Run It Three Times

Run It Three Times. Run the board three times to lower your risk when you are All-In. RITT is only possible when both players accept.

Have you ever witnessed professional poker players instructing the dealer to deal out the remaining community cards more than one time during a high stakes televised cash game? Turns out that this play isn't reserved for high stakes ballers in a live poker setting. It can be as much fun and beneficial in a context of small stakes online game and in this article we'll explain what the Run It Three Times feature is all about.

How Does "Run It Three Times" Work?

There are a few conditions that need to be met in order for players to be able to use the Run It Three Times feature. First of all, RITT is possible only with two players remaining in the hand. Second of all, one of the players has called the all-in of the other one (which means there are no more betting actions to be had). Thirdly, there are still some community cards left to be dealt. And lastly, both players have to agree to Run It Three Times - you can't be forced to use this feature if you don't want to.

Once all the conditions have been met the hand continues as normal, except for the fact that remaining community cards are dealt in three different instances instead of just one, with the winner of every subsequent deal earning one-third of the pot.

"Running it three times limits short term variance, however it does all even out in the long run." - Cole South, High Stakes Pro

Cole South Runs It Twice vs Ziigmund

[hsdbHand=448192]

Example Scenarios

You were dealt [cardsmall:h:A][cardsmall:h:K] pre-flop and after a flurry or raises and re-raises you went all-in during the very first round of betting. Your opponent made the call with [cardsmall:s:J][cardsmall:c:J] and you both decided to Run It Three Times. The first set of community cards came: [cardsmall:s:A][cardsmall:c:Q][cardsmall:d:9][cardsmall:s:7][cardsmall:c:7] and you won a third of the pot with top pair top kicker. The second board was: [cardsmall:c:T][cardsmall:s:T][cardsmall:d:T][cardsmall:h:2][cardsmall:h:3] giving the win to your opponent. Lastly, [cardsmall:c:5][cardsmall:d:5][cardsmall:h:8][cardsmall:s:Q][cardsmall:s:K] was dealt winning you another one-third of the pot. As a result, you won two-thirds of the pot and your opponent won one-third.

In the second example, you decided to go all-in on the turn with [cardsmall:s:J][cardsmall:s:T] on a [cardsmall:s:K][cardsmall:s:Q][cardsmall:d:7][cardsmall:d:3] board against the opponent holding [cardsmall:h:K][cardsmall:h:Q]. Then River was dealt three times revealing, in order [cardsmall:d:Q], [cardsmall:s:2], [cardsmall:c:9] once again earning you two-thirds of the pot by completing your draw on the second and third run.

Reasons for using "Run It Three Times" Feature

It's no accident that many professional poker players opt to run the remaining community cards a few different times during big high stakes televised cash games. Run It Three Times is a great way of both reducing variances and adding a bit more excitement to your all-in situations. Every poker player knows how disappointing a loss with a big hand can be and while RITT won't make your pocket aces immune to cracking by a hand like JTs, it's far more unlikely to lose that matchup three different times than just one. On the other hand, getting caught while making a big semi-bluff with a flush draw on the flop is much less disappointing when you have at least one-third of the pot to show for it. Run It Three Times is a great tool in every poker player's arsenal.