Reduce Variance at Carbon Poker

If the Game Show Network’s High Stakes Poker has given the casual poker fan anything, it is the dissatisfaction of watching wealthy poker players chicken out and run it twice in big pots.  And now, even low rollers can mimic their favorite poker pros online, as Carbon Poker has introduced this same concept to its cash games.

Running it twice means that when two players are all-in, two sets of community cards are dealt, allowing both players two chances to “win” the hand.  Should someone win both hands, he wins the pot as normal.  Should each player win once, the pot is split.  High stakes players like running it twice, particularly in coin-flip situations, as it helps reduce variance in the long run. 

Carbon calls their version “dealing it twice,” but the concept is the same.  The only real difference is that only the turn and river will be dealt twice, even if the players are all-in pre-flop.  Additionally, the players will not get the chance to see each other’s cards before making the decision to run it twice.  The new feature is available only at no-limit Hold’em cash tables.

Of course, dealing it twice is entirely optional.  Both players must confirm that they want to do it.  Carbon does give players the option to turn off the “deal it twice” option so that it never comes up.

In other Carbon Poker news, the site has also launched its bad beat jackpot tables.  These Hold’em tables will take 50 cents from each pot to build the jackpot, which is awarded if a player loses with four-of-a-kind sevens or better, using both hole cards.