Run It Twice

Running it twice refers to a situation where players agree to deal multiple community card runouts instead of doing it once.

For example, if one player moves all in with a flush draws while having AsJs on Tc 9s 5s and another call with pocket tens, they might agree to run the turn and river twice. This means that the dealer will split the pot into two equal parts, and the winner of each runout will get one-half of the pot.

Let’s say the first runout brings Ks and 2c, which gives the first player the flush and wins him the first half of the pot.The second runout brings 2s and 8c pairing the board, giving the second player the full house, and winning him the second part of the pot. In this situation, both players just split the pot equally. One player might win both runouts and then take down the entire pot.

You can only use this option in cash games and only if the casino allows it in the first place. If that is a valid option, both players must agree on it, or otherwise, it will be played as a standard hand, and cards will be dealt once. Some online poker sites also offer this functionality, so you can try it without visiting your local poker room.

The main reason why running it twice was introduced and became popular in cash games is that it significantly reduces the variance and diminishes luck’s impact. You can picture it as playing the same pot two times, making your expected value run much closer to actual results.

Sometimes you can see players running it three or four times in huge pots to reduce the variance, but usually, players just run it once and sometimes twice.

‍