These cards have been introduced to the game or are just proposed/teasered? Where'd your friend "find" this info?

I would suggest they got this from poking around the graphics file in the PokerStars program folder, though having a quick check myself I can't see much related to Power Up in the usual folders.

You're right but it wasn't too easy to find that folder. Also, if you poke around other folders you may see a possibly new upcoming promo (kind of a side game just like card match) but I could be totally wrong about this.

My friend is streaming power up rn. His schedule is Tuesday and Thursday 2pm GMT.

https://www.twitch.tv/op_poker

I enjoy playing random games from time to time, its nice to have a shake up and Power-up just does that I feel like.

Yesterday PS finally introduced some new stakes to Power Up: $15 and 0.25c. You can now use any ticket usable on Spin&Go on Power Up as well!

They also released a promo video for the game:

Murray FTW!!

Cool trailer tho.

I see a lot of negative posts on this initiative from Pokerstars. Personally I find this game terrific. Once you "solve it", instead of increasing variance, it's reducing it.
It's combining holding strategy with card game skills like Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone. I have to say that I was introduced to poker from mtg, so I naturally are interested in these kind of games.

Only problem at the moment is the traffic. $1 and 3$ games are plenty and profitable. Waiting time on the higher stakes (7's and 15's) are unfortunately still too long, so have no large samples there and just switched back to playing 3's.

So playing 3's atm and winning just over 50% consistently. This is playing one table at a time, so making about $9 an hour (I average 4 an hour, they take quite long).

For me it's not possible to multitable this game though. It would affect my winrate way too much I think. But 2 tables should be achievable for a lot of people.

$9 an hour is just a little bit too little for me in general, but playing these games is a quite relaxing thing to do between the spins. They also help me to regain confidence when suffering a downswing. Really hoping they grow in popularity so I could switch to higher stakes. If that happens, I will switch to these from spins.

I'm not surprised that hardly anyone wants to be losing to you with little variance, i.e. with little chance of beating you even in the short term.

Afaik, the highest of the easily beatable stakes now is $1, whereas $3 already requires learning effort that would be better spent on mastering high-variance games like MTTs.

Its been almost a year since Power Up got launched but sadly they have done absolutely nothing to promote this game :/ Not many people realize how beatable this game is...

They just deployed a new power 'Deploy' (one of the four power cards which got leaked earlier this year)

OP-Poker (guys who have been making videos on power up since day 1 becomes PokerStars Power Up Brand Ambassadors.

New power changes the whole dynamics of the game



^ How deploy works

If you have to deal out 7 cards before you make a hand as strong as 3rd pair, you should probably fold pre.

This game uses the CPU of the PC too much. Is there a solution?

https://www.pokerstars.com/poker/pro...-championship/

There's a Power Up promo going now

Does anyone actually play this game? One of the better aspects to me about it than anything else is that it just seems more botting resistant than other games in general, but idk if that's true at all.

There is a twitch streamer who's up $1k this month and $20k lifetime off powerup. Pretty impressive tbh with the highest stake being $15 and the game looking really hard to multitable. She only plays two tables at a time as well.

She's arguably the best Power Up reg of all time, though.

Link?

I like the game in principle and posted about it quite enthusiastically itt iirc. Haven't played in a while though basically because I'm more a MTT kinda guy; the 3 player WTA format just doesn't appeal to me. Plus people got better and the game harder obv.

Would love tho see this in a Zoom MTT format as has been suggested here.

https://www.twitch.tv/mymooncactus

there you go

It's 100% botting resistant for multiple reasons. Just the fact that power cards can be added or removed means that a bot would have to be readjusted every time this happens. A new power card is being added Feb 23rd btw.

I 4 table off stream Power up requires a lot of focus, so almost no one plays more than 4 tables at a time, as then you can see your edge drop off significantly

This looks like absolute horse poo.

Please poker gods no... You must do something poker gods.

My winning rate is maybe 45%+ at $1. I think it is even softer than Spin & Go. Why is Power Up not so popular?

For one its not available on all pokerstars clients...

yes instead of playing power up, u need to buy power up.

People are dormant, absolutely blinded about the present AND the future. Im telling you, THIS IS THE FUTURE. NLH got boring and solved, regs dont battle but avoid each other, it is a predatory game because predation is its only form of survival, therefore NLH is at an all time low. The game tree aint enough complex to be able to develop an edge and beat the rake against everyone, and recs lose too much too fast. Its time has come by. It still thrives in some KO tourney like variants with enough of a players field and at least turbo speed, it is still complex enough there. But cash games, any form of hypers, heads up poker and so and so, they are all dying if not already dead.

So how does Power Up come to the rescue? By tackling all of NLH main issues: 1. Not enough edge, 2. Not enough variance. 3. Not enough fun.

1. Edge: The arrival of up to three new cards with multiple effects allow for a much more intricate game plan.

2. Variance: The game plays with just 20 bb, thus elevating the variance to control for the gained edge.

3. Fun: All sorts of poker powers and animations, the game is truly next gen (or actual gen, just that poker is still stuck in the past millennium).


But theres still way to go... It serves no purpose having this game sitting as a segregated player pool. We already have 3 handed SNGs with spins (although this ones are much better format), and it aint fixing the current pools but destroying them. This game needs to be integrated into the NLH world, I have matured my opinion on how to do this:

1. Change all heads up formats as to allow players to tick a box with the option to deal the game as Power Up NLH if all agree, this will permit players to chose between the classic and the new NLH.

2. Add this tick a box option to all end game sngs and tournaments. With end game I mean three handed play and heads up. NLH Power Up sadly cant work out with more players as it would either become too long or too gamblish (waay too much imperfect information).

3. Add the tick a box option for cash games when there are just 3 or 2 players at the table. If everyone ticks, then the table closes as three handed, and further registrations must become part of waiting lists unless players at the table untick the box again.

4. Create Mtts with this variant all along. It could either be mixed MTTs with some Full Ring NLH tables, and other tables 3 handed Power Up NLH (In this mixed variant, when players are reassigned to other tables, they must me reassigned to the other format table). And it can also be 3 handed all Power UP MTT.


Thats how integration should work in order to save NLH, but the current Power Up game state isn't at its best. Some changes must be done to the game itself, at least in order to achieve a greater integration with NLH the game must not be as alien as it is, for Power cards are having too much of an influence and some poker its getting lost in translation. My tips:

1. Decrease the starting energy: 10 points is overkill, too easy to have the game dominated by powers and to easy to max out energy instead of rewarding those are great at saving it. This makes powers not just an addition of skill, it transforms the game entirely to the point of being unrecognizable.

Im undecided on how much to decrease it, somewhere between 5 or 7 for starting energy would be good, but syphon power must be taken into account as well. If you decrease it too much, then syphon will become overkill. But on the other hand, you could actually also lower syphon effect, and on a third view, you might as well decide to have it be overkill, im indifferent with it, why? Simple, although Im proud that Pokerstars have decided to balance all powers, its not a must that they do, as poker itself doesnt have balanced cards. In NLH we have aces, cant we have the aces equivalent for powers? More variance is good for the poker sustainability. On a last thought, you can leave syphon as it is and just increase its energy requirements. Too many options so ill let you decide, but the main concept is that starting energy must be reduced.

2. Decrease starting power cards to just 1. Again, lets make NLH better, not destroy it. Smoother transition smth. Also with lower energy there isnt a need for 2 anyways.