Duplicate Poker

Duplicate Poker is a fairly new online poker room using a very different approach than the other online poker rooms. This site came about, in my opinion, as an attempt to create a poker room that could not be considered illegal by US laws.

They did this by using some concepts applied to tournament bridge. The short-term luck of what cards you are dealt, allow lawmakers to group poker in the “games of chance” category, and thus, gambling. Bridge tournaments dealt with this idea years ago.

In bridge tournaments this duplicate concept is applied. You compete against the other players who were dealt the same hands. Your score is a comparison to how you did in the same hand. The idea was to remove the short-term luck of being dealt the better hands during the tournament.

Duplicate Poker does the same thing. You need the same number of players and at least two tables. The cards will be dealt identically to both tables. If you are sitting in seat two you are really playing against the other players at seat 2 at other tables.

Everyone starts each hand with equal betting chips. After each hand you will score points based on your performance in that hand compared to other players in you seat at the other tables. You will continue like this for what is called a session of play.

You are paid based on your ranking against the other players who played in the same seat. They have formulas do play this in three basic formats. You can play cash games, sit n go’s, and tournaments. Each of these three variants of duplicate poker has a long version, and a short version. Kind of like the regular, and turbo formats we see in other poker rooms.

The idea of the game is to play your hands better than the other players at your seat at the other tables. A payout structure is set up to reflect this. So, this is different than regular poker. It will take some learning to understand how to win in this type of format.

At this early stage of development, the only game played is Texas holdem. In time this will probably expand. Remember, this is a new form of poker altogether, and will need some time.

I found one interesting note on the legality issue. US players can play only if your state allows fee-based contests. They list 11 states where the law will not allow you to legally play duplicate poker. If you try to deposit, you will find out if your state is one of the unlucky ones.

I must admit that I find it funny that I am playing at a few sites, not illegally, as I understand it, and am not allowed to play by the poker room that advertises that it is legal for US players to play. LOL, when will this mess get fixed?

So, if you live in the right state, you can play duplicate poker. It is very new and has a small player base. The idea seems interesting, but since I live in Florida, and can’t play myself, I can’t speak to that.