Does anyone play on here? I decided to give another go and I took 2nd place in a freeroll.



One thing I noticed while playing again is that normal NLHE strategies will not work. The reason is you aren't just playing the person across from you or the other players at the table, you are also playing those being dealt the same cards as you. If you are playing an MTT, the way you advance into the next level is if you meet the Line Rank requirements. The Line Rank is your rank vs the other players playing the same cards as you. MTT will go onto the next round after half of the players are eliminated after a certain amount of hands. Line Rank players change during each level.

So, lets say its a 6 handed table and there are 6 players playing the same hand as you are. The session is 6 hands and in order to advance you have be in the top 3/6 Line Rank. Remember, though, you dont advance by beating your table but by outranking the players in your Line Rank. Honestly, the best strategy in this early stage is just to fold you hands unless you AA, KK, QQ. I raise big with these hands. Hands like AK or smaller pairs, I'll limp and see a board. You want to get paid for you hands because you will earn Net Total Chips (NTC). NTCs are good when you advance into the next round because A)The bigger your NTC, the higher you are in the Line Rank and B)it acts like a cushion. You can lose a small pot, but not be at a negative NTC. What this means is if you're NTC is still higher then the other players in your Line Rank, then your line rank position wont change. However if you negative NTC is lower then another players, your Line Rank will drop. If your NTC exceeds less than 3x the starting stack, you are eliminated so watch out for that.

If your Line Rank is within the zone to move up the ranks, I wouldn't stress playing hand. The downfall is if other players in your Line Rank play the hand and win, you might get pushed down a rank. If you are outside of the Line Rank requirements, then you might have to play hand.

You can move up in Link Rank 2 ways: A)You win a pot and your NTC total is bigger than the other players in the Line Rank who played and won the same hand. B)Your opponents lose a hand and earn negative NTC. Its pretty much vice versa for moving down a rank.

The most important think to do while you are playing is TAKE PLAYER NOTES. This is very crucial because in the later stages because it'll be the deciding factors in how you play a hand.

Somethings to look for:
-Who likes to chase their draws
-Who will call on a draw if given proper odds
-Who will call down with any pair
-Who raises PF and with what range of hands
-Who reraises PF and with what range of hands and how much they raise
-Who folds if they dont hit the board, but will reraise if they have any pair and how much they raise
-How they play their hands PF and post flop
-ETC.

Remember you're playing the table in order to earn NTC and you're also playing those in the Line Rank to make sure you maintain or increase your position in the rankings. As a bonus, you can also see who is in your opponents Line Rank.

Hand example:

Lets say Im playing player X in a heads up game. My opponent has Player Y and Player Z in their Line Rank. I am player A and have Player B and Player C in my Line Rank. Top 2/3 will advance.

notes on X are:
-(re)Raises PF with any A, KK, QQ, JJ
-Will limp in with ATC, only cause a PFR with J high hand or better or any pair.
-Will call down with at least 2nd pair, but raises with top pair
-Does not bet out on draws
-Folds if he misses the flop

notes on Y and Z are:
-They call any PF raise
-They call with any pair
-They raise big with top pair
-They do not chase draws.

notes on B and C are:
-They raise 5x Blinds with any Ace
-They call with any pair
-They chase flush draws
-Player C bets out on draws

I am dealt Ah2h and your opponent checks. I would check it here and see a cheap flop. There is a very good chance my opponent is playing ATC and will fold if I raise. Also, I know B and C are going to raise with the exact same hand. So, if they miss and have to fold on the flop, they will have a bigger negative NTC.

The flop is 7h 2d 9h.

My opponent checks, I bet out half pot with my pair of 2s and my opponent check raises me the minimum. Now, I know my opponent has top pair with his check-raise. Now, I have to decide if I want to call or fold. Well according to my player notes, I know that players Y and Z have bet the flop big with their top pair. And I know that players B and C are going to call that bet with their flush draw. And there is a good chance that C will push all in on this flop with their draw. So, if the flush draw doesn't hit they will lose more chips and be a greater negative NTC and I will move up in ranks. As folding or calling the raise, I would call here to see if I improve on the turn. If I dont, I know the players in the Line Rank didnt improve either. So, now I can fold a turn bet and lose a lot less then my Line Rank opponents because I know they will call a turn bet chasing their draws. If they miss on the river and they do not improve their hand, I might lose the pot to my table opponent, but I will be a higher rank than my Line Rank opponents (they will have a greater negative NTC) and this is what moves me onto the next round. The downfall is the draw does hit, I might not get a lot of action from my opponent unless they have at least two pair. So, even if I do win my opponents will have won a much larger NTC and move higher in the rankings. The good news is I can use my NTC as a buffer in the next hand.

Im sure there are a lot more things and strategies I've overlooked. Please post and lets discuss.

Im starting to enjoy Duplicate Poker.

I should add that this is Basic Duplicate Poker Strategy.

Well written Philthy.

In my experience, it is also important to study the hand situation before any action. Usually, these contests are set up with a limit set first, perhaps a Pot Limit, and the second session, if you make it, will be NL. It sets up most of the parameters you need to make a sane decision.

What Duplicate was intended to do, was reward the best poker decisions. In the beginning, you never had any clue how you were doing against your competition, and this caused great angst. They altered it to show you were you stood, and now have variations on that theme.

As I've stated before, I have folded every hand in one of these contests, and won.

I received an email from duplicate poker informing me that they had deposited 10$ in my account. So.... of course I went and tried it out. After two weeks I cashed out with 70$. Not bad, but I wasn't willing to gamble my winnings any longer. I do play the 7500 pokernews freerolls on the weekend though. My strongest strategy is that if you have more than three opponents at the table I just fold whether they call bb or not. Unless of course I am sitting on a monster pocket pair. In most cases I don't even play a hand until the third or fourth round. Using this strategy I have yet to not make the third round with carry over chips and usually make the fourth round, but not neccisarily with carry over chips.

Originally Posted by dj11

As I've stated before, I have folded every hand in one of these contests, and won.

LOL. Nice.

I was waiting for someone to come up with some sort of strategy for DP....but i dont know if i actually like the gameplay stilll.....i was up to like 15$ with my free 10$ but eventually blew it all down to nothing....so i think im gonna just let winning on DP up to you guys.