Texas Hold'em Junior

Replay Poker Poker Discussion
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I had an idea today. For months, this forum has been discussing bingo play, high skilled players beating up on the lower stakes tables, and similar topics. It got me thinking with my Game Designer hat on, and I came up with a variant of Hold 'Em that might interest players who would like to outlaw certain types of players.

I call it Texas Hold’em Junior.

The way it works, everyone at the table must ante a BB ahead of the flop. There’s no raising pre-flop. Everyone is in to see the flop for exactly one BB. The flop consists of all 5 streets, all at once, no rounds of betting the flop, turn, and river. Once you see all five cards, you can look at your hand and see what it made, and bet accordingly. Bet as much as you want, raise as much as you want. Then everyone shows and whoever has the best hand wins the pot, ties of course chop.

I don’t see this as a better or more fun version of the game of Hold’em, and probably it’d get boring pretty quickly, but it might work as a training game for players who would like to see what their starting cards would make, and are frustrated when other players bet too high for them to feel comfortable calling.

After you’ve had enough of that, then you can start to appreciate the game elements that were removed from NLHE, and maybe start to appreciate betting on the streets and preflop.

A less extreme version of Hold’em Junior would be to allow betting on each street after the flop, but have no preflop action other than the mandatory BB ante.

If nothing else it’d be interesting to play sometime and see how the game feels.

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This is probably the worst idea I have ever heard, maybe the worst in history. No offense intended. You know I love you. :slight_smile:

If you call this anything with “Texas” in the name, expect Texas to get mad, and with good reason. It’s not Holdem either. It’s not poker at all.

Maybe if you called it New Jersey Scratch-Off Lottery. But no, then New Jersey would probably sue you, and with good reason.

If you ever see me playing such a game, do me a big favor and shoot me. Thanks!

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I’m glad you get it :slight_smile:

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Sadly, there are still folks here 'bouts that would not be happy unless the best two down cards win 85% of the time, and pocket aces every time.
That’s why I suggest a fixed bet, two cards delt, the best two, win. It would go really fast and as puggywug suggested would have players jonesing for real holdem in no time.

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There’s a Hold ‘Em variant that I came up with that I’ll occasionally bring into my friends’ monthly “dealers choice” games. We call it Philly Hold 'Em.

Everyone is dealt four cards preflop. After a round of betting, but before the flop, anyone still in the hand must discard one of their four cards. A three-card community flop is then dealt, followed by a round of betting, similar to Texas and Omaha. After that round of betting is complete, but before any other cards are dealt, all players still in the hand must discard one of their three remaining cards. A one-card turn is then dealt, and the rest of the hand plays out as in Texas Hold 'Em.

Usually we’ll play this as a limit game, with a maximum of four raises on each street (quarter preflop, half dollar flop and turn, and dollar on the river), but I could see it working as a NL game too.

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Another idea would be Hold’em Zero. Nobody gets any cards, and all the players discuss who deserves to have chips and who doesn’t. After this, the chips would be redivided according to the consensus of the table.

Then, before any more hands are played, the chips would be redistributed evenly to all players according to sound socialist ideals.

This way, nobody would win and nobody would lose, and we could all live in perfect equality!

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Excellent! Everybody gets a stack of “participation chips” as a parting gift! :rofl:

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All bets, even if no one calls, are raked. The rake is distributed to the other people around the table.

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This would be more interesting if the discard had to be laid down face up, giving everyone still in the hand more information. Mucks could still be face down. I’d give it a try either way.

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I thought the Achievements were participation chip?

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This sounds like an expanded version of Pineapple Hold’em (three in hand, discard 1 preflop), with an extra card to discard AFTER the flop. That could be very interesting. I’d try that once or twice. The betting is the same as Hold’em? Probably a lot more straight and flush draws. Big pairs would be more likely. Do lower pairs play weaker than in Hold’em because of that? I’m not so sure about putting the discards face up; being the only one who knows what we threw away might be a strategic advantage. I would definitely want to play this as a LIMIT game at least until everybody knew what they were doing.

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I think you have your Game Designer hat on too tight.

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