Texas Hold’em is the most popular poker variant in the world, with the game dominating online poker rooms and live card rooms worldwide. However, if Philadelphia native Scott Hill has his way, there will soon be a new challenger to Texas Hold’em’s crown: Tennessee Hold’em.
Tennessee Hold’em is the brainchild of Hill, a former architect, composer, musician, and producer who turned game designer a few years ago. He not only invented Tennessee Hold’em but also jumped through hoops to get the game patented and is now taking his exciting new poker variant to poker rooms around Europe and the United States. PokerNews recently caught up with Hill and quizzed him about his background, his game, plans for the future, and more.
Who is Scott Hill? Hill’s career has long been about discovery, design, and innovation. After earning a BA in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, Hill added more feathers to his cap with the RIBA at the Architectural Association (AA) in Bedford Square, Philadelphia.
“The AA gave me insight into the world of invention as a way of life,” Hill explained to PokerNews. Hill also dabbled in the music world, exploring different genres and being involved in the “Join us on the Journey” podcast, which had over 10 million downloads before Apple bought the hosting site and name.
“I was lucky enough to collaborate with many amazing artists, even on a musical journey to the “Red Planet” with the late, great Sir Patrick Moore!”
Like many players, Hill was a keen poker player during college, playing Seven Card Stud. The internet and Philadelphian casinos didn’t exist back then, so private games were the only way to play.
Tired of Texas Hold’em?
Hill had a negative experience of online poker back in 2009-10. Although Hill decided that online poker wasn’t for him, he remained interested in poker and began reading about Texas Hold’em and Omaha on internet forums.
“I was fascinated by “DeepStack,” created by the University of Alberta’s Computer Poker Research Group. It bridges the gap between games with perfect information, like chess, and games with imperfect information, like poker, by using intuition honed through deep learning to reassess its strategy with each decision. This concept of strategic reassessment is the key to Tennessee Hold’em’s game mechanics.
After discovering many poker players were growing frustrated with Texas Hold’em due to the high fold percentage, Hill set about creating his own game, and Tennessee Hold’em was born.
“I wanted to give poker players another way to showcase their skills. The aim was to create a strategic, sociable game that would make players think and interact. Trying to create, dare I say, a friendly game with loads of banter!”
“Tennessee Hold’em is a tournament-based inclusive poker system with fast-moving table action, progressive limit betting, strategic hand buildings, and dynamic, entertaining showdowns.
If you’re still unsure how a round of Tennessee Hold’em works after watching that video, here’s Hill with a breakdown of Tennessee Hold’em.
- Players rarely fold after seeing their hole cards. A short betting round follows.
- Instead of a three-card flop, two community cards are dealt, known as the “launch.”
- Limit betting with multiple raises creates fast-moving table action
- After a round of betting on the launch, players are dealt three more hole cards, meaning each player holds five hole cards, known as the “boat.” A third round of betting occurs.
- The dealer calls for “Men Overboard,” which is where strategy and bluffing reach new levels
“Players may discard up to two cards from the boat, which they place face down in front of the,. Players who discard one card are given a disc that shows opponents that they get “no river.” Those who discard no cards receive a disc displaying “no turn & no river.” Once everyone has acted, the dealer calls “reveal,” and each player shows their discarded cards.”
“The last two community cards are the turn and river. These are dealt with betting rounds after each. At showdown, the player with the best ranking five-card poker hand wins.”
“When you’ve a potential winning hand but a really short stack, winning a small side pot is little consolation. Patented house “ODC” loans minimize chip bullying, eliminate awkward side pots, and give all-in players a last chance to recover and get back into the competition.”
“ODC stands for Overdrawn Chips. They are not really loans but are more of temporary rebuys. Winners take the pot and immediately repay the ODC borrowed. Losers are eliminated. Any lost ODC goes to the hand winner, who builds the tournament pot. Losing players cash in their remaining ODC. We’ve found operators like ODC as well as the players because they typically charge 1% for furnishing the bonus chips.”
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Creating a new poker variant from scratch is no simple task; several hurdles must be overcome for the game to get off the drawing board, as Hill explains.
“Years ago, the Isle of Man government warned me to keep it confidential,” hardly a recipe for establishing a sociable new game! I contacted three specialist patent lawyers in Germany, the UK, and the USA. They all told me not to waste their time or my money trying to patent it. Based on previous judgments, they thought that getting a patent would be impossible. I decided to prosecute it myself, and five years later, I was honored to be granted the first US multiplayer poker patent of this century.”
“There are some very clever people in iGaming. With US federal approval, there were plenty of offers, but I had learned from the music business to be wary. In music, it’s common for record labels to buy out contracts of any artists that may threaten signed artists in popularity, just to put them on the shelf so they don’t threaten that market-leading position. I didn’t want that to be the fate of Tennessee Hold’em, so I applied to Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) to get industry-standard global certification for the patented system. This was something new for GLI since no other multiplayer poker patents exist. Last summer,GLI approved Tennessee Hold’em poker tournaments with worldwide certification for both land-based and online casinos.”
With the legalities out of the way and his game protected, Hill is now concentrating on expanding Tennessee tournaments to complement Texas Hold’em and enhance the international poker market.
One way Hill is doing this is to host a Tennessee Hold’em tournament during the PartyPoker Tour at Aspers London on April 22. The £210 buy-in event sees custom trophies, Tennessee Hold’em baseball caps, and Jack Daniels for the winners, on top of the prize money.
After the UK Championship, Hill has a Slovakian Championship scheduled for October, and the North American Tribal Championship in San Diego, so watch this space.
Several PokerNews staff got to meet Hill at the Irish Poker Festival in Dublin where Hill hosted the Tennessee Hold’em European Championship. Partnership Manager Pete Robinson, one of our own, came out on top and won the event. He may have a slight bias in him after winning the tournament, but he told us that he thoroughly enjoyed playing the new variant and expects it to catch on.
“I found Tennessee Hold’em to be a really fun game and experience. The games seemed complicated at first, but after a few hands, you really get into the swing of things, and it’s easy to pick up.”
“Mixed games are always a good change from Texas Hold’em, and I think the game will catch on; you’ll love it if you like mixed games.”
“I am really proud to be the first Tennessee Hold’em European Champion, and I think everyone who played in Dublin agreed that it was a really enjoyable experience. Thanks again to Scott Hill for inviting us and, of course, for inventing the game!”
You can try Tennessee Hold’em for yourself at the upcoming PartyPoker Tour at Aspers Casino Stratford in London this April. Be sure to check out the official Tennessee Hold’em website and keep your browsers locked to PokerNews for all the latest Tennessee Hold’em news.
Senior Editor