PokerStars Adds Split Hold’em for a Limited Time

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Have you ever played a double board Texas Hold’em or Omaha game at your local home game? These games can generate some crazy action and some massive pots. PokerStars, the World’s Largest Poker Site, recognizes this and has decided to debut their first double-board poker game.

Their new Split Hold’em game is an exciting variant of the world’s most popular game and is likely to bring in a crowd of players that are looking for more action but in a way that is familiar.

What is Split Hold’em?

Split Hold’em is essentially Texas Hold’em played with two boards. You get two hole cards just like in Hold’em, but afterward, you are dealt two flops, then two turns and then two rivers.

At showdown, the pot is split and divided between the winner of two hands. For example, if Player A is the winner on the first board, he gets half the pot. Player B would then get the other half if he wins the other pot.

The only way to scoop the entire pot in this game is to either make players fold prior to showdown or somehow manage to win both hands.

This is different from “running it twice” like you sometimes see in cash games. Running it twice is done after players are all-in during a hand and the hands are run out one after another. In Split Hold’em, both hands are dealt in tandem. It’s basically playing two hands of Hold’em at the same time but with just one set of hole cards.

As Dan Price of the PokerStars Blog stated, Split Hold’em, a new cash game format that will give players thrilling moments, some fun decisions, and all while exploring a whole new strategy.

In addition, PokerStars announced that they will be using their “Seat Me” system for these games. What this means is that all you need to do to play in these games is select the stakes you want to play. The software will then automatically select a table and seat you in the first available open seat.

What Strategy to Employ?

It will be interesting to see how players adapt their strategy to this game considering that there will be two boards each time. Knowing this, players will likely try and take advantage of trap play moves more often such as set-mining.

In addition, we will probably see a number of players try and gamble a bit more often with hands such as suited connectors and connected straight cards. It’s almost a given that we will see many more players going to the flop as they now have two boards to try and connect to rather than one.

However, players must also consider the fact that this variant is essentially a split-pot game, meaning that they will often be playing for only half the pot at best. As such, just because you set mine and connect on one board doesn’t mean you’re going to scoop.

Bluffing to try and take down the pot on later streets will be a very profitable skill when successful but will likely result in larger swings when players do so unsuccessfully. According to Price, “Split Hold’em has already provoked a lot of internal discussion around the best strategy, so we can’t wait to see how players adapt.”

Game Only Available for a Limited Time

While this game is a fun and innovative new offering from PokerStars, it is also a “limited time offer.” According to the blog, this game will not be a permanent addition to the site, so players will have to play now or risk being left out.

Granted, this may just be a ploy by the site to try and boost number at the Split Hold’em tables. Like with any poker site, should this variant prove popular enough, you can expect to be a permanent fixture of the site in the future.