“Safe and fair experience”
The effort to curb predatory behavior in online poker continues, this time with the implementation of cash game Active Waiting Lists at PokerStars. It is essentially what it sounds like: a cash game waiting list which requires you to be actively playing to stay on it.
In announcing the new feature, PokerStars said, “Our goal is to provide access to what you want when you want it and to ensure an enjoyable, safe and fair experience when you get there.”
“It achieves this goal by making it more difficult for some players to seek out our less experienced or more recreational players,” PokerStars added. “We expect Active Waiting List to have many other positive effects on our community too because it will reduce the time players spend waiting for a seat in a cash game and increase the number of games running, which benefits everyone.”
Must play while you wait
As PokerStars puts it, Active Waiting List works a bit like “must move” cash game tables in live poker rooms. Players can still put themselves on a waiting list for a specific table as always, but to remain on the list, they must actively play on another table of the same type and stakes.
But unlike in a live poker room, it is not necessarily a “first come, first served” when deciding who gets moved from the “waiting” table to their preferred table. Instead, a draw will be held among the players waiting for a seat that came open who are also actively playing, weighted toward the players who got on the list the earliest.
And being “active” at the table while waiting is key. Anyone sitting out will not be part of the draw when a seat comes open.
One of the things I was thinking as I read about Active Waiting Lists might be one of the same things you are wondering: are these separate tables from the rest of the lobby, specially labeled? Is there some reason to think they are any different? The answer to those questions is “no.” They are just regular cash game tables. Anyone can come and go as they please. Some people sitting at the table might be waiting for another game, some might just be there because that’s the table they chose. Heck, some might have been seated there from the Active Waiting List.
Once you leave the “waiting” table, you will also be removed from the Active Waiting List.
Curbing predatory “fishing”
The end result of this will obviously be that “sharks” who want to follow “fish” through the lobby and sit at their tables will have much more difficult time doing so unless there is already a seat open. With the Active Waiting List, not only will those players have to play elsewhere for a while, but there is no guarantee their targeted player will still be at the requested table when the person waiting arrives.
PokerStars concluded: “We understand that people who use waiting lists to hunt weaker players will not be happy with this change, but our intention is to make the online poker lobby a fairer place and to ensure the game’s ongoing health.”
