Swap Holdem
Get rid of bad hole cards
APRIL 3 POKERCAST RECAP: WSOP.com will host a spring series with $4M in guarantees; Mike Postle files his response to the lawsuit, and PokerStars introduces Swap Hold'em. We also have a new O'Mally's Move and Vic's Hands of the Week Extravaganza continues. A swap is an agreement between players in the same tournament or cash game, in which the players swap a percentage of each’s winnings in the event. For example, if Doug and Ryan agree to a 10 percent swap in the WSOP Main Event, Doug cashes for $50,000 and Ryan cashes for $100,000, Ryan owes Doug $5,000 on the swap agreement (Doug gets 10 percent of Ryan’s $100,000, and Ryan gets 10. On Tuesday, PokerStars unvieled its latest game called Swap Hold'em, a game which allows players to swap cards at any point during the hand. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us.
On Tuesday, PokerStars introduced a new title called Swap Hold’em to the cash game lobby.
Swap Hold’em is a six-handed game that plays almost exactly the same as regular Texas Hold’em, with two hole cards, flop, turn, river, etc. The one sizable difference is that players can swap one or both hole cards out for new ones.
No Limit Swap Hold'em
players can swap one or both hole cards out for new ones
The poker variant is currently only available on the .UK and .NET clients, though it will roll out to other PokerStars jurisdictions “in due course.” PokerStars did not say if this is a permanent addition to the lobby or if it is a temporary game, like many of its novelty cash games.
Swap Hold’em is another in a long line of novelty cash games launched by the online poker room over the last couple of years. The most recent one before this latest release was Pot-Limit 6 Card Omaha, which went live a month ago.
Click a card, click a button
In Swap Hold’em, players can jettison one or both of their hole cards if they so choose when it is their turn to act. They can do this at any point in the hand, even after the river card is dealt. Hole card swapping can only be done once per hand.
selected cards hit the muck and the new cards appear
To swap a hole card, players must click on the card or cards they want to throw away. When the cards are selected, a “Swap” button lights up next to the regular betting buttons. Once that button is pushed, the selected cards hit the muck and the new cards appear. It was not made clear in the game’s announcement, but one would assume that swapped cards are not recycled back into the deck.
Swap Hold'em
The all-in cashout feature is not available in Swap Hold’em games.
One feature could confuse players
After playing Swap Hold’em for a while on the play money .NET PokerStars client, this writer found one mechanic to the game that some may find annoying.
During a betting round in which a player has yet to act and is facing a bet or raise that necessitates committing more chips in order to continue, the software requires that player to swap a card. In a normal Hold’em game, one could just fold right away, but here, a card must be swapped first and then the hand can be folded.
likely that PokerStars is giving players the opportunity to improve their hole cards before making a decision
It is similar to how check is the option instead of fold if one is in the big blind and nobody raises pre-flop. It is likely that PokerStars is giving players the opportunity to improve their hole cards before making a decision, a sort of “freeroll” for new hole cards, but it can be annoying to the player. Sometimes, one just wants to fold and be done with the hand.
ByIt has been a while since PokerStars introduced a new game, a new variant of online poker. The development team put quite a few new ones out into the online poker sphere in 2018 and through the first half of 2019, but they slowed down a bit in the latter part of last year.
The latest offering is Swap Hold’em. It is a version of Texas Hold’em, available currently on the PokerStars UK client and on the free-play PokerStars.net. The new game will make its way to the dot-com market, as well as EU and others, in the coming months.
What Is Swap Hold'em
For whatever reason, PokerStars had been planning this rollout for more than six months.
They've been sat on this for more than six months. Obviously just waiting for the perfect time.https://t.co/4rmbOKogTv
— Nick Jones (@pokerprojones) March 17, 2020
We noted back in November 2019 that Swap Hold’em was due for a release “soon.”
The game is one of PokerStars’ limited-time cash game variants, not to be offered in tournament form and not to become a permanent part of the lineup. It is likely to last at least a few months, though, depending upon player feedback.
What is Swap Hold’em?
The ability to swap hole cards is something that many players have longed to do. In Swap Hold’em, they can do so…with some important caveats.
In basic terms, players can swap one or both of their hole cards once per hand. And they can do so before the flop or after it. There is no need to swap any cards, but if a player does it, they will be able to see the cards they discarded by hovering over their own swap icon next to their avatar.
There is no charge to swap one or both hole cards once per hand.
Players can see if their opponents have swapped one or both cards, as there is an icon near each player’s avatar containing that information.
Swap Hold'em Strategy
It's early days (minutes?) in Swap Hold'em GTO strat but I'm guessing this is horrible. @OfficialOPPokerpic.twitter.com/55hBcA8D53
— Nick Jones (@pokerprojones) March 17, 2020
It is possible to simply fold out of a hand, but a player must swap cards before doing so. It gives them one last chance to make a playable hand before folding.
The only requirement to play Swap Hold’em is to play a minimum number of hands before being able to sit out or leave without incurring a time penalty. The goal of this rule is to keep players from taking advantage of other players or playing too many tables. As this is a limited-time game, everyone should have a chance to compete.