Wizard Recommends Cards

On this page

Hold 'Em Showdown

Introduction

Hold 'Em Showdown is a poker-based game by Playtech. It is based on who will win a Texas Hold 'Em showdown between two starting hands. Posted odds are commensurate with the probability of winning.

Rules

  1. First the player must make a bet.
  2. Then five starting hands will be shown. Each starting hand will have two cards. One starting hand shall be that of the Dealer. The other four shall belong to four different Opponents.
  3. Winning odds are posted for each hand in each match up.
  4. The player must choose one of the four possible match ups and then which side will win.
  5. The help screen says, "The cards of the Opponents that were not chosen will be removed and the remaining community cards will be dealt – first the Flop, then the Turn, and then the River." What this very badly worded rule means is that the cards of opponents that were not chosen are removed from the screen and returned to the deck. Then the community cards will be dealt.
  6. The game will deal five random cards from the 48 left in the deck to be used as community cards.
  7. Using the two hold cards and five community cards, each side in the match up will make the best possible poker hand.
  8. The side with the higher ranking poker hand shall win.
  9. If the player chose the winning side, he will win the posted odds.
  10. Ties results in a push.

Example

I bet $5. The following screen shows the four match-ups. I can bet for or against the J-4 off-suit vs. one of the four starting hands along the bottom.

I chose to bet on the J-4 against the pocket twos. Another jack appeared on the board so my pair of jacks beat the Opponent's pair of twos. My return win $10.32.

As evidence of that the unchosen cards are returned to the deck, note the jacks of spades from the first unchosen opponent hand came back as the first card on the flop.

Video

Here is a video of a sample hand. Sorry to keep repeating the point about the return of the unchosen cards, but I think it bears repeating. One my of many annoyances when it comes to gambling is badly written rules

Analysis

The odds are carefully set so that the return is 97.00% if it were not for rounding. However, the winning odds are rounded down to the penny. So, the less you bet, the more the rounding down decreases the return percentage. On 10¢ bets, I've seen the return as low as 90%.

External Links

Written by: Michael Shackleford