Draw Games

Acey Deucey (A's and 2's)
• This game plays the same as Basic Five Card Draw, except that all Aces and all Twos are wild cards. Any player with one in his hand can designate that card as any card from the deck that best suits his hand. Eight wild cards is a lot of wild cards, so expect big hands.

Pregnant Three's (3's, 6's, and 9's)
• Five Card Draw, all Threes, Sixes, and Nines are wild cards. This is twelve wild cards, folks. You either have four of a kind or you have stayed in the hand too long.

Heinz 57 (5's and 7's)
• Five Card Draw, all Fives and all Sevens are wild cards.

Honky Tonk
• A High/Low Draw game where the pot is split between highest and lowest hands, AND Kings are wild in those hands called Low and Threes are wild in those hands called High.

Italian Poker
• Five cards are dealt to each player. The player to the dealer's left opens a betting round. Following the betting round, the dealer deals two cards face-up in the center of the table, placing an indicator of some sort (ex. coin or chip) on the first card flipped up of the two.
• The player to the dealer's left now has the option to draw one or two cards. If the player discards both cards, then the dealer gives the two community cards to that player in exchange. If the player only discards one card, then the dealer gives the card with the indicator on it to the player, puts the indicator on the other card, and flips a new card from the top of the deck to replenish the one that has been given to the player. The same option then goes to the next player in clockwise order. The dealer continues to replenish cards that are taken by players, placing the indicator on the one card that was first flipped of the two. This substitution-draw restricts the draw to one or two cards, and goes right up until the dealer, who has the same option. There is a second betting round. Best hand wins.

Jacks or Better, Trips to Win
• Five cards dealt. Initial betting round can only be opened by a player holding a Pair of Jacks or higher. A player can only win the pot if that player is holding cards that are worth a Three of a Kind or higher. If no player can open the betting round, or if no player can win the game, then each player re-antes and the cards are redealt by the player to the left of the dealer.

Kings and Little Ones
• Kings are wild in everyone's hand as well as the lowest card in each player's hand.

Pass the Trash
• All players are dealt seven cards. Each player determines which cards they wish to discard. Rather than throwing these cards away as in most Draw games, the cards are passed to the player to the person's left. From the person's right comes the same amount of cards that the player to the right is discarding. For example, if the dealer determines that there will be one pass of 3 cards, then each player passes the 3 cards they do not want to the left and receives 3 cards from the player to the right...hence, pass the trash.
• Variations:
Passing: The dealer determines how many rounds of passing there will be and how many cards each round will consist of. The popular form is 3 passes, the first is of one card, the second of two cards, and the third of three cards. In this version, the final pass can really damage hands that are already holding a full house or players who are holding low hands and who get passed 3 high cards. Passing is done at the same time, so no player can look at the cards that have been passed to them until they pass cards of their own.
Mix up the pass so the first is a pass of three cards to your immediate left, followed by a pass of two cards two spots to the left, and a pass of one card three spots to the left. (or to the left right, then across)

Psycho
• In a sense, this game starts off as five card draw and ends as seven card stud. The dealer should specify a low maximum draw, as the rules will indicate. Five cards are dealt to each player. After a betting round and a draw of cards specified by the dealer before the game, each player turns up three cards from their hand. The player with the best hand showing opens up a second betting round.
• After the second betting round, each player is dealt another card face up. The player with the best hand showing opens a third betting round.
• After the third betting round, each player is dealt a seventh card face down, now having two down, four up, and one down. The player with the best hand showing opens a final betting round, before the showdown.

Six Back to Five
• Six cards dealt. After the first betting round, each player draws as per normal Draw game rules. The exception is that each player draws one less card than they discard. This means that if a player wants three new cards, he is going to have to discard four cards out of his hand. If a player wants to discard three cards, then he is only going to get two cards back.
• With each player drawing one less card than he or she receives, every player will now have a five card hand. A final betting round ensues and the best five card hand wins.
• This allows players to get better hands and hopefully, stay in longer, compensating for only two betting rounds.

