Live poker anyone?

Evolution Gaming have just launched a live poker game.

The full game review (with house rules) is here. The super condensed summary goes something like this:

• its called Casino Hold’em
• the aim is to beat the dealer’s (not other players) poker hand
• an Ante bet gets you 2 pocket cards and a look at a Flop
• a Call bet (2x Ante) gets you a look at the Turn, River, the dealer’s cards and a whether you’ve won or lost
• there’s no point trying to bluff the dealer…she never folds (You can trying telling her you are devilishly handsome although I suspect this bluff won’t work either)
• a high quality winning hand earns generous payouts on your Ante bet (eg 20:1 for a straight flush) but always even money on the Call.

The game is dealt from a single deck – hence the 2nd dealer furiously shuffling the other deck for the next deal. The game’s overall presentation is as you’d expect from Evolution Gaming, very nice indeed.

Despite introducing us to all kinds of different roulette, blackjack and baccarat tables over the last few years (Ventuno Blackjack, London Roulette, Venezia Roulette, Platinum VIP blackjack, VIP roulette/blackjack etc), aside from limits and localization (dealer language and table look/feel) from a rules standpoint, these have all still been roulette, blackjack and baccarat.

Live Casino Holdem is effectively their first new game in a long while.

As for where you can play it, no doubt most casinos powered by Evolution Gaming will offer it some time down the track.

Of the 5 I checked today, Paddy Power was the only one currently carrying the game.

Related pages at Livedealer.org

• Live dealer poker summary
• Playtech live poker
• Evolution Gaming live poker