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I play a monthly poker game with people from work; here are a few variants I've come up with to try in tonight's game.
11’s Wild: Any variant. Any combination of cards which add up to 11 can be combined to make a single wild card (e.g. A and 10, or 5 and 6, or 2, 2, 3, 4). (Note that face cards can’t be used for this, and Aces count as 1’s.)
Hearts Are for Sharing: 7-card stud. Hearts are wild, but a player who receives a face-up heart must pass a card to the next live player on their left; upcards stay up, downcards stay down. (Yes, if somebody passes you a heart upcard, you have to pass a card. Like it’ll happen.)
Clubbed to Death: 5-card draw. If your hand contains 1 club, it’s wild; if your hand contains 2 clubs, they’re just themselves; if your hand contains 3 or more clubs, you lose the showdown to any other hand (although you may still try to bluff out the other players). (If all live players have 3 or more clubs at the showdown, best natural hand wins.)
Hi, Jack!: 7-card stud. If you’re dealt a face-up Jack, you must steal a card from another live player. Upcards stay up, downcards stay down. (No, you don’t get to steal another card if you steal a Jack. Nice try.)
Running Wild: Any variant. Suited connectors (cards of the same suit and of adjacent ranks) are wild.
Bird in the Bush: 7-card stud. After the second, third and fourth upcards are dealt, each player may exchange 2 upcards for a face-down card. Only one exchange is allowed per player per round. Players may exchange two pairs of upcards on different rounds, though. (Note that there are no exchanges after the last downcard is dealt.)
Robin Hood: 7-card stud. After the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh cards are dealt, the high hand showing must give 1 card to low hand showing; upcards stay up, downcards stay down. If several hands are tied for highest, each of them must give a card to the lowest. If several hands are tied for lowest, high hand(s) must give each of them a card. Betting starts at the eldest high hand showing after cards are passed.
Slow Show: 5-card draw. After the draw, players reveal cards one at a time, choosing simultaneously, with betting rounds after each set of cards is shown.
Two Solitudes: 7-card stud. Best all-red hand takes half the pot, and best all-black hand takes the other half. Betting starts at the eldest high all-red or all-black hand showing.
ObCopyright stuff: All rights to commercial publication or use of these poker variants are mine; you can play them, but you can't republish them, especially for money, without permission.
11’s Wild: Any variant. Any combination of cards which add up to 11 can be combined to make a single wild card (e.g. A and 10, or 5 and 6, or 2, 2, 3, 4). (Note that face cards can’t be used for this, and Aces count as 1’s.)
Hearts Are for Sharing: 7-card stud. Hearts are wild, but a player who receives a face-up heart must pass a card to the next live player on their left; upcards stay up, downcards stay down. (Yes, if somebody passes you a heart upcard, you have to pass a card. Like it’ll happen.)
Clubbed to Death: 5-card draw. If your hand contains 1 club, it’s wild; if your hand contains 2 clubs, they’re just themselves; if your hand contains 3 or more clubs, you lose the showdown to any other hand (although you may still try to bluff out the other players). (If all live players have 3 or more clubs at the showdown, best natural hand wins.)
Hi, Jack!: 7-card stud. If you’re dealt a face-up Jack, you must steal a card from another live player. Upcards stay up, downcards stay down. (No, you don’t get to steal another card if you steal a Jack. Nice try.)
Running Wild: Any variant. Suited connectors (cards of the same suit and of adjacent ranks) are wild.
Bird in the Bush: 7-card stud. After the second, third and fourth upcards are dealt, each player may exchange 2 upcards for a face-down card. Only one exchange is allowed per player per round. Players may exchange two pairs of upcards on different rounds, though. (Note that there are no exchanges after the last downcard is dealt.)
Robin Hood: 7-card stud. After the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh cards are dealt, the high hand showing must give 1 card to low hand showing; upcards stay up, downcards stay down. If several hands are tied for highest, each of them must give a card to the lowest. If several hands are tied for lowest, high hand(s) must give each of them a card. Betting starts at the eldest high hand showing after cards are passed.
Slow Show: 5-card draw. After the draw, players reveal cards one at a time, choosing simultaneously, with betting rounds after each set of cards is shown.
Two Solitudes: 7-card stud. Best all-red hand takes half the pot, and best all-black hand takes the other half. Betting starts at the eldest high all-red or all-black hand showing.
ObCopyright stuff: All rights to commercial publication or use of these poker variants are mine; you can play them, but you can't republish them, especially for money, without permission.
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From:
no subject
I can't remember the specifics of guts but you put in an ante and I think you're dealt five cards (or is it two?). Everyone then takes their hand and puts it in their hand near the middle of the table, about a foot above the table. You then count 1-2-3 and on three everyone who thinks they have a bad hand drops their cards and everyone else keeps them in hand. Those who stayed compare hands and the winner doesn't pay in, but everyone else has to match the ante. The thing finishes when there is only one person who stays in. Again, the details are a bit fuzzy and hard to explain, so apologies if this doesn't make much sense.
The other variant involves being dealt a card and you put it on your forehead for everyone else (except you!) to see. Again, you take a poker token and put it in your hand and on the count of three all those who think they are the winner keep the chip in hand. Top card is the winner, although I don't remember how the thing finishes.
Wow, it's been a while since I've played... I only half-remember the games.
From:
no subject
Indian poker is a phyche-out variant of guts, and doesn't get played often in our particular crowd. We've done it a few times, though.
Generally, what I've found is that the more money is at stake, the more "serious" the games get, with "big money" games being straight 7-card stud, Texas hold 'em etc., small money games being motley assemblages of serious and semi-serious games with occasional insanity, and trivial or non money games tending towards extreme craziness. I gather that y'all don't play for paycheques. (Neither do we: supper generally costs more than the buy-in.)
From:
no subject
Any time someone has played in a friend's serious game (monthly Texas hold'em, 40 entrants, $25 buy-in type thing) they tend to mess things up. One guy, A, did really well but he wasn't using a mathematical system. Apparently this caused some complaints and one guy got so pissed off that he threw in his chips and stormed off... never to play with them again. A thought it was hilarious, as he should. Keep in mind that the guy is a mathematician who knows he has some serious 'tells' so his strategy is to play completely irrationally... even if he has good cards he'll often fold, or he'll play with crap.
From:
no subject
*shaking head* Playing on people's psychology isn't dumb. Pissed Off Dude should learn to play his own cards, and if somebody's being "stupid," prove it, and that doesn't mean shouting it. Just quietly taking his money and then thanking him for the game would probably work much better. And if he can't win over the long term, maybe Forrest Gump was right: "Stupid is as stupid does."
I'm curious whether he would have gotten so upset if the game hadn't been for money. I know people who do get upset when people play games irrationally, even when there's no money involved, but usually this happens when somebody does something to throw the game rather than playing for themselves. Personally, I don't usually invite people who do that back... it's kind of contrary to why I play. If he was just upset over the money, well... he shouldn't be playing poker at those stakes.