Winamax Launches Anonymous Cash Game Tables

The French online poker market leader Winamax recently introduced anonymous cash game tables called Incognito Tables.  Players are able to sit at these anonymous games, which are available at all stakes, and are assigned a name "Incognito 1" through "Incognito 10" depending on where they are sitting on the table.
 
Non-anonymous games are still available in the poker client, giving players a choice of which types of tables they wish to play at.

Anonymous games are nothing new to online poker, with many sites incorporating some anonymous features in hopes of protecting recreational customers.  For example, PartyPoker and Microgaming offer anonymous heads-up tables and the iPoker Network offers a much wider variety of anonymous games.
 
Winamax has taken steps in the past in hopes of appeasing its recreational player base.  For one, the site allows players to change their screen names every six months, making an opponent's HUD less effective.  Second, the site was one of the first to introduce lottery-style games when it launched Expresso in 2013.
 
Anonymous games typically have a mixed reaction from the poker community.  Many feel that removing the effectiveness of poker tracking software and seating scripts benefits the recreational player.  While a player may not be targeted as a fish and exploited when game play begins, he will also not have information on his opponents.  There could be a shark sitting right next to a recreational player such that if he were identifiable, a player could change seats or avoid play against this stronger person.

Likewise, recreational players will have limited information about weaker opponents they could normally exploit from the moment game play begins.  Maybe this is all a positive since live poker is typically about game flow and not about what stats you might have on a player from playing against him in the past.
 
Many recreational players do not like the idea of anonymous tables since they do not have the fun atmosphere these types of players enjoy while playing.  The chat box on the Winamax Incognito tables is fully removed, for example, taking away the friendly banter that normally occurs.
 
Professional players do not like these tables since they lose an edge by not being able to identify the best tables to play at.  And even though regular games are still available, the liquidity of them is reduced when anonymous games at the same game and stakes exist.
 
The liquidity in games is something not only concerning for poker players, but also for the poker operators themselves.  When games spread too thin, they could turn tables with games that typically run non-stop into completely abandoned tables.
 
Check out these games on Winamax and see for yourself whether you like them.

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