Saturday, January 22, 2011

Survivor Omaha


Name of the Game: Survivor Omaha

Deal: 4 cards to each player, and 5 community cards

Draws: 0 draws

Wild Cards: Little ones

Special Rules: 4 cards are dealt to each player face down. Then 5 cards are dealt to the community face down (4 are for play, and 1 is the eliminator). The community cards are flipped over 1 by 1 followed by betting. When the last "eliminator" card is flipped, it is used to remove one of the 4 cards from the community. The card closest numerically to the eliminator will be removed from the pool, leaving three cards in the community. The player must use 2 of the 4 cards from his cards to make a hand.

Variant: Rather than just playing a poker hand, you can make it a split pool with a poker hand and a spade hand. For each hand, players can chose which 2 of their 4 cards they use. Before cards are shown, each player will put a 0, 1, or 2 coins in their hands secretly to choice which pot they are playing for (0 for poker, 1 for spades, and 2 for both). Players compete for half the pot on the game type they chose. If a player picks both poker and spades, then they must win both pots to win, else they automatically lose both.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Let's Make a Deal



Name of the Game: Let's Make a Deal

Deal: 5 cards

Draws: 2 draws of 2 cards

Wild Cards: dealers choice

Special Rules: An extra hand is dealt at the beginning of the game. After players review their initial cards, they can chose to bid on the spare hand. The bid continues until no one else wants to top the last bid. That person then gets the cards and the bid collected goes to the pot. If no one wants the cards then they are discarded and the game continues as per a normal 5-card game.

Variant: An excellent variant is to make a pair of king's take the game. If two players have a pair of kings, the one with the king of spades takes the game. This makes the game more interesting as players will hold a king in hopes for a second one, even though it hurts their odds for the normal low hand.

Low Ball


Name of the Game: Low Ball

Deal: 5 cards

Draws: 2 draws of 2 cards

Wild Cards: none typically

Special Rules: In this game, you are going for the lowest possible poker hand. So a Royal Flush is the worst hand to have (assuming no wild cards), and the best hand is a 2, 3, 4, 5, 7.

Variant: An excellent variant is to make a pair of king's take the game. If two players have a pair of kings, the one with the king of spades takes the game. This makes the game more interesting as players will hold a king in hopes for a second one, even though it hurts their odds for the normal low hand.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Burning Cross


Name of the Game: Burning Cross

Deal: 2 cards each

Draws: 0 draws

Wild Cards: little ones in your hand (or dealers choice)

Special Rules: The community cards (5 of them) are arranged face down in the shape of a cross (well, a 'plus' sign really). Each card is turned up one at a time, allowing for a betting round. The centre card is turned up at the end. The player then makes a hand with their two cards and either the vertical or horizontal of row of 3 cards in the 'cross'.

Background: In his final years on earth, St. Francis of Assisi was the first person to experience the stigmata. This moving experience occurred during a game of cards with some friends from the Order of St Clare. Even though the pain experienced as burning, he insisted he finish the hand of this new game with a cross shaped community cards. After his death in 1226, the game was renamed to the burning cross in his memory.


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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Poker Hands

For those who are poker challenged, the following is the order of hand strength.



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Past the Dutchie


Name of the Game: Past the Dutchie

Deal: 5-card deal

Draws: 0 draws

Wild Cards: Second lowest card in your hand.

Special Rules: After the initial deal and bet, there will be three rounds of passing cards to the player to your left (each followed with a betting round). The first round will be three cards passed, then two, and the last pass will be one card.

Background: Invented by the infamous Dutchman Johan van der Smut, this amusing game was an occasional diversion while creating his giant tractor beam. It proved to be effective in annoying the hell out of his poker buddies as well.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Crazy 5s

Name of the Game: Crazy Fives

Deal: 5-card (2 up, 2 down, 1 up)

Draws: 0 draws

Wild Cards: 5s are wild.

Special Rules: 5-card poker where you deal 2 up initially, then 2 rounds of a card down, and a final card up at the end. A pair of 5s win automatically. If two people have a pair of 5s, the one with the 5 of spades wins.

Background: Once a fierce street gang in Tokyo, the Crazy 55s were influential on the Japanese subculture during the 1960s. Their leader was often spotted Chishima Chichibu on Shimbashi street, playing cards to the wee hours of the morning. On one such occasion, it was reported that the pot between him and a rival reached 500,000 Yen. He lost with a only a pair of 5s. After that day, he insisted that he play games where 5s are wild. Thus, Crazy 5s was born.

