Ladbrokes Poker Introduces Anonymous Cash Game Tables

On Thursday, the online poker site Ladbrokes introduced a new twist on an old favorite, Anonymous Tables. Ladbrokes, which is the largest betting company in the United Kingdom and one of the largest retail bookmakers in the world, is offering its new innovation at cash game tables. Although the site is part of the Microgaming Network, it doesn’t appear that the other rooms in the network, such as 32RedPoker, Unibet, and Purple Lounge, have picked up on the change.

The Anonymous Tables do not deviate from the way that Texas Hold’em is played. What has changed is that players at these special tables can no longer see any identifying names or avatars associated with their opponents. In an FAQ found on the Ladbrokes Poker site, the advantages of the new setup are spelled out for players.

“Forget about any history players may have on you and focus on the present – play on the Anonymous Tables and bring back the fun into playing poker,” the FAQ states before delving into the complexities of the new variation. The Anonymous Tables allow a player to participate in the action on the felt in complete anonymity; even notes an opponent may have made won’t show up at the Anonymous Tables. While a player will see his own name and avatar, his opponents will only see a randomly generated tag to identify him and vice versa.

Ladbrokes points out that poker tracking software will be rendered ineffective on the new tables. “Tracking software will not associate your play on the Anonymous Tables with your real alias,” the FAQ states.

What may be one of the positive aspects of playing the Anonymous Tables is that players can try some new moves without a record of their past activities. Opponents normally would track such play at the tables, but, because there is no tag associated with any player, it serves as a “smokescreen” and opens up the potential for some creative play.

Kate McLennan, the head of poker operations at Ladbrokes Poker, said, “We are really excited about this launch. Never before have poker players been able to play without other players knowing who they are. This brings an added element to the game for people whose playing style may be recognizable. For those new to the game, it is an opportunity to try some different moves without getting a reputation because players will simply never know who they are playing against.”

Discussion on the poker forums has greeted the Ladbrokes Anonymous Tables skeptically. On the TwoPlusTwo forum, poster “FLgrinder” remarked, “Already been tried. Multi-accounting would be an issue from what I remember. Then again, it wouldn’t be much different than other sites today.” “FLgrinder” didn’t elaborate on other rooms that have tried such a variation and Ladbrokes has stated that there is a patent pending for the new offering.

Another poster, “The Three Alls,” asked a relevant question: “Would the UB/AP super users been caught if they had been playing on anonymous tables?” Another poster responded, “No.” However, Ladbrokes’ FAQ on the new innovation states, “Network monitoring teams will still have access to player’s real information.” Players in the game, however, would not. Hand history tracking programs were used to break previous scandals on poker forums like TwoPlusTwo and PocketFives.com.

Ladbrokes’ parent network, Microgaming, could use a burst of players to increase its share of the competitive online poker industry. According to PokerScout.com, the Microgaming Network is in ninth place worldwide in terms of real money ring game traffic.