There is a new feature added to the PokerStars Cash Game table… All-in Cash-Out option
This will allow players to cash out their equity in the pot when all-in at any stage of the pot whether it be pre-flop, on the flop or on the turn.
Remember that time when you had your Aces cracked by Kings in that huge pot?
Well now, you can decide to cash out your equity instead of taking the risk of losing the pot… so let’s say you have $100 in the middle and you have 81% equity with AA vs KK, you can choose to cash out your 81% which would give you around $80.19 cash in your stack.
Why not $81?
Pokerstars charge a 1% surcharge, so for every $100 in the cash-out option you will give up $1
Alternatively, you could play the pot in the old school method and try and win the whole $100… but 19% of the time you will get $0 for your efforts.
Reducing Variance
This is a cool feature for players that are worried about bad beats in poker to reduce their variance, however, the small edges mount up in poker and this is just another moneymaker for the house, in the long run, players that pay the 1% over and over again will win less money, however in the short term it can be a tempting option, especially in multiway pots with more variance or just in some of our larger pots, personally looking back at playing some of the biggest pots of my life without this things would have been a lot different if I could have taken my equity in those spots.
Here’s an example where I got all-in pre-flop in a $10 buy-in Six Plus Hold’em game and could have cashed out my equity for $5.17 in this $12.55 pot, however, I decided I wanted to run my 41.5% equity and try and scoop the whole pot…. in the end, though I got no return!
I think players in the Six Plus Hold’em streets will really like this feature, as for higher variance games having the option of cashing your equity is a good idea for reducing downswings.
So should we use this option?
It’s tough to know when to use it and then there is a different type of bad beat that can occur, if we use it sometimes but would have just scooped the whole pot then that is now a new type of bad beat.
On the flip side, if we opt not to use it in certain pots and then we get our equity crushed by the underdog’s hand, we are going to be left with a bitter taste in our mouth.
One idea is to just never use this option for the main of your pots, this way you know what you are getting yourself in for, it’s as if the option hadn’t been included in the game.
Then you could always backtrack and occasionally pay the 1% juice in some of your larger pots when you have some extra feelings on the line.
Another way to look at it
A good point from the official post from PokerStars about adding this feature is that:
“Run it Twice has been in play for some time now. All-In Cash Out is simply the equivalent of running it infinite times”
This is a good way of looking at the feature, it’s closer to say running it 4 times like you might see on some high stakes cash games, even Professionals like to reduce their variance, the difference with that is that there is no additional surcharge.
How Does This Affect Running It Twice?
So Run It Twice is still an option and if both players have it selected and decline to cash out their equity the board will be ran out twice.
However, if one player cashes out then the other player will only be able to run it once against PokerStars to see if they win the pot or not.
PokerStars have stated: “This decision was made in order to speed up the game and simplify the flow.”
This is something that PokerStars could have adjusted in my eyes, running it twice against All-in Cash-out players would have been a good feature as these are players that may well have run it twice previously before this option was introduced.
What do the Pro’s think?
Doug Polk has taken to the stand on his youtube channel saying that “This is going to create very short stack poker where it’s hard to get an edge.” and from playing in games that have this feature in use already I have been seeing that, with players all in for small amounts but then cashing out even small equities just to stay alive in the game…
He’s always stated that “You don’t get many edges in Poker and paying 1% every time your all-in is going to add up to a lot of money”
Give All-in Cash out a Try!
As a Sum Up, it’s probably a very good thing for recreational players to be using as it keeps them in action longer, however, if you’re looking as to whether to be using this a Pro player, you probably know that it is going to cut into your revenue in the long run.
Don’t take our word for it…
Go out there and use this fun feature and see what you think!
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PokerStars has the widest game selection of any poker site out there, so try your hand at some cash games and try the new all in cash-out feature today!
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