[Dire]

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I don't see how the poker sites raising the min buy-in would kill online poker. The SS'ers could move down a level if they don't want ot risk the new min buy-in. At least get rid of the 20bb'ers. They are the most scummy people and where my hate for the SS is coming from.

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Short stacking is a means of reducing the skill involved in play. Forcing deep stacks on players means forcing postflop play which means worse players lose their roll much faster. Eg - say somebody's short stacking at $100 for $20. Say they have a hand like 99 - they can easily put the vast majority of the money in preflop. They'll occasionally be 80:20, but usually they'll be a bit better than a coin flip. So they can get a reasonable expectation of something like .6 or an EV of $4.

Now put that player in a $25 game with $20 and 99 again. They can't get anywhere near the vast majority in preflop unless they're already way behind. Postflop, they'll have to actually play and they'll usually have at least 90% of their stack behind them still. He's going to have an extremely hard time getting that .6 equity with his 99 unless he can actually play decently postflop, and if he could play decently postflop - he wouldn't be shortstacking in the first place.

So it's not just the amount of money - it's their ability to play the game. Getting rid of short stacks makes it extremely difficult for the bad players to not rapidly lose their money. I hate short stacks as much as the next guy (and probably a bit more), but I think they're a necessary evil. Get rid of short stacks and you'll see the fish start dying out rapidly and/or just converting to set mining nits.