To finish off my round of blogposts on Luck, and its effect on the game of Poker, I thought I'd try something a little different. I've researched what various game creators have done to try and create a ‘luckless' version of poker, all the while preserve what makes the game so great in the first place.
The problem with many of these games, however, is that they become pale imitations of the glorious game. They allow the users to pick their own cards, or swap cards with other players, ideas that remove the original brilliance of the game of poker: ‘My hand is better than your hand. And if it isn't, I can make you think it is.'
And so, here is my own take on it. Here is my design document for a little video game called Predestined Poker.
The general idea of Predestined Poker is to remove the idea of being ‘card dead.' As a poker dealer, the number one complaint I receive from players is that I am not giving them any hands. Whilst there is nothing I can do to combat this, the same players take great pains to inform me periodically throughout the game, just how garbage the hands they are receiving are.
This gets annoying. Really annoying, so annoying that I often with they'd get the damned hand that they want so much; and then get coolered off the table. But like I said, there's nothing I can do about that. At least, not in Texas Hold ‘Em.
My video game will remove this, with the general concept focusing around all players receiving good hands at all times. By removing the ability to receive worthless, it means that there will be more action, and more excitement instantly.
Where the moniker ‘Predestined' comes from, however, is what happens after the cards are dealt.
Instead of having every hand rely on the pure luck of which card comes next, each hand of Predestined Poker would involve pre-ordained community cards. Each flop, turn and river card will be rigged to make sure that every hand believes that they have the chance to win the hand. Hopefully this will ignore the second most popular complaint from players: ‘I can't hit the flop!'
To keep everyone around as long as possible, I would also make the predestined completed hands for the players finish as close to each other as possible. In Predestined Poker, the tough decisions of a Two-Pair vs Set spot would happen more and more frequently, something that should hopefully lead to more thoughtful play and bigger emphasis on reading your opponents hand.
With these design choices, however, careful moderation of which player will win which hand becomes vital to making sure that each player stands a chance throughout the game. In a perfect world, each player will have a chance to accumulate chips should they be able to recognise and then capitalise on their perfect hands.
In fact, truth be told, I have no idea how this would work; this is all a work in progress. To be honest, I have no idea how any of this would work, but I believe a game in which wins are calculated to level out for everyone would provide the optimal version of ‘luckless poker.'
By creating more situations around hand reading, and value bets / bluffs, and less about merely learning your percentages of your hand hitting, the game of Poker would return to the somewhat childish idea of what we all thought Poker was in the first place: ‘My hand is better than your hand. And if it isn't, I can make you think it is.'
By returning poker to its origins of only playing with big hands, and constant tough decisions, Predestined Poker will surely become the next big thing in the world of poker video games!
Maybe. Ah forget, who knows? I don't, but maybe you do though.
What's your idea to removing luck from poker, and making it fairer for all players? Should we even think about removing luck, or is Poker perfect as it is? Should I make Predestined Poker and becoming a millionaire?
Yes, of course I should. And yes, Poker is perfect as it is. Maybe it can be a little more perfect though.
y bother with so much trouble
