Technology Is The Answer

While the title of this post is cliche, there is a reason people point to technology as the solution to the problems that we face - it is powerful and allows for creative disruption in ways never before imagined.Surprisingly though, online poker in its current form is simply an imitation of the offline game. Sure the flexibility of online poker allows the truly committed to play at multiple tables at the same time, and maybe those hacker-minded players can use their programing skills to build a bot or a calculator. But for all intents and purposes, online poker today is simply offline poker with a cool gui.

But why can't online poker be something more than offline poker?

As I started thinking about solutions to the challenges that addiction presents to the game, I thought - why not change the structure of the game? Or at least use the Internet and technology to present creative solutions to the time-sink problems the game presents.

As noted on http://pokertimesink.blogspot.com/www.pokertimesink.pages.google.com/solutions, using the power of technology, one could create poker-simulations where the hardest and most exciting elements of the game could be simulated for users. One could imagine this variation taking different forms - perhaps players could join a final table with varying stack sizes with different payoffs awarded to the winners. Anything is possible with a little imagination and some programmers with creative skills.

Technology truly is the future of our world today, and it may even be the answer that allows us to keep playing poker without the fear of addiction keeping big brother looking over our shoulder.