Published on September 11th, 2005, 3:13 pm EST

Poker Stars is well known for its deal making at the end of major tournaments. Often, when a big tournament gets down to 3-5 people, a deal will be made. Let's say first place gets 100,000, second gets 50,000 and third place gets $30,000; often times, a deal will be reached that divides the money up, and then leaves a small amount to the eventually winner. For instance, if all three players remaining had 500,000 in chips, they may take the $180,000 and divide it 3 ways, while leaving maybe $10,000 to whoever does end up winning eventually.

Some poker players are publicly against this kind of deal-making, most notably Daniel Negreanu. He will NOT negotiate any kind of deal in any kind of circumstances.

Deal-making is fine for the people involved, as they are guaranteeing themselves a certain level of money, but it greatly detracts from the game. The level of intensity and drama is significantly lessened when a deal has been made. All of a sudden, people go all-in with hands they wouldn't have pushed with without a deal. It really takes away from the drama of the game. Party Poker has announced that they will be allowing this type of deal-making in the future, as part of an effort to make their site more user-friendly. The question is, what do you all think of deal-making?


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