Think hearthstone.

Rules:

Before the cards are dealt, the small blind gets the option every hand to 5x the bb.

If they do (or call any pre-flop re-raises to the 5x) they then get the option to bet / check / or *replace* either the turn or the river card with a new burn and turned card!!!

Everything else is played the same.

This blind bet "hero power" is only available to the small blind because they will always have the worse position / first to act every hand.

*if the small blind doesn't use it, possibly make it available to other positions, in order, to the first one that blind 10x's the bb? Or remove this option entirely, and leave it just for the small blind.

I feel this will improve the action and bore-factor of NL tremendously, and there can be a multitude plays made.

ie) replace the turn card to give your hand more outs / level your opponent / or take away his outs.

Thoughts?

I don't get it

Have you tried this in a home game?

Small blind has the option to put out a 5 times the big blind raise before the cards are dealt. $10 in a 1/2 game.

This grants the small blind a "hero power"

Pre-flop action then starts on the big blind and closes with the small blinds option.

The hero power gives the small blind the option to take the immediate turn/river card and place it into the muck and have a new card dealt.

The small blind can use this hero power once per hand, replacing either the turn, or river.

*you can't go back and replace the turn once the river is out. You only have the option to change the card as soon as it hits the board.

So, Pokerstars power up?

A feature taken from that game mode, yes.

Some examples why this would be bad ass.

1) more money into the pot preflop = more action

2) let's say you missed your flush draw, you can take a new card for a chance at it.

3) let's say your opponent hits his draw and you want to protect your top pair, you can now take away his card and give him less outs to hit it again.

4) Advanced tactics 101: Let's say you flop top set on a rainbow board and the turn brings you a full house......you replace the turn card, and another rainbow card hits. You still have top set, but your opponent will have hard time putting you on that hand now. Why would you throw away a boat??

5) Let's say you turn the nut flush. You replace it! No one will ever think you have a flush if you hit your 8 outter and the flush comes in again. Maybe they put you on top pair now.

6) You could have 7-2 off, you replace the turn card so the flush comes in, then you bet like a champion. You now just leveled your opponent into thinking you have a flush.

7) You could check the turn or river with a trash hand and your opponent might then think you have a strong hand, otherwise you would replace the board cards!

Tons and tons of leveling wars, and plays, and action are possible!!!!!

All kidding aside, this would seem to be the key. I would venture to guess every successful variant of poker began as an experiment, and it just took off.

Unlike pokerstars "power up", this can actually be played live, and it's a simple change.

So that would be a no on having tried it in a home game?

No I haven't tried it, I just thought of it this afternoon. But this small tweak seems fun as hell. The pre-flop dead money alone will create action.

The droolers will say "hey I can draw again for my flush"

The level 2 thinkers will say "hey I can deny my opponent"

And sharks will see the multitude of next level opportunities.

What is funny to me is I see a new way of stealing blinds. I do it utg these days instead of the button. I thought this was dumb at first but it seems like if it gets toyed with for a while to perfect it, it may drum up some fun action.



At the very least I think this can drum up some discussion on how to make NLHE more interesting then having to play a ton of tables. I like pushing boundaries/limits like this at making something different. At my current Poker site they have the straddle, this seems like straddle+ which is way better imo. It needs to be perfected/ironed out before a cardroom will implement it tho.

On a side note: I was playing in a micro stakes game where a player was opening every hand like 6x or more. Long term obviously this is probably a losing strategy. It opened up the game in an interesting way and at the same time the guy was crushing the table as a recreational player can do.

I can see how a rec could love this when grinders are trying to steal from the sb every hand increasing pot sizes and increasing the gamble urge. Now imagine this in PLO..... :O

I feel comfortable with the idea of a hero power that anyone can choose to play in poker, and in tourneys one might need to play 3-4 different hero powers. I feel comfortable with the idea because I am famial with hearthstone and other similar games, or even with chess (openings, defenses, variations), creating islands like (personality) structure and variety.

Someone would need to do some equity simulations, but I have a feeling this would just degenerate into the small blind getting it in preflop almost every hand. (Assuming he can still use the power when all-in.)

This is not how college works.

If the small blinds shoves all in before the turn or river, then they don't have the option of changing the turn / river.

i reread it , the turn card replacement might not be a bad idea. i dont think it changes equity much at all and may keep fish happy. may really piss people off in key pots but it might actually not be a bad idea. i dont think you could do river replacement would be to obv. when you didnt hit.

So I actually kinda like this but thought of a tweak that would make the game flow easier and also add a really cool element that would make for more gamble. It prob wouldn't work online so could only be played in a home game.

SB puts 3x the BB and the action starts with the BTN pf and goes counter clockwise instead. If the BTN plays his hand pf and stays in to the flop then the action will go back to a normal clockwise rotation with the SB being first to act again for all of post flop...if the BTN folds tho then the action will stay in reverse for the entire hand and the SB will be the new BTN.

This gives the guy in the SB more incentive to gamble from the worst position at the chance that he may end up with the best position. It also forces the BTN to defend his hand pf from UTG if he wants to play and have a chance to maintain the button.

It would make for a pretty insane game with people targeting each other to straddle the SB. Seat changing might get to be crazy in a game like that but otherwise it would be sick action I would imagine.

The game is fun now.

But it seems like a lot of pots would get all-in before the turn regardless of what the SB does. Having a 5x straddle preflop will make all the effective stacks very shallow.

How do u come up with this crap?

Maybe in the more aggressive games people will 3 pot pre-flop, try and steal the small blind, and then inherently bloat the pot.

In live 1/2 and 2/5, I can see a lot of people just calling the 5x.

My main concern is let's say the small blind has $50 left in a 1/2 game and everyone else has $200.

Should the small blind be able to put out the 5x, get the hero power, then shove all in and still be able to replace the turn / river?

Doesn't seem fair while all the $200 stacks are still battling. And seems like min buying shoving all in would be a way to cheese the game, if that were allowed.

I believe the fairest way to do it is, once the small blind is all in, he can no longer replace board cards.

This is so ****ing stupid.

When did the game stop being fun?

^^

when baazov left stars. he was a true visionary.