A variation of Rush Poker has finally made its way to the United States and has been pretty popular through its first few days of trial at Bovada. Bovada has introduced “Zone Poker” to its players in hopes of capturing more of the US market, which PokerScout.com says it already has a healthy lead on. Zone Poker works just like Rush Poker in that you are dealt your hand and are given the option to fold the hand before it is your turn. You also have the option to “check/fold” your BB which will award you the pot if it is folded to you, but will just check/fold if there is any kind of betting going on before it is your turn to act.
The new wrinkle added that makes this variation different than anything seen on the market thus far is that Bovada has completely anonymous tables. This means you are given a number 1-6 based on your seat at the table and that is the only identifier as to who the player is. As you move tables, your number changes, so you are really just playing poker in a complete vacuum. The means that you get no reads that you can use form hand to hand on individual players, and hoping to see the same player again becomes nothing more than an idle hope. It will be interesting to see how people react in the long term with this kind of wrinkle. I found it a little odd at times, because you really had no flow for how the game was, and it looks like it would help players who play a very solid game. You can also run more exploitive plays, because you don’t have to worry about the long term near as much.
