E-PokerUSA: Creates a Legal Version Of Online Texas Hold'em
e-PokerUSA's Texas Hold'em Game
Here's the idea. The game is regular Texas Hold'em. Let's say you're at Table 1, Seat 1. You're dealt two cards, and you play them just like you would in regular Hold'em. Let's say you were dealt Ace-King. One of your opponents has Ace-2. An ace flops, and you beat out your opponent, winning 500 chips.
What makes e-PokerUSA different is that at another table, everybody has the exact same hand. Somebody else also has Ace-King. This person is called your duplicate. And your duplicate's opponent also has Ace-2. They also have the exact same flop. However, your duplicate with the exact same hand as you was only able to win 300 chips with his Ace-King. There will be 3 or 4 duplicate tables with the exact same cards.
The goal of the game is not to win the hand at your table, but to outperform all of the people in your situation. Since you won 500 chips with your Ace-King, but your opponent only won 300 chips with his Ace-King, you are the winner that hand. You are then given Victory Points based on how much you beat your duplicates by.
e-PokerUSA Texas Hold'em Praise
The concept is great to me. How often do people complain that their cards are bad? Well in e-PokerUSA, your cards don't matter. What matters is how well you play them.
I've also run into many people who say, "I could have played that hand better". I'm even guilty of doing this. E-PokerUSA makes you put your money where you're mouth is. You're truly judged on how well you play the hand.
e-PokerUSA Texas Hold'em Flaws
While I love the concept, e-PokerUSA has some major flaws that ruin the game. First, there is a huge advantage to folding pre-flop. Let's say I fold pre-flop and lose 0 chips on the hand. But my duplicate bets to make it to the flop, but then folds after a bad flop, which is typical play, especially if nobody raises pre-flop. So my duplicate loses 20 chips on the hand. By e-PokerUSA's formula, I earn victory points because I did better on the hand.
Also, the game is too largely affected the your opponents at your table. If I get a table where somebody is extremely aggressive pre-flop, I may have to fold a decent hand to a monstrous raise. But my duplicate might get to see the flop cheap. When our cards show on the flop, my duplicate beats me, but only because I was at the table where somebody bullied me out. My strategy is wise by Texas Hold'em standards. Eventually e-PokerUSA will need to tweak to account for this.
Finally, when you have a great hand, you are very much at the whim of who calls you. If I get pocket aces and go all in and only get one caller, but my duplicate goes all in and gets two callers, then the duplicate wins (assuming we win the hand). But that doesn't take skill; that takes getting called.
e-PokerUSA Texas Hold'em Overall
e-PokerUSA is fun, but it's flaws will irk most Texas Hold'em players. They have some free rolls, and are essentially the only poker game available in the United States. So they are worth trying. But the game isn't there yet. With a little tweaking though, e-PokerUSA could be great. Perhaps by fixing the fold advantage and by instituting limit poker (All-in's seem to ruin the game), e-PokerUSA could be the future of Texas Hold'em in the United States.
Published by Scott Schlimmer
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- e-PokerUSA
- e-PokerUSA claims to be legal in the United States
- For each hand you get, there is somebody at another table playing the exact same hand.
- The goal of the game is not to win the hand at your table, but to outperform your duplicates.
8 Comments
Post a CommentI believe all texas holdem is a game of skill. There are only 52 cards and in every situation the math is pretty simple over time. Bluffing and bad beats should be predictable occurances based on the overall odds spread accross a number of hands. I think we would all be willing to pay some reasonable amount of taxes, say whenever you cash out only, if the gov would take oversight of a site that everyone could use. Why are we trying to change the game? If the sites could be trusted not to steal and the gov could somehow fairly tax it, they should re-open one like before.
I believe all texas holdem is a game of skill. There are only 52 cards and in every situation the math is pretty simple over time. Bluffing and bad beats should be predictable occurances based on the overall odds spread accross a number of hands. I think we would all be willing to pay some reasonable amount of taxes, say whenever you cash out only, if the gov would take oversight of a site that everyone could use. Why are we trying to change the game? If the sites could be trusted not to steal and the gov could somehow fairly tax it, they should re-open one like before.
What good news! I expect that the game will be great when these issues are addressed.
The legality of duplicate poker being treated as a game of skill has not yet been ruled on by a court of law. E-pokerUSA has opinions by two leading gambling law attorneys, Chuck Humphrey and I. Nelson Rose, that say they believe duplicate poker to be a game of skill because the "luck of the draw" from the cards has been eliminated. The company is also treated as a skill game by financial institutions that do business with it.
I am a professional poker player and writer who is a consultant to the company. We are continually trying to improve our product by upgrading our execution of the basic idea. A number of these improvements will be implemented soon on the e-PokerUSA website.
I actually question the legality. But E-poker seems to think it's legal. Not sure I'm up for that, but maybe one day!
I think you should just execute your own idea on that subject.
I don't know. I love the idea; it's just poorly executed.
Would I be correct in asuming that you're a bit irked by this new form of the Texas Holdem game Scott?