at least play on a table once a day)
... maybe the pawn refresh to 250, everyone else to 500?
Fencer: Well, here's my suggestion then: every day, everyone who has less than X chips, get Y new chips, (maxed out at X). Suggested values for (X, Y) are (1000, 250). You could even have different (X, Y) for different membership levels, so pawns refresh slower and are maxed out on a lower level than rooks.
AbigailII: I like that idea (and suggested values).
Always have Y as 250.
Pawns = X as 500 maybe
Bishops and above = X as 1000
So if someone does lose all their chips, they will at least be able to play on a table the next day. ***** Reminder for Fencer if he programs something like this - Don't let the bug slip by that if someone has all their chips on a table playing when the script runs, that it will give them free chips... otherwise someone will move their chips to an empty table, wait for the script to give them 250 free chips, then move their chips back off the table.
There's of course the matter of 'inflation'. If new chips are injected into the system on a regular basis, one year from now, 1000 chips won't be worth what it is now today. Things that could be done to counteract this:
Once a day (or week, or 10 days), a tally is made of all the chip counts. Points get awarded to the N people with the highest chip counts, and all chip counts are reset to 1000. Statistics could be created for people having the most points, and having scored the most points in the last D days (D=365 gives you a year).
On a nightly or weekly bases, everyone who has more than Z chips will be deducted by Q%. This requires some tuning for acceptable values of Z and Q.
"Glamour" tables, in which you can only participate after paying a significant amount of chips as house stake; but that only works if there's something to force players to participate at such tables. One way of 'forcing' people is to barr players having a large number of chips on "regular" tables if they haven't played at a "glamour" table in the last W days.
But these are just some wild ideas, I'd expect many people not liking them.
AbigailII: I have also thought about that issue - with people getting "free" chips, some people will keep on gaining and gaining chips.
First thought was to maybe make it a "loan" of chips - and if you gained enough back, repay it. But then I have to remember - the point of the game (in my opinion, and maybe I'm wrong) - is to allow everyone to play - at least once a day - and someone having a lot of chips is just a different way to show "ratings". (so instead of ratings, you can see who has the most chips.)
But also - I know Fencer is planning to bring other card games to the site. Maybe he will bring something like Blackjack (or something else where you play "against" the house) - where the house will have a chance to get some of it's chips back. (heck, have some "video poker" machines that randomly show 3 images, and make it pay out 25% of the time or something like that.) (again, just some random thoughts.)
Question (which I could probable go and look for the answer but a little lazy right now) - in a casino, how does the house make money on poker games since the house does not play? Does the house just take a cut or something? Again - I'm not sure if that is something that is needed here, but curious.
coan.net: There are various ways. A house can take a percentage of the buy-in, or a percentage of the pot (sometimes capped at a maximum). Or it can take fixed fees. For instance, having the dealer pay a fee each round, or asking a fixed fee of every player every X minutes. Or they organize tournaments, and ask an entrance fee of all the participants. The difference between the sum of the entrance fees and the prize money is the rake of the house. Or the casino makes it money through other means, and uses poker to attract people that spend their money buying expensive drinks or something else.
AbigailII: Actually, we don't need to take a rake until something more valuable than free chips (Brains, for instance) is played for. But the tournament idea is good.
Fencer: I'll be away most of this weekend so I probably won't participate in any discussion the next 48 hours. But I do have some ideas on how to have Poker tournaments on BK. I'll write it up on Monday.
Well I thought I would post a quick note in here in case others visit the poker tables - they seem to be currently froze for everyone, and Fencer is probable in deep sleep right now, so in case anyone tries here soon and see's a problem, it is not just you - but everyone... and I'm sure Fencer will fix it when he gets back.
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