Captain Blackjack's Poker Page

The Hands

Regular 5 Card Games

• Aces are always high or low (player's choice)
• The odds change significantly when wild cards are in play.
• Suits do not count in ranking of hands to determine the winning hand.

Special 3 Card Games

Suit Ranking

1. Spades (highest),
2. Hearts,
3. Diamonds, then
4. Clubs.

Determining Home Game House Rules

If nothing else, here are some particular points that should be decided prior to the game:

• When playing with wildcards, does five of a kind beat a royal flush?
• Are straights and flushes ignored when comparing low hands?
• What are the rules for high/low games?

Standard House Rules - All Games

Betting

• Splashing the pot is not allowed. Players are to place all wagers halfway between them and the pot until the end of the betting round. When the the pot is declared to be “pot right” the round’s wagers are then pushed into the pot.
• A bet and three raises are allowed for each betting round, however, completing an opening forced bet (a blind bet) does not count as a raise. There is no limit on raises with only two players in the pot. If three or more players have money invested at the start of a betting round, the 3-Raise Rule will apply.
• String bets or raises are not allowed. A player must put in the full amount of the bet at one time or announce his intended action. A player who puts a single chip into the pot that is larger than the bet to him is assumed to have called the bet, unless he announces "raise".

Rankings and Showdowns

• Suits do not count in ranking of hands to determine the winning hand. (The ranking of suits is used only to determine the lowest card for a forced bet, drawing for seats in games, etc. Suits are ranked Spades (highest), Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs.)
• Cards Speak - the value of your hand is determined solely by your cards. You don't have to declare your hand properly in order to claim the part of the pot you deserve.

Exposed Cards & Misdeals

• If a joker or non-playing card is accidentally dealt face up, it will be replaced by the next card below it in the deck. If a joker is accidentally dealt to a player as a down card, it will be replaced after that round of cards have been dealt. If a player does not call attention to the Joker among his down cards before acting on his hand, then he has a fouled hand and forfeits all rights to the pot and all monies involved.
• If a player antes and/or asks to be dealt-in but is unable to make it back to the table in a reasonable amount of time to act on his hand, then he forfeits his ante and his forced entry bet, if any.
• If a player does not have the correct number of cards on the deal and no action has been accepted, the hand will be a misdeal. If there has been action ("action"defined as two or more players acting on their hands in turn) before the mistake is noticed, the player with the incorrect number cards will receive his money back and is out of the hand.

Deal Making

• At any time, for any reason, the players remaining in a pot may stop the action and agree to split the pot in any way they see fit; however, the decision to stop must be unanimous of all players in the main pot. Deal making that only conerns a side pot is not allowed.

Standard House Rules - Stud Games

Betting

• On the first round, the player with the lowest card showing must post a small blind (half a forced bet), and then the player to his left starts the action with a big blind (full forced bet). If the big blind is only called, the player posting the big blind has the option to raise. On subsequent rounds, the player with the highest hand showing always initiates the action.
• If a player folds his hand after making a forced bet or on a round of checking, his seat will continue to receive a card until there is a wager.

Exposed Cards & Misdeals

• If a player's first or second hole card is accidently turned up (by the dealer, not by the platyer), the third card is dealt down. If both hole cards are dealt up, the third and fourth cards are dealt down.
• If the first player's final card is accidentally exposed, then all subsequent cards will be dealt face up. The player that is high on board is first to act and all action stands.
• If any player, other than first position, receives his last card face up, all other players will receive their last card face down. The player or players whose down card was exposed has two options: (1) Declaring himself all-in for the portion of the pot already played and any subsequent betting will be on the side, or (2) he may continue to be active in any further action in the pot on the final round.
• A player must have seven cards in order to win. Any other number of cards constitutes a dead hand. Players must protect their own hand.
• A card accidently dealt off the table must play. if it is the last card, it is to be treated as an exposed seventh street card.

Short Deck

• If there are not enough cards left in the deck for each player, the Dealer is to deal all the cards except the last card. He then scrambles the last card in with the four burn cards and deals those. If the dealer determines that by using this procedure there will still not be enough cards for all the players, then the dealer will turn a card up in the center of the table as a community card.

5 Card Draw Variations

Jacks or Better

Jacks or Better, Progressive

7 Card Stud Variations

Baseball

• 3's and 9's are wild ("3 outs, 9 innings")
• An 8 dealt face up is an automatic loss ("strike-out")
• 4's dealt face up earn an extra up card, IF DESIRED ("4 bases")
• The player may not want to risk a strike-out
• 4's dealt face down may be turned up (at any time) for an extra down card

Black Moiria (Chicago)

• High (or low) spade in the hole gets half the pot

Follow the Queen

• Queens are wild (optional)
• If a queen is dealt as an up card, then the net card dealt up is also wild (e.g. if the next up card is a four, then all fours are wild).
• If a second queen is dealt up, then the net card dealt up becomes wild and the card that followed the first queen in no longer wild
• If the last up-card is a queen, then no other cards besides queens are wild.

Low Hole Wild

• The lowest of each player's hole cards is wild for that player (and all like it, up or down)
• The player may elect to have the last card dealt up (in order to preserve the presently low card)

Roll Your Own

• The first three cards are all dealt face down and the players each decide which one to reveal to start.
• Often combined with Low Hole Wild, in which case, every card is dealt down and the players keep rolling their own.

Community Card Games

Texas Hold 'Em

• Two cards dealt face down to each player.
• Five cards are eventually dealt in the middle of the table (the "board"), which are common to all player's hands.
• These community cards are dealt first as a "flop" of 3 cards, then a fourth card (the "Turn") and then the final card (the "River"), with betting before and after each reveal.
• Winning hand is best 5 cards from the combination of player's 2 cards and the board, i.e. the player may choose to use 2, 1, or 0 cards from the player's hand.

Omaha

• Like Texas Hold 'Em
• Players are dealt 4 hole cards instead of 2.
• Players must use eactly 2 cards from their hand and 3 from the board.

Crazy Pineapple

• Like Texas Hold 'Em
• Players are dealt 3 hole cards instead of 2.
• One hole card is discarded after the flop (before the turn).

Other Common Home Games

Anaconda/Pass the Trash

• Seven cards dealt face down all at once
• High-low game
• Pass three cards to the left
• Pass two cards to the left
• Pass one card to the left
• Discard 2 cards
• Arrange the remaining 5 in the order to be revealed
• Reveal, bet, reveal, bet, bet, declare, bet, reveal
• You may not alter the order of revealing once play has begun

Poker Hand Nicknames

Individual Cards

Pairs

Trips

Quads

Straights

Flushes

Misc.

Texas Hold’em Pockets