Hot on the heels of Split Hold'em we are launching Showtime Hold'em - another new cash game format designed to get players questioning their strategy and thinking outside of the box. Showtime Hold'em is a brand new format of poker at PokerStars. This year is full of innovations for the room, and this is one of them. This type of poker will be available only for a limited period and it differs from traditional hold'em in that player's pocket cards become visible as soon as the player drops his hand. PokerStars new Showtime Hold’em game could be one of the better variants of NL Hold’em trialled by the site this spring, as it incentivises players to be more observant about their opponents’ cards. Players who take advantage of the extra information available could find Showtime Hold´em extremely lucrative. Fusion and Showtime Hold’em reincarnated in tournament format. Showtime Hold'em debuted back in May, ending the run of Split Hold'em — double-board hold'em wherein the strongest hand on each board earned half of the pot. In Showtime, players who folded have.
| @PokerStars | In News
Hot on the heels of Split Hold'em we are launching Showtime Hold'em - another new cash game format designed to get players questioning their strategy and thinking outside of the box.
As I mentioned in my previous blog post, we are focused on developing exciting twists on classic games that we think have the potential to both engage current poker players and bring back those who may have drifted away from the game as it became predictable or stale for them.
Showtime Hold'em will be extremely easy to grasp for anybody familiar with No Limit Hold'em. It is, in fact, the same game with one small but significant change. When you fold, your cards are shown face up to your opponents and will remain that way for the rest of the hand!
Will conservative players be forced to loosen up to avoid being labelled as nits? Will aggressive players still be able to represent strong hands with multiple cards exposed? Will you keep bluffing the opponent folding big hands... until they catch on?
Testing the game internally was a lot of fun and I'm confident that Showtime Hold'em will provide loads of exciting moments as new dynamics emerge and players learn to play with more and more information as a hand develops. As with Split Hold'em, this game will not be a permanent addition to the PokerStars offering so play while you can!
We will continue to use the Seat Me system which means that when taking your seat at a Showtime Hold'em table, instead of manually choosing a table and a seat, you simply choose the stake that you want to play. For more information on Seat Me please see this previous blog post.
Dan Price, Ring Games Manager
In a move that likely came as a disappointment to some, but hopefully a surprise to nobody, PokerStars removed the specialty game Showtime Hold’em from its cash game lobby on Monday. This was a scheduled change and is something that PokerStars has done before. The more interesting thing is that the online poker room has teased a new game, “Unfold.”
Players Couldn’t Hide in Showtime Hold’em
Showtime Hold’em was introduced in May and the play while a person was active in a hand was exactly the same as any other hold’em game. The massive difference came in when a player folded. Upon folding, a player’s hole cards were turned face up for the duration of the hand.
Thus, every time someone folded, everyone who was still remaining in the hand had more and more information. In a game of missing information, that is quite a big deal. Of course, all players at the table have the information, so it is even in that regard – what it comes down to is how players use that information.
Having to reveal hole cards upon folding also had the potential to affect how people played at the table going forward. Someone like me who is a total nit would be found out as a total nit. Would I have to loosen up my starting hand requirements to throw off my opponents? Would I perhaps be able to use that image to my advantage and pull off a big bluff later? The opposite holds true, too, as players who play garbage hands could easily be found out. The twist made for some interesting table dynamics and possible fluctuations in playing styles during a session.
Showtime Hold’em replaced another temporary cash game offering, Split Hold’em. In Split Hold’em, two sets of community cards were dealt and players had to form the winning five-card hand with both in order to win the entire pot. Split pots were common with one player winning the top board and one player winning the bottom board.
Showtime Hold'em
Unfold Intrigue
And now poker fans are waiting to find out what the deal is (no pun intended) with something called Unfold.
Showtime Hold'em Pokerstars
In a blog post yesterday, PokerStars said, “But, as one game steps down, the crew of poker remixologists at PokerStars finish cooking up something new to add to the rotation. No comment for now, but we reserve the right to reverse that statement – or Unfold it, if you will – very soon.”
Similarly, the poker room tweeted, “The eagle-eyed among you have noticed something new. We don’t comment on potential, unannounced future game features. However, we reserve the right to reverse this statement — or unfold it, if you will — in the near future.”
Showtime Holdem
No further details were released, leaving players wondering what this new game could be. The obvious guess is that players may have the chance to “unfold” their hand and retrieve their mucked cards at some point. One would have to think that the privilege of doing that will come with a price. What price that will be and, for that matter, what Unfold will actually be all about, remains to be seen.