Tonkaaaap Vs VR Poker: Round Two

Have you ever dreamed about squashing a watermelon on the table during a live tournament, but you're afraid of getting ostracized by your home game pals or getting a lifetime casino ban? Thanks in part to Parker "Tonkaaaap" Talbot your weird dream might soon become - a Virtual Reality.

In one of the recent Team NeverLucky YouTube videos Tonkaaaa in the partnership with Bolt Virtual Reality Casino showed us once again what the future of online poker can look like. Even though the Virtual Reality is in its market infancy and even though the first generation of VR devices and software is plagued with many issues, virtual reality poker is perhaps one of the most impressive things VR revolution has to offer.

Poker = Killer VR App?

The excitement bubble formed around Virtual Reality is going to burst very soon. With the recent news that PlayStation VR - a new and relatively cheap device that was the closest thing to VR hardware for masses that we can hope to get in the near future - will sell three to four times fewer copies than initially projected it's easy to proclaim the first generation of VR a slight disappointment.

The main issue with Virtual Reality is the lack of a killer app. Apple devices had iTunes, Nintendo consoles had Pokemon and Mario, VR has a bunch of lackluster and overpriced pieces of software that seem more like demos than fully featured products. This situation is somewhat understandable since it's hard to develop software for this new and interesting platform and developers have to face many different issues like implementing a movement system that won't cause motion sickness etc. Fortunately for VR, poker circumvents many of these issues.

Poker is stationary and doesn't really require any rapid movements, the pace of the game is reasonably slow and the risk of motion sickness is minimized when compared to many VR apps. Virtual reality poker is also in line with Facebook and Oculus Rift vision of providing VR users with interesting experiences. Team NeverLucky video clearly shows that virtual poker app - even in a very very early stage of development - is more impressive than just about everything else you can do in VR.

What's even more interesting is the fact that while watching someone play in Virtual Reality is usually thoroughly unimpressive it's actually interesting and exciting to watch the point of view of someone playing virtual poker. All of this combined makes Virtual Reality poker a very attractive proposition for developers and players alike.

Merging Live and Online Poker

While many people claim that online poker is slowly but surely heading into oblivion there are very few people proclaiming the death of live poker even among the more enthusiastic doomsayers. One of the possible cures for the slow death of online poker rooms might be the introduction of Virtual Reality. Giving the online poker structure similar to to the one live poker has can greatly slow down the pace at which the game is being solved and while it will certainly cripple hourly win rates of most of the grinders it can also make the game far more attractive for the recreational players.

Let's be honest, your average poker enthusiast doesn't really get excited by dozens of numbers flashing on the screen or the small blind limping strategy developed by some nerd wizard poker player. On the contrary, things like HUD's and GTO dream machines alienate recreational players and often cause them to pursue a different hobby that won't make them feel as disadvantaged as online poker sometimes can. Average fan wants the opportunity to play an easy to understand card game for money while enjoying the social aspect multiplayer games like poker provide.

Moving the online tables to the Virtual Reality can be an honest way of leveling the playing field and while it will negatively impact the bottom line of the pros it's far better than introducing new game types to the stale online poker formula aimed specifically at reducing the edge players can gain and maximizing the rake they are paying (recent addition of Beat the Clock tournament to PokerStars offer comes to mind).

Bringing Back the Social Element of Poker

Tonkaaaap's video is a brilliant showcase of how much fun Virtual Reality poker can be. Players can simply converse or start hurling watermelons, money and beer bottles at each other. Automatic card shuffling, dealing, and placing bets makes it so that the pace of the game is noticeably faster than in normal live poker setting and the time limit on each play makes it so no one ever has to call the clock on another player.

Virtual Reality seems to be taking all that's best about the online and live poker and putting it into one neat package. Casual players don't have to fear giving away any tells since they are represented by a digital avatar and seasoned players can simply ignore all of the nonsense and enjoy making money just like they would in a live casino, but at a faster pace.

In the recent Reddit, AMA William Kassouf stressed the importance of the social element of poker and allowing players to express themselves at the table. Virtual Reality poker can be a brilliant way of bringing the online poker back to its humble live beginnings and we should all follow future Team NeverLucky YouTube videos about VR with great interest.