If you are a frequent visitor to Bet365 Poker and play regularly on their cash tables, in MTTs or Sit & Go events, then you will have spent a large percentage of your time watching other players fight it out over a pot after having folded your hand. A sound poker strategy is one that actively encourages players to fold hands regularly in order to maintain their cash, without risking it on hands that have relatively small chance of success.
While there is a certain amount of knowledge and information players can glean from folding a hand and by watching how other players fight out who wins the pot in subsequent rounds of betting, it can be frustrating. Many people have a relatively short amount of time to spend to play poker, and to then spend that time folding your cards and watching others fight it out for the pot isn’t the most prudent use of time for many.
Which is why for these people, Bet365’s Sprint Poker tables could be the answer.
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What is Sprint Poker?
The actual mechanics of the game of poker are the same in sprint poker as they are in a traditional hand of Texas Hold’em. The hand values, betting rules, blinds etc are all the same with just one big difference, who your opponents are at the table may change from one hand to the next.
Why is that? This happens because as soon as a player folds a hand, he is moved onto a table with other players who have also folded hands. Once this new table is filled up with players, a new hand is immediately dealt to those players.
Sprint Poker, in essence means that as soon as you remove yourself from a pot by folding your hand, you do not have to wait to see how the pot is decided. You will be moved to a new table with other players playing Sprint Poker at your buy in level, so you get dealt a new hand far more quickly and spend much less time watching other players fight it out over a pot.
The net difference is that if you play at a typical cash table for an hour, you may play, say 10-20 hands per hour. In Sprint Poker on Bet365, you can play anywhere between 50 and 100 hands in an hour.
Who will Sprint Poker appeal to?
Sprint Poker is ideal for players who only have a limited amount of time to play and who do not want to spend the majority of that time sat watching other people fight it out over a pot after they have folded.
Certainly, the game has been designed specifically for those players who do play with certain time constraints a lot of the time, but it is also a game that allows players who are not the most patient of souls, to play hands more quickly. This is because they can keep folding hands and being dealt a new hand until they receive pocket cards that they are happy to play with.
The game also appeals to Poker players who like to make decisions quickly. The actual games themselves are all Turbo versions of Hold’em, meaning that players cannot spend an age deciding which bet to make. Sprint Poker certainly appeals to players who like games played at a faster-pace and who are comfortable with making key decisions quickly, often in a split second.
What are the benefits and negatives of Sprint Poker?
The main benefits of Sprint Poker for most players is that they get to spend their time actually involved in pots and trying to win poker, rather than simply folding and watching other players contest the pot.
Another fringe benefit, especially for novice players, is that the structure of the game does encourage players to fold with poorer hands, rather than try and risk them. This is a good lesson to learn as a novice player and once that stands you well in non-Sprint forms of the game too.
The final benefit of Sprint Poker is that by changing opponents for each hand, it is very difficult for players to get a read on you or target you as a weak or stronger player. Hands tend to be played very much on face value and players tend not to target individual players. The psychological aspects of the game are very much played down in Sprint Poker, which can be of great benefit to new players in particular.
As for the negatives, well the main negative of Sprint Poker is that by playing many more hands, you tend to eat through your stack much more quickly if you don’t manage to win a couple of hands relatively quickly in proceedings. Even if you fold many hands, you’ll still be paying the small or big blinds on some and the speed at which hands are played means that unless you win a hand or two, your stack can start to diminish pretty quickly.
The other negative is that players are forced to make decisions quickly, while for some players this is a bonus, for others, especially those unsure of their strategy (such as beginner players) it can lead to a few costly mistakes being made.
Is it worth a try?
Overall, the positives of playing Sprint Poker on Bet365 certainly outweigh the negatives. The Bet365 Poker site was the first to offer network play of the game and increasing numbers of sites are following suit and offering their version of it nowadays.
If you don’t have much time, prefer fast-paced games and like to be involved in the showdown more often, then Sprint Poker is certainly worth taking a closer look at, just remember though that you will eat through your stack more quickly while playing and that you’ll need to make key decisions quickly in order to win.
Want to try something new? Read our in-depth guide to Razz Poker on Bet365 and see if it’s for you.