Snowmen and Hockey Sticks (8's and 7's)
• Five Card Draw, Sevens and Eights are wild cards.

Stedman's (5's and 10's)
• Five Card Draw, Fives and Tens are wild. Named after the old chain of five and dimers. Newer names to this game were Woolco and now Walmart's.

Trees
• Five cards dealt. Betting round. Players freely exchange cards with other players, always receiving the same number of cards as is traded away. When all players are finished trading, there is a final betting round. Best hand wins.
• The only rule when trading is that the number of cards traded must be the same as what is received ("Who wants to trade 3 cards?", "Does anybody want to trade 2 cards?").
• This trading round continues until no pair of players wants to trade any more cards. There is a second betting round, followed by a showdown.

Whiskey Poker
• The dealer deals five cards face-down to each player, as well an extra five-card hand, the "kitty". First betting round. Beginning with the player to the dealer's left and continuing in clockwise order around the table, each player has the option of either exchanging their hand with the kitty, or keeping the hand that has been dealt to them. When a player exchanges with the kitty, he or she takes the kitty and turns his or her former hand face-up in the center of the table. If no player decides to exchange with the kitty up to and including the dealer, then the kitty is turned face-up in the center of the table.
• Beginning to the left of the player who took the kitty and continuing in clockwise order around the table, each player draws as many cards as they want from the kitty, turning the discards from their own hand face-up in place of the cards taken. This way, each player always has five cards and the kitty always has five cards. This continues round and round the table.
• When a player sees fit, that player knocks on the table on his or her turn rather than exchange cards. This signals that each other player will only get one more chance to exchange cards with the kitty. Once the sequence reaches the player to the right of the player who knocked, there is a second and final betting round.
• A player may decline from exchanging cards with the kitty, but cannot do so twice in a row. When a player has already declined exchanging cards with the kitty, on that player's next turn, he or she must exchange at least one card or knock.

Draw Features

Canadian Draw
This game plays the same as New York Draw, on top of which a fourflush, that is four of your five cards are of the same suit, beats an outside straight but loses to two pairs. Therefore, the hierarchy of hands in this game is Pair, Outside Straight, Fourflush, Two Pairs. Evidently, Scarne believed that people in Canada play poker like this.

High / Low
This feature is 'split-pot poker', where the pot is split between TWO winning players. In High/Low, the pot is split between the player that has the best hand at the table, and the player that has the worst hand at the table.

Leg Poker
This feature is more like two games in one. Most commonly played as double-legged poker, this variation requires that a player win the game twice before he can collect the pot. The game plays as it normally would, except that when a player wins with the best hand, that player does not yet collect the pot. Instead, that players has earned a leg towards winning the pot. The pot remains in the center of the table, and the same game is dealt again, complete with betting rounds. The first player to win two legs wins the giant pot. A Three-Legged Race is triple-legged poker, where a player must win three legs before claiming the pot.

Lowball
This is 'all-low poker'. The worst hand at the table wins the pot. It is especially challenging in Draw Poker, where you may draw higher cards than the ones you threw away, or where you may accidentally pair up with one of the cards in your hand.

New York Draw
Made popular by John Scarne, in this game, an outside straight, that is four cards in numerical sequence without break, beats a pair but loses to two pairs. This variant offers (or is meant to offer) more reason to chase a straight.

Pay For Your Draw
This is a feature that can be used to build the pot of any Draw Poker game. The dealer attaches a 'price' to drawing a card. For example, the dealer determines that it costs one dollar for each card that a player wants to draw. A player drawing three cards would have to put three dollars into the pot on top of the amount accumulated from betting.

Roll 'Em
This is a feature that can be used to increase the number of betting rounds in a Draw Poker game. When players 'roll' their cards, they reveal them from their hand ONE CARD AT A TIME. After each player has shown a card from their hand to the rest of the table, a betting round follows opened by the player with the best hand showing. Players reveal their cards simultaneously so that there is no advantage gained. In this way, it is a Draw game being played like a Stud game.