Crazy 7s

Name of the Game: Crazy Sevens

Deal: 7-card draw (standard 2 up, 4 down, 1 up)

Draws: 0 draws

Wild Cards: 7s are wild.

Special Rules: Standard 7-card draw poker (deal 2 up and 1 down initially, then 3 rounds of a card down, and a final card up at the end. Players make the best 5-card poker hand with their 7 cards). A pair of 7s win automatically. If two people have a pair of 7s, the one with the 7 of spades wins.

Background: Invented in 1897 by Dr. Van Wilder during his visit of the 7th, and last, continent. His expedition was to find a suitable site for a water park. He was successful and opened up Van Wilder's 7 Flags Amusement Park. However, we was later sued by 6 Flags Amusement Park and lost everything.

Survivor

Name of the Game: Survivor

Deal: 2 Cards per player, 5 community cards face down

Draws: no draws

Wild Cards: Little ones (lowest card a player's hand).

Special Rules: Bet after the initial deal. Then, flip each communal card, betting after each of the first 4 cards. The last card is the eliminator which "votes" another card of the "island". It eliminates the closest card numerically. If a tie, then it eliminates the closest card to it, leaving only three cards in the community cards. One more betting round. Then players make poker hands from their two cards and the 3 community cards, with the lowest of those 5 a wild card.

Background: Inspired by a true reality show, based on almost true events, created by a true person, with almost a true ring of truth. This game adds excitement by eliminating a card at the end of the game, potentially changing the value of the hand very quickly.


Gagnon Poker

Name of the Game: Gagnon Poker

Deal: 5-card draw

Draws: 2 draws of 2 cards. Adjust if more players.

Wild Cards: Kings and little ones (the lowest card in your hand).

Special Rules: Play the better and draw rounds like other poker hands, but after the second draw and bet, everyone has an exchange round. The player to the left of the dealer can exchange one card with anyone else at the table (cards are exchanged down, and you cannot look at the card you are receiving before deciding what to give). After all players have exchanged, there is one final better round.

Background: Invented in the early part of the 21st Century. This game takes it name from the musician Daniel Gagnon, a scrupulous gambler often known for his intentional and unintentional look of bewilderment. It is said that in the earliest days of when this game started, Dan lost large sums of money from poorly player swap cards.





Leaners

Name of the Game: Leaners

Deal: Can be a 5-card or 7-card draw game

Draws: For 5-card, typically 2 draws of 2 (if 5 players or less)

Wild Cards: Consecutive suited cards in you hand are wild (i.e. 7 and 8 of spades, J, Q, and K of hearts, etc.)

Special Rules: Played like any poker game, but where the wild cards are your "leaners" - i.e. two or more cards in numerical order (leaning) and are of the same suite. This can be played with any 5-card, 7-card, or community poker game.

Background: I think we learned this from John's work friend King in 2005 or 2006. It stuck!


Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Da House Rules


In poker, as with any game, it is important to lay down the ground rules. This section lays out what the ground rules our for our monthly poker games. Of course, for those who don't play with us you can create your own ground rules. But it is critical to set the rules and ensure everyone knows them. I've seen some poker games turn ugly because we didn't all know the rules.


The House Rules

  1. Standard ante is a quarter and max bet is a dollar.
  2. The first bet always starts left of the dealer and rotates clockwise.
  3. What you call is what you play, even if you had a better hand and didn't realize it (the exception is Texas Holdem and Omaha - those cards play themselves).
  4. Aces are always high unless stated otherwise by dealer.
  5. If 2 people have a flush, a straight, or a straight flush, the winning hand will be the one with the highest card, or if they are tied the 2nd highest card, until there is a winner. If they are identical numerically it’s a split pot.
  6. If 2 people have a full house, the winning hand is based on higher of the trips first, if they are the same then the pair determines the winner. If the hands are still identical numerically the pot is split.
  7. If dealer calls "pair of sevens (or any other pair) takes it", in the unlikely event that 2 people have a pair of sevens, the one with the 7 of Spades wins the pot.
  8. For Split pot games, if you call both games, you must win both. (Example - if you call on a poker hand and spade count, you must win both to win. Lose one and you lose both).
  9. In follow-the-queen, should a queen turn up as the last card face up it means that ONLY the queen is wild and nothing else if wild.
  10. For the last betting round, if you 'call' or get 'called', you have to show your hand.
  11. If a card gets turned up during a card exchange, the player has the option of either taking the turned over card, or receiving a new card.