Last week an ex-Google friend of mine who also builds poker AIs directed me to a 2+2 thread about a new video poker machine from IGT that offers players 6-way fixed-limit hold’em against five bots. The bots play poorly, but the catch, of course, is really high rake — 25% up to 2.25 bets maximum, or 9 bets in the pot to reach max rake.
The game is called Texas Hold’em Fold Up, and it already has gotten a lot of attention.
In the 2+2 thread, John Mehaffey and Jimmy ”Gobbo” Fricke had a interesting discussion about the game, whether or not it’s beatable, and how it could be an effective way to earn Caesars’ Seven Star status in perhaps a less expensive sort of way than can be done via other casino games.