Rush Poker Thoughts

Naturally like everyone else, I was curious about this new format for playing online, so I had to check it out for myself. I started by reading everything I could find about it here, and then on Full Tilt only to find other than basic instructions, there wasn't a whole lot of information to even get a good idea of how the game played. What is a guy to do, so I decided I had to try it to get an opinion I bought into a .25/.50 game for $20, and this blog is a round up of my thoughts, in no particular order, and with no more reason than to share what information I have, with those who are curious.

# 1 ...It is a way to play cards (notice I didn't say poker) online without having to wait a long time between good hands, you can quickly fold all the junk you get until you find something you want to play.

# 2 ... Starting hand selection is more important here than anywhere else, I would suggest folding everything from JJ down in any position before 7th seat, and then be sure and raise if you are first in, and re-raise if the bet is small, being the table captain for that hand seems to be important, and if you get in with a mid pair early, someone will put you to the test..

# 3...I was suprised that there wasn't a lot of pre flop all in bets, I only saw one in about 20 minutes of play, and he was short stacked at that particular table. Most pre flop bets were for 3 or 4 times the BB, and quite often they were raised at least the minimum, if not 5 times the BB.

# 4...If you got into a hand, be prepared to put all of your stack in before the turn, post flop betting was strong in most cases, but then you would think that most people in the pot were playing premimum starting hands, so that might be expected.

# 5... The last hand reader is useless, the chat box is also, as is the show hand feature, they don't even need to be there !

# 6... The quick fold button needs to be watched closely, it is easy to get into a rythrum of hitting it, and suddenly you realize you just folded that marginal hand and you were in the blinds, it pays to wait and see what happens, there are hands where everyone folds to the BB.

# 7... The max buy in at the table was $50, and I noticed that people who had over a hundred were raising people out of the pot with big bets, again that goes back to only playing premimum starting hands ! It isn't such a bad idea when you think about it, play the big stack bully against those who come in for a 2 or 3 times the BB bet. If you get 3 callers and you raise them out, that can lead to winning $3 to $5 per hand for nothing, as long as you don't get called down with nothing in your hand !

# 8... Fluxuation of the money in front of you happens fast, I had doubled up in less than 5 minutes, was down to $12 in 5 more, was back up to near $40 5 minutes later, only to finish after 20 minutes up $2.25, and having had my fill of this game !

# 9... You don't have time to light a smoke, look at the TV, or hardly drink your coffee, and going to the bathroon is out of the question !

# 10 If you like to multitable when playing cash games, this will put your skills to the test, I bet there won't be many people playing a high number of tables at a time with this format, it would be just overwhelming, I would think !

# 11... I don't see this format as anything I am interested in playing, but I can see how action junkies might like it, but I fear the profitability of this game isn't going to be easy for anyone, even for those who have the disipline to wait and only play the top hands, it is a volatile game, and because of that, it will be hard to beat consistantly, so my suggestion is to only play it for fun, and expect to lose as often as you win, a good strategy might be to just get out as soon as you double up, if you do !

Here is what you will find if you click on it in the Full Tilt Lobby :

I hopes this helps give you an idea what this new games is about, and helps you in your decision to play or not !...I am going back to my self imposed exclusion from playing online, this really isn't my idea of playing poker, but that is just me, you might like it !

....Tc....