Comment by tom_
1 day ago
The money is a countable resource that players are motivated to win and not to lose. The game can be played with a substitute, but it doesn't pan out the same way, because the players don't have the same relationship to other kinds of token. (Same applies to playing for pennies. The amounts have to be at least somewhat meaningful.)
> (Same applies to playing for pennies. The amounts have to be at least somewhat meaningful.)
That's kind of an issue, though. Richer players are advantaged, as are seasoned players who are used to lose large amounts of money. That's not really related to game skills, since there is no way to ensure that players bet something equally valuable to them, which in your reasoning means that some players start with an advantage.
This mostly gets avoided with maximum buyin limits on tables. Sure someone can accrue well over that amount, but that's part of cash poker too (dealing with players with large stacks).
Obviously players with much larger bankrolls can weather variance better, but that should even out at pretty much any table a player should reasonably be at (don't play stakes you can't afford where losing the money severely negatively impacts your life).
Richer players can keep losing for longer than you could, but that's fine: that means more money for you to win!