All for One and One for All
PLAYERS: 3-10 INITIAL DEAL: 5 down to each player PLAY: Bet. Each player, starting to the dealer's left and continuing clockwise, may choose to either draw one more card or trade in all his cards for an equal number of replacements. Rounds of betting and drawing/exchanging continue, the leader rotating each time, until there are fewer cards in the deck than players left in the game. WINNER: High hand.
Anaconda ( Pass The Trash )
PLAYERS: 4-7 INITIAL DEAL: seven down cards to each player PLAY: Rotating bet starting after the deal. Each player passes three cards to the player on their left after the first round. After the next betting round, everyone passes two cards to the player on their left. After another betting round, players pass one card to their left. Each player then chooses five cards to keep and discards the remaining two. Play continues with a rolling showdown. Cards speak for themselves. WINNER: high hand STANDARD VARIATIONS: # The cards are passed to other than the person to the left (Ex. 3-left, 2-right, 1-left or 3-left, 2-two-to-the-left, 1-three-to-the-left). # The player keeps all seven cards at the end and chooses which to turn up. This allows the player to change from hi to lo depending on what is being played. # Pass 2 cards to the left and 1 card to the right at the same time. # Love Thy Neighbor: High hand and the person to his left (who is still in) split the pot.
DogButt
PLAYERS : 3-7 INITIAL DEAL : Same as 5-card draw. PLAY : Same as 5-card draw, except, as in Baseball: 3's & 9's are wild. A 4 gets a player an extra card. WINNER : High hand
Don Juan
PLAYERS : 3-8. INITIAL DEAL : Three cards are dealt down to each player. PLAY : There is a betting round. Each player in turn beginning at the left of the dealer may discard from 0-3 of their cards and draw replacements from the deck. There is a betting round. There is the showdown. WINNER : Low hand (A-2-3 is lowest). STANDARD VARIATIONS : Players pay a set amount, such as a dime, for each card replaced in leiu of the first betting round. After the draw, players proceed to play their three cards as in 3-card guts, either staying in or dropping depending on the degree of confidence each has in his hand. The remaining players have a showdown for the pot or the privilege of mathcing the pot or pot match limit. Play continues until only one player stays, as in guts.
Howdy Doody
PLAYERS: 4-7 INITIAL DEAL: seven down cards to each player PLAY: As with Anaconda, but with these exceptions: this game is high/low and has wild cards. Threes are wild if and only if the hand they are in is used to try to win the high pot. Kings are wild if and only if the hand they are in is used to try for the low pot. No betting until the showdown. WINNER: High and low hands split NOTES: The low pot is usually won by a perfect low. High is usually won by at least a full house.
Jacks to Open, Trips to Win
PLAYERS: 3-7 INITIAL DEAL: five cards down to each player PLAY: Played like 5-card draw, with the following differences: Only a player with a hand as good as or better than a pair of Jacks may open the betting. If someone has such a hand, they must open the betting. If nobody can open, the hand is discarded, everyone antes again, and hands are redealt. Once the betting is opened play continues as in 5 Card Draw until the showdown. At this time, anyone who has at least a 3 of a kind must reveal his hand. The best revealed hand takes the pot. If nobody reveals a hand (that is, nobody has at least 3 of a kind) everyone still in may make another exchange. Repeat this process (exchange, bet, check for winner) until someone wins. WINNER: High and low hands split STANDARD VARIATIONS : 1. Progressive Jackpot: You have to win 3 hands to win the pot. The first hand starts with twos being wild, with the rank of the wild card increasing by one with each hand (so in the fourth hand, fives are wild). If nobody can open, the requirement increases to a pair of Queens, then Kings, then Aces.
Monkey Love
PLAYERS : 3-6 INITIAL DEAL : As in 5-card draw. PLAY : Players declare how many cards they want to draw simultaneously. The player to your left gets the cards you discarded.
Neuticles
PLAYERS : 4-7 INITIAL DEAL : 7 cards to each player. PLAY : This is essentually Anaconda with no passing of cards. Each player chooses their best 5-card High or Low hand from the cards they were dealt. Four cards are rolled with a betting round before the first roll and after each roll. There is a showdown after the last (fourth) roll and subsequent round of betting. WINNER : High and low hands split the pot. STANDARD VARIATIONS : Large Neuticles: 7 cards dealt to each player. Medium Neuticles: 6 cards dealt to each player. Small Neuticles: 5 cards dealt to each player.
Pick a Partner
PLAYERS: 4, 6, 8, or 10 INITIAL DEAL: 5 down to each player PLAY: Everyone rolls a card. Highest card showing picks one of the other hands as a partner. The next highest unpartnered hand chooses a partner, and so forth until everyone is paired up. Each partnership combines their remaining 8 cards and chooses 3 of them. Three rounds of betting follow, with one of the 3 cards rolled after each round. The winning team splits the pot. If one member of a team folds, the other can continue playing and, if he wins, he wins the entire pot. WINNER: High hand.
Threes
PLAYERS : 3-5. INITIAL DEAL : Five cards are dealt down to each player. PLAY : Similar to 5-card draw, except there are three drawing rounds with betting rounds betting rounds before, between and after. The player is allowed to draw up to three cards per round (no four cards with an ace). Threes are wild. WINNER : High hand STRATEGY : Don't throw away threes.
Trees
PLAYERS : 3-10. INITIAL DEAL : 5 cards are dealt down to each player. PLAY : There is a round of betting. Each player can now trade cards freely with every other player. Any number of cards can be exchanged, but a player must give the same number of cards he is receiving. When all no more trades are forthcoming, there is a final round of betting, then a showdown. WINNER : High hand wins the pot.
Psycho
PLAYERS: 3-6 (tricky with 6-- may not have enough cards) INITIAL DEAL: 5 down to each player PLAY: As in 5 card draw. Immediately after draw, players show 3 cards. After a round of betting, players receive one card up. Bet. Receive a last card down. Bet, then showdown. WINNER: High and low hands split.
Triple Draw 2-7
PLAYERS : 2-6 INITIAL DEAL : Deal 5 cards to each player, as in 5 card draw. PLAY : Each player is dealt 5 cards and the goal is to make the lowest possible 5 card hand. There are four rounds of betting and three draws in this game. After each round of betting, players choose cards to discard ... anywhere from 0 to 5 ... and the dealer deals them replacement cards. After the third and final draw, there is one last round of betting. A dealer button determines the order of betting and discarding. WINNER : Players try to make the lowest possible 5 card hand. Aces play for high only and deuces play for low. Because you are trying to make the lowest possible hand, straights and flushes count against you. This means that 23456, for example, is a very bad hand. It is not considered a 6-low. It is a straight and is therefore worse than holding AKQJ9. The best hand is 23457 unsuited. |