Steve Brecher: Hole Card Streaming and the Tournament Pro

Player Forum

Topics: Epic Poker League, Steve Brecher, Player Forum

Editor’s Note: Player Forum is space devoted by EpicPoker.com to the intelligent discussion of issues involving League members, other professionals, or poker in general. The opinions expressed are those of the contributor and are not endorsed by the Epic Poker League, EpicPoker.com, or Federated Sports + Gaming or any of its affiliates.

Steve has been invited to present his opinion on the subject of the effect of hole-card streaming at feature tables in poker tournaments, a subject on which he recently commented.

Let's consider a new poker variation. Since it doesn't have a name yet, let's call it "Muckless" for now. Here's how it works: whenever anyone folds, the folder's cards are held aside, separately, by the dealer, and placed so that they can be associated with the folder. At the end of the hand, right after the pot is pushed, all folded and uncalled hands -- all hands not already shown -- are turned face up so that all players can see them.

What are some of the consequences of Muckless? A couple occur to me immediately. First, the "curiosity call" is eliminated. That is, there is no longer any motivation for a player facing a bet to call to satisfy curiosity about the bettor's hand, as that hand will be seen regardless. Second, and more generally, it will be possible much more quickly to get a pretty accurate line on each opponent's play: opening ranges, betting patterns, bluffing frequencies, etc.

You may or may not like the idea of "Muckless." Suppose we change it so that instead of showing all hole cards right after the hand is played, there is a delay, such as 30 or 60 minutes, before they're shown. Does that change your opinion? I don't think it should change it much; it dilutes the effect but not significantly. In either case I hope you agree with me that revelation of all hole cards provides useful information that a diligent player must gather to prevent opponents gaining an advantage.

Now suppose that in addition to a 30-60 minute delay, the hole cards are not shown to the players in the game, but they are shown on the internet on a public Web site. Of course now you may recognize that "Muckless" has morphed into featured tournament tables streamed to the Web. (I say "tournament" because I'm primarily a tournament player, and it is only fairly recently that tournament tables have begun to be thus streamed.) Now the diligent player incurs an expense in time, money, or both in order to keep up with information about opponents' previous hole cards. Confederates must be recruited and possibly paid to gather the information from the Web, and the player must take time to absorb the information. This might involve watching a recording of the Web stream during a dinner break and/or after the day's end.

Some might shrug off any obligation to obtain and process the hole-cards information. But can any serious, not to mention professional, tournament player shrug when hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars are at stake in an event?

Web-streamed feature tables are very different from hole-card-cam final tables that are broadcast weeks or months later.  At events which have Web-streamed feature tables there is at least one such table during all or most of the event, so many more players are subjects. More important, in most cases these players will continue to play at a table with each other after their previous hole cards have been made public; and even after their table is broken, two or more of them may play against each other later in the event.

Web-streamed feature tables increase the costs, at least in effort if not in money, of serious amateur and professional players; and -- this is speculation -- they may thus decrease the attractiveness of events to less serious, recreational players who are unwilling to incur the increased costs but who recognize their increased disadvantage. Or perhaps such casual players will value the opportunity to be seen on the Web by their friends and family and discount the inequality of information about the previous play of opponents.