Legal Online Poker For American Players!
I've discovered a U.S.-based company that offers a very interesting poker game that is, apparently, legal to play online. The reason that it's legal is that it's a "skill game" rather than a game of chance. The game is Texas Holdem, but with a twist. The game is played "duplicate" style, similar to Duplicate Bridge.
The way it works is that there are always multiple tables involved. All of the players in a given seat get the same cards. That is, if you are in Seat 1 you get the same cards as everyone else in Seat 1 at the other tables and so on around the table. The flop, turn and river are identical at each table. The difference between this and other poker games is that you aren't trying to beat the players at your TABLE, but rather are competing with all of the other players in your SEAT. At the beginning of each hand each player antes a specified amount. At the end of each hand, your stack is compared to everyone else in your seat and the antes are distributed according to the amount of chips each player has in relation to the other players in the same seat. After everything has been settled up, each player's table stack is topped up, everyone antes again and play continues.
It's quite an interesting poker variant, although to be really successful you're going to probably need to adjust your strategy a bit. Remember, the objective is to WIN MORE ot LOSE LESS than the other people with the same cards. Actually beating the other people at your table isn't as important as playing the hand the right way. By way of example, I actually busted out of a tournament with a king-high straight flush because I didn't extract as many chips from the people at my table as the other people in my seat did!
It sounds much more complicated than it is. Go ahead and click the link below and sign up for free. Once you're signed up you can play in the play money games to get a sense of how the game is played. Even better, try one of the free roll tournaments for a chance to win real money!
