GGPoker Adding Junk Flip Tournaments to Site

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What is one of the worst formats in online poker, or poker in general? Some might think that the Spin & Go format is the worst format out there, and you’d have a strong argument. However, there’s one that’s even worse. It’s called a flip tournament.

If you’ve never played a flip tournament, it is basically an all-in every hand until there’s a winner type of poker tournament. You don’t see them that often outside of a sit and go, but GGPoker and Natural8 are looking to change that. If it becomes a reality, online poker will be worse off for it.

What is a Flip Tournament?

If you’ve never played a flip tournament, good for you! It registers just like a standard multi-table tournament but plays out completely different. For our example, let’s assume you have 8 tables of eight players at the start of the tournament. One each table, all players go all-in, and then the hand plays out. The winner of the table advances.

The winners then are recombined to a final table and the same process happens again. All players go all-in and the winner of the hand also wins the tournament. In this example, two hands of poker are played and absolutely no strategy is involved. If you don’t care about strategy, it’s great. However, any respectable poker player wouldn’t give these games a second thought.

GGPoker Looking at Flip Tournaments

GGPoker has been making waves in the online poker world this year, thanks in part to its willingness to partner with major brands like the World Series of Poker. The WSOP Online proved incredibly successful and basically established GGPoker as a major online poker player.

However, now the site is looking to add Flip Tournaments to the mix. One has to wonder about the logic behind this move. If you check out the roadmap for GGPoker, Flip Tournaments were just “in development.” This changed yesterday when the site moved the item to its next release on October 30th.

According to the roadmap, “Our fast-paced “Flip tournament” is coming soon! Fast games, Faster prizes! Keep those eyes peeled and check back for more information in the near future!”

One has to wonder what GGPoker is trying to accomplish with these events. Is this something that they are planning to offer as a regular tournament-style or is this merely a gimmick tournament. Doyle’s Room used to offer their own version of a flip tournament, but it was mostly at the Sit and Go level, and it was never passed off as a viable option, but more as a gimmick.

Flip Tournaments Are Not Good For Poker

GGPoker is not the first operator to use the Flip Tournament concept. There are several online poker sites that offer some form of flip tournament. However, they aren’t overly advertised. That’s because most sites know that they are a gimmick. Spin and Go tournaments have gotten their share of criticism over the years but are largely tolerated.

Flip Tournaments are seldom even mentioned unless it is to criticize them. So it’s surprising that GGPoker is going this route. They are clearly a money grab by the company. True poker players are not going to play them seriously. It is straight gambling and cannot be called real poker.

Flip Tournaments are not good for poker. They are only good for the operators offering them. You’d have better odds playing casino games. Of course, GGPoker is going to hype them and Daniel Negreanu will probably give some sort of promo to convince people to play them. However, poker players should avoid these tournaments and play something else.