Why recreational players like fast formats

Time, rather than money, is the biggest hurdle to overcome for casual players, argues self-confessed recreational player Barry Carter.

This year PokerStars have launched a number of new formats aimed at making poker more fun and perhaps more notably, faster. Bubble Rush and the new Beat the Clock both get players to the money faster (in the case of Beat the Clock, much faster). Plus you have the runaway success of Spin & Go which gets a lucky few to a small fortune faster.

I expect Beat the Clock and Bubble Rush to be little more than novelty formats. I’ve played them both, they are lots of fun, but perhaps a bit too niche.

They do, however, give evidence for something I’ve been arguing for a while and that is that the biggest barrier for recreational players is time, not money.

Wasting time as bad as wasting money

As a recreational player myself who plays within my means, the one thing I do not want is to spend hours or days playing and getting no outcome. With live poker I don’t want to spend hours traveling and spend money on hotels only to bust out on Day 2 before the money.

I prefer SNGs online because I do not want to play until 2am for a min cash and have it mess up my sleep the next day at work.

Losing money is par for the course but wasting an entire weekend or spending the next day at work exhausted, on a regular basis, is the straw that breaks the camel's back. I'm fine with losing, but I'd rather lose sooner when I do.

Luckily the industry is taking notice with innovations like Beat the Clock, ‘turbo day 1s’ in live events and the fact that most major tours are paying 15-20% of the field instead of the previous standard of 10%. This year the WSOP organised their structures so that most events would reach the money on Day 1 to accommodate this. Recreational players don’t play for the huge payouts they just enjoy playing and consider the few times they cash to be badges of honour.

Nobody benefits from slow poker

I was very critical of the players who berated William Kassouf this year because of the ungentlemanly way that they did it, but it was true that his constant stalling is terrible for poker. Yes he may ‘tilt’ his opponents but it’s better for everyone involved, most notably recreational players, to have a much faster game.

I have a gut feeling that Kassouf-gate and the slow Main Event final table might result in a shot clock next year and I cannot see that being bad for anyone. If nothing else, we are certainly seeing more players emboldened to call the clock without feeling they have breached poker etiquette.

We want to win money and we want to get plenty of playing time in, but more than anything recreational players want to avoid feeling like they wasted their time completely. This is good for professional players too as any formats that get casual players to the money or at least busted out sooner will increase the likelihood they register for another game the same night.

Do you like faster MTT formats? Let us know in the comments.