Rush Poker strategy

You’ve heard all the buzz about Rush Poker, which is my favorite game next to playing online bingo games. You’ve probably played it by now. All that’s left for you to do is learn how to absolutely crush the games. Read on, warrior! It’s funny—Rush Poker isn’t all that different from a regular poker game. All the rules are the same, basically; the differences are purely structural. Yet these structural differences change winning strategy immensely. Rush Poker strategy requires you to master some concepts that might otherwise hinder your play in a regular game. If you are not 100% sure about how to play Rush Poker please read this Rush Poker rules article. If you want to dive right in and try your look at the tables read our 2010 Full Tilt Poker review which includes instructions for claiming our 100% match bonus up to $600.

If you think about the important changes made from normal poker to Rush Poker, there are only a few. They are:

• New opponents for every hand.
• The ability to “quick fold”.
• Random seating, which means random position in a given hand.

Let’s run through the effects of these changes one-by-one, and analyze how you’ll need to change your game in order to account for them.

Rush Poker Strategy: Play Your Cards, Not Your Opponents

In Rush Poker, unlike those games in most online poker rooms, you won't be seated at a table with the same group of 5 to 9 players for any longer than a single hand. With every deal you’ll be up against a mob of fresh foes. Thus you won’t really be able to collect too many long-term reads on anyone you come across.

You can still make reads, but they’ll be weak and often unreliable. As a result, winning Rush Poker strategy tends to focus on playing solid, ABC poker. Here are some tips on playing a readless game:

1. Tighten up preflop. You don’t want to be playing a LAG style in these games. Profitable loose-aggressive play relies on having lots of information about your opponents; in Rush Poker, you can’t get that kind of information. Thus you’ll want to play only strong hands preflop. Rush Poker hand selection is much more important than in regular poker.

2. Don’t make big bluffs. In Rush Poker, playing the hero is useless. Bluffs are only profitable when you think you can make your opponent fold. Without reads, this is incredibly hard information to come by. Play a solid, tight, and aggressive game postflop.

3. Keep your reads short-term. Don’t strain your brain trying to remember what player X did last time you saw him. Look at stack sizes—shortstackers are always terrible. Look at screen names—sound donkish? Keep your reads simple and quick.

Rush Poker Strategy: Use Quick Fold to Your Advantage

I’m going to go out on a limb here and just say it: the quick fold button is the most beautiful thing ever invented. It’s a little blue gift from the poker gods, sent to Full Tilt poker as a reward to awesome players. Rush Poker strategy revolves around using the quick fold feature properly.

When playing Rush Poker, DO:

• Quick fold your bad hands. Now that you’re able to ditch ‘em and split, there’s no reason to play marginal hands. It’s not like you’ve got to wait around for two painful minutes watching some donks play each other. Just quick fold and get out of there!
• Quick fold your bad hands. This is so important, I felt the need to say it again.
• Quick fold your bad hands. NO REALLY—do it. Stick to playing a tight, profitable preflop hand range, and quick fold all the muck.

When playing Rush Poker, DON’T:

• Be a quick-fold robot. If you get into the habit of pressing quick fold too fast, you’ll inevitably end up tossing AA or KK at some point. Trust me, folding rockets by accident is NOT fun. Once you’re dealt a hand, STOP for a few seconds and breathe. THEN, take action.
• Not quick fold your bad hands. Seriously. Fold them. This is THE key to a winning Rush Poker strategy.

Rush Poker Strategy: Position Still Matters

Just because you’re randomly assigned a seat in Rush Poker doesn’t mean position becomes unimportant. Quite the contrary—position increases in importance.

You’ll want to loosen up your range in late position, especially in unraised pots. Don’t be afraid to steal the blinds from the cutoff or button seat. In middle position, stick to a safe, ABC preflop range. In early position and from the blinds, tighten up significantly. Playing positionally-aware poker is not a groundbreaking strategy concept, but a lot of Rush Poker players ignore it. Take advantage of whatever information you can get; in late position, you get the maximum.

• Rush Poker Rules

• Rush Poker Strategy

• Rush Poker Hand Selection

• Play Rush Poker