Rule error and other issues

[Dean]

I've noticed a few issues with this game, the first of which is a serious rules error:

1. When heads-up in a Hold'em/Omaha type game, the button should go to the small blind, NOT the big blind as you have it here. Please fix this ASAP, as it significantly distorts the dynamics of heads-up play.

2. There is no easy way to set up a cash game (unless I'm missing something). The only workaround I could find was to create a single table game with only one blind level. This sort of worked, except that eliminated players were never replaced. Don't these games have waiting lists ;)

3. The UI needs work, IMO, especially with respect to scaling and resizing. It may be my aspect ratio, but somehow I'm locked into a pseudo-full-screen mode where I can't grip the edges of the screen to resize it. (I can still put it into full-screen, which is worse as there's no way to undo it.) This also precludes any way to exit from the game without alt-tabbing out.

4. It would be nice to have some blind format presets instead of having to redo them every time you want a change. I know you can save them, but a default reset would be nice.

Most of these fall under the category of desirable amenities, but the first issue (small blind gets the button) should be addressed immediately.

Thanks!

[jonjwolfe]

Thank you for that feedback! I'll try to address each point, it means a lot when you provide feedback, I want to make this game fun for all, and try to address all issues, when reasonable to do so.

1. Thank you for catching that, it used to be something that worked correctly once upon a time, but I'm not sure when that changed. This will be fixed in a future update asap. There are a lot of pitfalls in "edge cases" for the poker rules for progression of the blinds and the button, so it's possible that fixing one of those edge cases broke the normal heads-up rules. One of the driving principles in designing the logic was fairness, in that the big-blind moves around the table each hand without "double dipping" any players and without skipping a player when a player leaves or joins the table. Most of the poker games out there don't do that. For example, in most poker game software, if you had the big blind to your right in one hand, and that big-blind player busted out, on the next hand, the big blind would skip you, and make you the small blind. Straight Up Poker won't do that, it will make sure that no one gets skipped for the big blind and also that no one has to be big blind or small blind more than once per orbit.

2. Cash games are an interesting request for a single player AI-based game. There is some limited cash game features in the multiplayer in the pro edition(non Steam). I can see the merit for career mode, providing cash game options as a way to build up your bankroll. I'll add an internal task to investigate this int he future, though I can't promise it will be soon.

3. A lot of effort goes into the UI, and trying to make sure it works on a variety of screen sizes. Small screens are really challenging, as you can imagine, there is a lot of information in a poker game that needs to be fit on the screen. Would you mind telling me what operating system and screen resolution you are running? Also, what type of games and how many players per table are you running? Rather than restrict the number of players per table, we're pretty permissive, but you may run into problems on small screens. One long term goal for a feature is to have a "extreme compact rendering" mode where there's a rendering mode of the game that's specifically designed for lots of players on very small screens. By the way, 'F11' will toggle full-screen mode. I'm also very curious about this "pseudo full screen mode" you mention. Most of the windows created in the game are resizable, and the mechanism for resizing them should be identical for any other window on your operating system. For certain windows, Straight Up Poker tries to remember the last size of that window type, and re-create new windows with that same size. Perhaps it is that mechanism that is causing you grief. I can add a new option to disable remembering Window sizes.

4. Coincidentally, a lot of work has gone into overhauling the Blinds and Stakes UI since the last release. So major polish is coming soon in that area. I completely agree it could be painful. Another feature that will be in the next release is that there is an optional banner display at the top of the table that shows you the current blinds, the upcoming blinds, and how long until those are in effect. Similarly, for mixed games, time until the next game type will be displayed. With the new UI improvements, it ought to be a lot easier to create stakes schedules from scratch, but even then, I plan to add some preset options. Ironically, there is one preset, the default stacks schedule, but it's not straightforward to restore that option. One planned feature in the not to distant future is for the ability to create a new game based on a prior saved game. Essentially, it will allow you to load a saved game file, and the game parameters and stakes schedules for that saved game will be re-used to create a brand new game. That's not quite the same thing as what you're asking about, but it will let players rapidly re-create their favorite game setups.

[jonjwolfe]

I should add that getting a good layout of the UI that works on small screens is exceptionally challenging, and has been a big part of why the mobile version has not been released yet. The game engine is 100% identical in the mobile version vs desktop, and the in-game UI uses very heavily shared code-bases, so one benefit is that work on the mobile version can improve small-screen performance on the desktop versions. The mobile version is more or less feature-complete for the planned set of initial features (which is a subset of the desktop versions), but getting a solid UI on a small screen is the main remaining challenge.

[jonjwolfe]

Hi Dean,
#1 and #4 in your comment should be addressed in the version that just dropped today, v 0.11.2.0.

Please let me know if you notice any incorrect blinds or dealer assignments, especially in heads-up play. Prior to this update, it would be correct *sometimes* and at other times, it would incorrectly assign the dealer as the large blind. It does get a little tricky when one or more players bust and that brings a table down to two players. It ought to enforce now that when in heads-up play, the dealer is *always* the small blind. The tricky part is trying to make sure in all cases the assignment is fair. In other words, no one should be assigned the big blind two hands in a row. Sometimes to do that, a player needs to deal twice in a row, which is fine.