Home / Online Poker Site Reviews 2018-2019 / Party Poker / Double Hold’em
Updated
Tue, 2010-10-12 10:28
PartyPoker New Addition - Double Hold’em
Party Poker
Promotion
 |
Deposit Bonus:
100% up to $50 + $50
|
|
US Accepted |
Quite probably meant as a response to Full Tilt Poker’s Rush Poker, PartyPoker’s Double Holdem opens up new strategic possibilities in Holdem, by giving players 3 hole cards instead of the usual 2.
Full Tilt Poker’s introduction of Rush Poker has placed an unprecedented kind of pressure on the site’s competitors: the pressure of innovation. The second that Rush Poker came out, I was convinced that other sites would follow suit and – since the game had been trademarked by Full Tilt – would attempt to invent their version of Rush Poker. Sure enough, PartyPoker’s announcement of its Double Hold'em feature comes to confirm my suspicions: the online poker world is alive and kicking, looking to mimic and in the same time to hopefully trump the moves of the industry leaders.
Quick briefing on what you need to know about Double Hold'emDouble Hold’em is basically
Texas Hold'em with three hole-cards. That’s right. All players pick up 3 hole cards after the blinds are posted, one of which they’ll have to assign as their point-card past the flop. Before the flop, the action unfolds in the usual way. The blinds are posted, the preflop betting action takes place and eventually the first 3 of the 5 community cards are dealt onto the table. That is when things stray off the beaten path. Players are requested to appoint a point-card, one of the three hole cards they were dealt. Once it’s picked, the point card takes up middle position in their pocket hands and it is slightly raised. From that point on, players have two separate pocket hands: one formed by the point-card and the hole card on its left and the other by the point-card and the hole-card on its right. The two non-point hole cards cannot be used together. At the end of the hand, only one pocket hand will be used, the one which makes the stronger hand with the board. Now then, if players fail to pick a point-card on the flop in the time-frame designated for this purpose, the software will pick it for them automatically. Usually, the highest card will be picked as the point-card. If there are two cards of the same value, the one which is of the same suit as one of the other hole-cards will be selected. (if you have Jh, 4h, Jc the Jh will be your point-card).
If none of the 3 hole-cards are of the same suit, but two of them are of the same face value, then the one with the highest face value and suit will be picked. The rest of the hand (the turn and the river) will play out the usual way. At showdown, only one pocket hand will be used from each player, the one that makes the highest 5-card hand, the other pocket hand will be discarded.
Players can use both hole cards (from their qualifying pocket hand) in combination with 3 of the community cards. They can use either the point card or the other hole card from their qualifying pocket-hand in combination with 4 community cards, or they can use the 5 community cards in their showdown hand.
If two players tie, the pot will be split and the non-qualifying pocket hand will NOT be considered as a tie-breaker. How well the public receives Double-Holdem remains to be seen. Will it surpass Rush poker in popularity, (the potential is certainly there) or will it be shrugged off as a lame attempt to innovate under pressure? I for one have already given it a go.
Double Holdem can be played for play money and real money too, in FL and NL structures.
