Thinking About Rush Poker Strategies

Rush Poker* is an innovative poker variant of Full Tilt Poker that allows players to see four times as many cards as in a regular game.

There is no huge learning curve for poker* in Rush, it plays more like a regular game of poker, only faster. However, Rush Poker* has some idiosyncrasies which mean that the style of play is slightly different.

In a normal game of poker, your personal game speed has little effect on the number of hands you play in an hour. In Rush Poker* this is far from the case. A very fast player may see twice as many cards per hour than the average player.

Rush Poker* has an innovative feature that allows players to fold cards out of order: the quick fold button. For example, if you have 2-3 on the button, you have an opportunity to fold before the action happens. Once you fold, you are immediately moved to a new table and dealt a new hand. Players will not know that you have chosen to fold a two-three of another suit out of sequence, as they will not see you fold until the action occurs.

Most of the unique strategies involved in Rush Poker* are based on the Quick Fold feature. Although players cannot see your decision to fold cards out of sequence, the speed of your action gives them a hunch that you have done so. Exiting a hand very quickly is a reliable indicator of out-of-order folding. Casual players and seasoned pros alike drop boundaries: Casual players see more playable hands per hour, while seasoned pros increase their win rate per hour.

The pros are ready to get everyone’s win-per-hand ratio up to adding a small pass to see more hands per hour. In my opinion, out-of-bounds withdrawals will only result in a small increase in the odds of winning each hand. Some pros play many hands of Rush Poker* every day and are quite familiar with the player pool. These pros probably know who is often playing cards out of sequence, recognize that these players may take some action, and pay little attention to the actions of other players.

You should only fold if you fold in the series. Be sure your hand will be profitable. Let’s say you have 5-6 different suits in the small blind. The first instinct is sometimes to move quickly to the next hand. However, you may find yourself in a situation where almost everyone at the table just calls. In this case, you should call and try to connect your hand.

If you play at these tables, you will notice that most players gradually fold. To me, this shows that some strategies that are bad or bad in normal games can be good in Rush Poker*. For example, in Rush Poker, level-based strategies gain value. Sometimes you and the other players at the table just check, but the big blind must fold out of order! A good strategy in Rush Poker* is to simply check from early position, with a mix of super premium hands and speculative hands that usually fold.

In Rush Poker*, as in any other form, the following rules apply. In poker, your best strategy is to go against the tide of the table. Play fast when everyone else is playing tight, and play tight when everyone else is playing fast. Rush Poker* seems to allow players to only play super hands without being easily perceived as super tight by other players. If you feel like the players on your team are doing it, you should go against the flow. Simply steal the blinds for high equity. Against a group of super tight Rush Poker* players, you should develop a strategy that includes raising as many different hands as possible, especially if you are in late position. This way you will steal a lot of blinds. The caveat to this strategy is that if you are in hide, you should only proceed with your best hands. If you are about to be called, you should only act if the flop is played particularly hard.