Introducing Potnopine Hold'em:The exciting future of tournament poker

Introducing Potnopine Hold'em:The exciting future of tournament poker
By Rolf Slotboom


In poker, there are three games that can be considered tournaments' main games: limit hold'em (or stud), pot-limit Omaha and no-limit hold'em. While each of these games are in fact fascinating, they also suffer from some drawbacks. Lots of players find limit poker too boring, pot-limit poker too difficult and no-limit poker too dangerous.

In this new game I've created, I have tried to combine the strengths of each individual structure into one new, exciting game. The result: Potnopine Hold'em. Potnopine Hold'em is a fast and exciting poker game, combining all kinds of poker structures into one (balanced) game.

The game is played just like hold'em: there are four betting rounds and at the showdown two, one or even none of the hole cards can be used to claim the pot. Before the flop the betting is just like in any other limit poker game. After the flop the limits double right away (that is, if the blinds are $10 and $20, then the betting units on the flop are $40 instead of the usual $20), on the turn pot-limit betting is possible and no-limit on the river.

On top of that, the game is played pineapple-style. Rather than two hole cards, everybody gets four. One of these is discarded before the flop (after the first betting round), and another one on the flop (after the second betting round). On the turn and river everybody has two cards left and the betting then becomes pot-limit (turn) and no-limit (river). The combination of all this should result in a fast-action, yet highly skillful game where everything is possible.

Because the betting in the early rounds is rather small compared to the later rounds and because everybody gets four cards rather than the usual two, people will be more inclined to call or raise than to fold. Rocks who try to wait patiently for the best hand will have trouble beating this game if they are not proficient at playing the later betting rounds.

Deception is very important in this game. If you raise before the flop with two aces only, people will call you on the early (cheap) betting rounds, trying to snap you off on the later (expensive!) rounds. It's impossible to go all-in with aces before the flop (like often happens in no-limit hold'em), so we get to play here, rather than make it a shove-it-in-and-see-who-wins contest.

Potnopine Hold'em might prove to be the (exciting) future of tournament poker, as it combines action, mathematics, deception, patience, aggression and bluffing opportunities (basically everything poker is all about) into one game.

The rules of the game:

Before the flop:

• Two blinds, each player gets four cards
  
• Betting round # 1: limit betting, just like in limit hold'em or Omaha
  
• Each player releases one cards (three cards left)
  

Flop:

• Betting round # 2: double limit betting (if the bet would have been $20 in limit hold'em, it is $40 now)
  
• Each player releases one additional card (two hole cards left, just like in regular hold'em)
  

Turn:

• Betting round # 3: pot-limit betting; it is possible to bet any amount now up to the size of the pot
  

River:

• Betting round # 4: no-limit betting; there are no limits on the betting, everybody can bet any amount he or she wishes
  

The structure of the game "Potnopine Hold'em" was created by Rolf Slotboom. Rolf is currently involved in getting the game started in Austria, where pineapple-poker has just been introduced.
The first ever tournament recently took place in Poker World, Vienna. For a report on the event, see my article
Fresh hold'em game lightens up Vienna.