PokerKing has rolled out its first client update of the new year: players now have access to two new poker formats. Here’s everything you need to know about the new features.

Poker Races

A new tab called Poker Races and a separate lobby for this specific poker format involving bots have been added to the client.

Poker Races is a poker tournament for 20 players with an interesting feature: in the early stage, 5 bots will automatically play for each participant. There are multiple bot racer profiles available for selection, and their statistics can be viewed in the Racer Stats menu. It is stated that the bots do not have an advantage over each other: they are controlled by the same AI algorithm.

The tournament starts after 20 participants register, opening a new Game Center window (lobby for similar races, up to two can be started simultaneously — panel on the left side).

After the tournament starts, the best moments of the hands will be displayed on the left side of the window, and the statistics and tournament fate of each bot will be shown on the right. The mechanics of the hands are similar to real games: opponents can fold on any street or go all-in.

When 8 bots remain in the tournament, the automatic mode ends. The following rules apply:

  • The game continues in a 4-max format (2 tables)
  • Each bot is now controlled by the player who initially chose it
  • If multiple bots from the same player make it to the top 8, the player controls the bot with the higher stack (the other bots continue to be controlled by the AI)
  • The player receives prizes based on their own result + the results of all their bots

The top 8 players compete for the tournament's prize pool. The prize amount is determined randomly, and the lobby displays the jackpot, from which 5% is deducted as a commission.

If the chosen "racers" do not make it to the top 8, race statistics with detailed results will be displayed.

The buy-in is $0.25 ($0.05 per bot), but races for $1 and $5 are expected soon.

Survivor Flips

A new step-satellite format for 8 players:

  • Each player is dealt 3 cards and must discard one within 20 seconds (or the lowest card will automatically be discarded).
  • Players go all-in, and all street cards are dealt.

The last remaining player wins the satellite. A similar format for flights of multi-day tournaments is promised to launch soon.