Fairy tales have gems of truth in them. A favorite children's fairy tale is about the goose that lays golden eggs. Since greed is one of the great sins of mankind, the owner of the goose decides one gold egg per day is not enough. He figures if he kills the goose, he will be able to dig out all the golden eggs the goose has not yet laid. That doesn't work out, of course. When he opens up the goose, all he gets is goose liver. End of story.
The goose that lays golden eggs reminds me of what is happening to the poker industry.
Benny Binion was probably one of the most intelligent casino owners who ever did business in Las Vegas. He ran a poker room that was consistently profitable over the years. Most of his games were limited games. In fact, he only had one no-limit Texas Hold'em game in his poker room.
When people asked him why he didn't spread more no-limit games, Benny said it was all about money.
'Players can lose all their money in a single hand in no-limit,' he said. 'That can't happen in limit poker. When the players run out of money, I have to send my dealers home. That is why I spread only one no-limit game.'
Today's casino owners and poker room managers might take Binion's advice to heart.
People are wondering why so many poker rooms are closing and why so many other rooms are reducing their number of poker tables. It's simple. The answer is money.
There is only so much money to go around to play poker. With the sharp increase in no-limit and pot-limit poker, players are losing a lot more money than in the past. Games are closing earlier and tables are being shut down. It is a simple but basic fact that people who have no money cannot play poker.
I remember when even the thought of playing no-limit poker was terrifying to the average player. We would watch the other players play in the big games and would thrill at the size of the pots -- but we didn't dare play them. Too much risk. We stayed with the limit games.
A lot of poker room managers and dealers are out of work these days and the blame can be placed on no-limit poker.
Some poker room managers think like the owner of the goose that laid golden eggs. All we need to do to increase our revenues is to raise the limits. That is why so many poker rooms only spread no-limit or pot-limit poker. And that is killing the games.
Poker rooms need to get back to limit poker. There are a lot of players out there who can afford a $40 buy-in, but who would be strained to put up $100 or more to play in a no-limit game.
A good limit game can produce good profits to a good player. Poker rooms should reduce the number of no-limit games and spread a larger variety of limit games, including mixed games and H.O.R.S.E.
Follow Benny Binion's advice. Benny invented the World Series of Poker. That is a fine no-limit tournament that will always be around. But if you want to keep the poker rooms operating 24 hours a day, you had better go back to limit poker. Otherwise, you will just cut the throat of the goose that lays golden eggs.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
