From: jacobs@cs.utah.edu (Steven R Jacobs)
Subject: Re: Variations of Poker wanted
In-reply-to: cobarruvias@asd2.jsc.nasa.gov's message of 28 Jul 92 14:15:14 GMT
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept
Distribution: usa
Date: 28 Jul 92 10:15:58

In article <1992Jul28.141514.28018@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> cobarruvias@asd2.jsc.nasa.gov writes:
>
> I have a monthly poker game that is more for socializing than winning $$. I
> feel we are in a rut with the same games being played over and over. Can
> anyone pass on their favorite variations of poker? We play the usuals:
>
> 5 stud
> 7 stud
> 5 draw, jacks to open, trips to win
> 7 stud hi/low
> 7 stud roll your own
> Follow the queen

What?  No Hold'em?  Here's a couple of popular Hold'em games:

  Texas Hold'em

    Each player starts with 2 cards face down, followed by a round of
    betting.  Three "community" cards are dealt face up in the middle
    of the table.  This is called "the flop", and these cards are
    shared by all players.  Betting round.  Another card (the "turn")
    face up, followed by a betting round.  Last card (the "river") face
    up, followed by the final betting round.  Each player forms the
    best 5-card hand from the 2 "hold" (or "hole") cards and the five
    "board" cards (players can use 0, 1, or 2 of the hole cards).  Best
    high hand wins.

    In card rooms and casinos, the one or two player(s) left of the
    dealer (and sometimes the dealer as well) are forced to make "blind"
    bets before seeing their cards, and the player to the dealer's left
    acts first for all betting rounds.  In home games, we just play for
    the antes and rotate the starting position to the left after each
    betting round.

    Best starting hands: AA, KK, QQ

    Good starting hands: two large suited cards (AK, AQ, KQ, etc.),
                         JJ, TT, two large cards.  Most hands with
                         *both* cards 10 or higher are fairly decent.

    Weak starting hands: small pairs, medium suited "connectors" (98, 87, etc)

    Pure garbage: 7-2, 8-3, etc. (two widely spaced small cards).
                  Most hands with both cards 9 or less are pretty bad,
                  even if they are suited.


  Omaha Hold'em Hi-Lo

    Omaha high only is also common in the casinos, but the hi-lo game
    gets more action and might be more fun for home games.  This is
    dealt like Texas Hold'em except that each player starts with four
    cards instead of two.  Also, when forming a hand at the end, the
    play must use _exactly_ two held cards and three board cards to form
    a hand.  Different cards can be used for the high and low hands.
    We play with an 8-or-better qualifier for low, as in the casinos.

    Generally, the best hands that can be made from the board are what
    wins.  If there is a pair on board, look for a full house or quads
    to win high.  With three or more low cards on board, look for the
    player with the two "missing" low cards to win low.  With no pair
    and three suited cards on board, look for a flush to win.  If there
    are no boats or flushes possible, look for straights or trips to win.
    Two pair is virtually worthless in this game -- it wins occasionally,
    but most of the time you will pay through the nose with two pair.

    There will be NO low about 40% of the time, so don't throw all your
    money in just because you have A-2 in your hand (although this can
    be a good start, especially if you have A-A-2-3 and two different
    ways to make a flush).


> Imaginary

Never heard of "Imaginary", can you describe this?

A couple of decent draw games:

   Jacks or Back

      Jacks-or-better to open, if nobody opens then everyone keeps their
      cards and bets for lowball.

   Lumbar (Low'er Back)

      Lowball, but if nobody opens for low, revert to "guts" (high with
      no qualifier to open).

   Lumbarjacks

      Lowball, but if nobody opens for low, revert to jacks-or-better
      (ante again and redeal if nobody opens either way).

   Guts or back

      Guts to open, if nobody opens then revert to lowball.  This is
      kind of silly, since somebody always opens high...

   Duece-to-seven

      Lowball, aces are high cards only, and straights and flushes count
      as high hands.  Best hand: 7-5-4-3-2.


> We rarely play any wild card games (except for follow the queen) but would
> try anything interesting.

You might want to try these:

  Six Kick

     This is dealt like 5 stud, but played hi-lo, and you can "kick" one
     card at the end and draw a replacement (we use chips to simultaneously
     declare which card to throw away).  We play this with a declare for
     hi/lo at the end.


  Anaconda (a.k.a "Pass the Trash")

     Each player gets 7 cards face down, and picks 3 to pass to other
     players (dealer declares the pass before dealing, usually "2 right,
     one left" or something like that).  After the pass, keep 5 best cards,
     and arrange them in the order you want them exposed.  Cards are turned
     face up one at a time, with betting rounds between (best high hand
     showing starts the betting, as in stud games), until 4 cards are
     exposed.  After the 4th betting round, declare hi/lo and divide the
     pot.

     This game has zillions of variations, often involving more than one
     round of passing.  Look for *big* hands to win here.  Boats are not
     uncommon, and the low is usually won by a 6 or 7, sometimes an 8.


If you want to try something *really* disgusting, there is 7-27.  I
won't describe it, since merely mentioning the game is enough to sicken
many readers.
--
Steve Jacobs  ({bellcore,hplabs,uunet}!utah-cs!jacobs, jacobs@cs.utah.edu)
"Never try to teach a pig to sing.  It wastes your time and annoys the pig."
Newsgroups: rec.gambling