Beta FAQ

Think of the Beta as like a crash-test for our app. We know how the app should work and we know what we want to see but, in the real world, things don’t always go according to plan. The Beta is our chance to test an advanced version of the app with lots of people. There’ll be bugs and problems – and we want to iron them all out before we launch the app officially.

We’d love this Beta to be a two-way conversation. If we mess up, we want you to tell us on Facebook (including via Messenger) or Reddit, or by emailing us. If you’ve got good ideas for improvement, we’ll take those ideas and make our app better. We will consider all your suggestions – and feed the best ones back into the app in real-time. You don’t have to provide any feedback, but we’re really keen to build the ultimate app for the Sport of Poker and would love your help, your ideas and your insight.

We don’t know yet. We’ll keep introducing exciting features throughout the Beta period with the hope that, one day pretty soon, we’ll be able to take a step back and look at an amazing app that we’re all very proud of. When this day comes, the Beta will end and Match Poker Online™ will become a fully-fledged app. All our Beta testers will be given exclusive rewards to be redeemed in the full app as a thank-you present. Birds will sing and the stars will shine, for we will be one step closer to our ultimate goal.

We’d like to think of MATCHPOKER Online’s trajectory as the following:

  • Step 1: Create an app that allows people around the world to compete against each other in the Sport of Poker – Match Poker.
  • Step 2: Start identifying the best poker players and teams in your community – and in the world.
  • Step 3: Hold State, National and World Championships to showcase our sport and its champions.

General FAQ

If you know how to play Texas Hold ‘Em Poker, then you know how to play Match Poker. [See our video for a quick explanation].


Where Match Poker is different is that we will have a database of millions of hands that have been played thousands of times before. Every hand you play is us dealing one of these hands to your table at random – not only your cards, but also your opponents’ cards, and the flop, turn and river.

Every time your opponent gets that lucky card on the river that cracks your top pair, instead of being crushed, you won’t even be affected. This is because the number of chips you win at your table doesn’t define your result. What we care about is how well you performed relative to the people who have already played this hand.

If you lose a hand, but lose fewer chips than your predecessors did in that hand, you win Rating Points (RP) and improve your world ranking.

If you win a hand, but you performed worse than your predecessors, you’ll lose Rating Points.

All that matters is how you many chips you won or lost relative to those who played this same hand before from your position.

This is what makes Match Poker a sport!

Yes, it is legitimately a sport! In 2017 the GAISF declared that Match Poker was officially a sport. This is the world governing body for sport – and sits above the Olympic Committee. It has given Match Poker the same level of recognition on the world stage as Rugby League.

Some people prefer the definition of ‘Sport’ to require an element of physical activity. This is why Match Poker is sometimes called a ‘Mind Sport’ – like Chess, Bridge, Go, and others.

No. Match Poker Online™ is not a gambling app. Match Poker Online ensures that the sport of Match Poker will be an intellectual pursuit – a mind sport – by eliminating gambling elements inherent in poker, in the following way:

  1. The app is free and play on the app is free.
  2. Scoring of Match Poker is not in terms of chips or betting units won. Rather, every result will simply be in terms of how a player’s rating improved or fell as a result of his/her play.
  3. Unlike all other forms of poker, a player’s results don’t rely significantly on the hand they are dealt – i.e. chance. Instead they are judged on how they played those cards, comparing their play to everyone else who has played the same cards.

Read our Integrity Policy for more information on our anti-gambling approach.

Not in the way you think. Match Poker Online ™ does not sanction or allow any form of gambling (see question above).

But our answer isn’t ‘No’. The interest that the players would have, money-wise, is the same as any other sport. For example, think about those who play at a national or international level – they make lots of money from sponsorship and winning tournaments, like all professional sportspeople. We anticipate that professional poker players will be able to do the same from obtaining a high ranking in our app and taking that to national and international Match Poker competitions.

Rating Points (RP) are how we score your performance in Match Poker. As opposed to real poker, where your chips are the way of ‘scoring’ players, we allocate points to you after every hand that represent how well you played the hand. The better you outperform your category average for a hand, the more points you get! Learn more about our Rating Algorithm here.

How to Win Rating Points:

All you have to do to win RP is play well! Sometimes the best action is to fold because you have poor cards, sometimes you can outperform your predecessors by bluffing – any way that you perform better than average will earn you Rating Points (RP).

We’ll quickly start you off in a rating category. It will probably be a little lower than your true rating category, but we’ll find this out soon enough as you play. As you demonstrate that your skill is above the average for your rating category, you’ll be promoted into higher categories.

We also have Sit ‘n’ Go tournaments in a Match Poker format (such as ‘Scrap’ and ‘Elimination’) which award RP as a reward for placing highly.

What do Rating Points do?

Well, the International Federation of Match Poker runs national and international championships of Match Poker multiple times a year. Those who have demonstrated sufficient skill in our app – through garnering enough Rating Points (RP) – will be given the opportunity to try out for their national team. It’s your entry to being an international (mind) athlete!

What if you struggle to win Rating Points?

We’re here to help! Make sure to check out our Strategy Guides section of our website, or head to ‘Training’ in our app, and we’ll show you tips and tricks that every professional poker player uses to get ahead in their game. These are guaranteed to help you gain Rating Points if you find yourself stagnating.

We even have a starting point for beginners!

Yes. We believe a true poker experience involves having real people at your table, so we will seat you at tables with real players, even though your real rivals are those who have played this hand before – not those currently at the table.