Time for a new variant! It's been a while, hasn't it? Let me
introduce you to the joys of Double Flop hold 'em. It's just like regular Texas
hold 'em, but (after burning one card each time) you deal two flops, two turns
and two rivers instead of one. The pot is split between the best hands on each
of the boards.
Friends in your regular home game, who might be resistant
to playing Omaha hi-lo or Super Six card replace (because they are familiar
only with hold 'em), can be warmed up to the beautiful rainbow of poker
variants with a bit of double flop. There are no tricky new rules to learn,
only the excellent principles of variety and extra action.
Once you've sucked them in, how do you
take their money? As with any other split-pot game, your primary aim is to
"scoop", by winning both pots. Suited royal cards are the most promising,
because they might deliver you top pair or top two on one flop, with a big draw
on the other. High pairs are still good, but small pairs should be thrown away:
even if you flop a set on one of the boards, you're likely to have nothing on
the other.
If you hit big on one flop, try to keep the pot multi-way.
It's mathematically obvious: if you can only win half the pot, you want at
least three people contributing to it. If another opponent is betting
aggressively, don't reraise to isolate him unless you have a shot to win both
flops. If you aren't 100% sure that you're winning on one of the flops, fold
rather than play heads-up.
With that simple strategy, you can make a
profit at this brilliant game. And if you enjoy double flop, you'll love triple
. . .
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