Roll Your Own
Draw Poker games are popular with wild cards, determined in advance by the dealer. This variant allows players to determine what card they want to have wild in their hand. Obviously, if they have two or three cards that match, they will determine that that card is wild in their hand. Or, one low card and a pair of Aces becomes three Aces.

Spanish Draw
This variation, which can be added to any poker game, means that all Twos to Sixes are removed from the deck. That means twenty cards out of play, and 32 cards remaining. Everything otherwise plays the same.

With The Bug
This is a feature usually used for the entire night. One Joker is put into the deck. That Joker is called 'the bug', but it has limited wild card value. It can only be used to complete a Straight or a Flush. Otherwise, it has no value. This would be stipulated as opposed to tables that play with Jokers as wild cards that have no limited wild card value and can be designated as any card to complete any hand.

With A Qualifier
When a qualifier is added to a Draw Poker game, it means that for a player to open the betting round before the draw, that player must have a hand of minimum value determined by the dealer. For example, if the dealer determines that a pair of Jacks or better are required for a player to open the first betting round, then the player wishing to bet must show the other players at the table the cards from his hand that meet the qualifier. That player then returns the cards to his hand and opens the betting round. The betting round is followed by the draw. If no player has the qualifier, then nobody can open the first betting round, in which case the game is 'reset'. That is, all cards are re-dealt and all players must 're-ante'. This continues until somebody has the qualifier to open the first betting round.

Stud Games

Auction
• The dealer deals two face-down cards to each player. A betting round is opened by the player sitting to the left of the dealer. A number of cards equal to the number of players are then flipped face-up onto the table. Each player will be choosing one of these cards to go face-up into their hand. To determine which player gets which card, each player including the dealer, chooses a sum of money ranging from the table's minimum bet to the table's maximum bet, hiding this money in their hands. At the same time, each player drops the money they are holding in their hand. The player who drops the highest sum of money gets the first pick of the face-up community cards. The player who drops the second highest sum of money gets second pick of the community cards, and so on. If two players drop the same amount of money, the one sitting closest to the dealer in clockwise sequence picks first. By the end of this auction round, each player will now have the original two cards dealt to them face-down as well as one card face-up. The dealer then flips another set of community cards, equal in number to the number of players at the table, and another auction round ensues.
• There are four auction rounds in total, after which each player will have their two original face-down cards, and four cards face-up, the ones that each player chose on the auction rounds. A betting round ensues. The seventh and final card is dealt face-down to each player, followed by the third and final betting round. Best hand wins.
• Because of the four auction rounds, play in this game can be slow. Players are normally reminded at the game's beginning that it's going to be a long game, and that the auction rounds should go as quickly as possible. At a nickel-table with betting numbers ranging from 5 cents to 25 or 50 cents, the amount of money a player chooses to auction can vary greatly and be factored into a player's 'auctioning strategy'. At a quarter-table however, where bets vary less (usually being either one quarter or two quarters), the dealer will need to decide if players can bid more money than the table's usual maximum bet. The dealer at a quarter-table that has a fifty-cent maximum bet may determine that players can bid up to a dollar on auction rounds.

Blind Baseball
• Seven cards are all immediately dealt face-down. Each player keeps his seven cards face-down without looking at them. The first player to the left of the dealer flips over his first card. Based on that card, he opens a betting round. That face-up card is now the best hand showing at the table. After the betting round, the next player flips over cards until his cards face-up beat the best hand showing. For example, if the first player turned up a jack, then the next player flips over cards until what he has showing beats a single Jack, that is any card higher than a Jack or a pair. Those cards showing now become the new best hand showing at the table, and that player opens a betting round. This continues with each player flipping over cards until they can beat the best hand showing at the table, opening a betting round after they have done so.
• There are two ways that players are removed from this game. If a player has flipped over all of his cards and cannot beat the best hand at the table with what he has showing, then that player is out of the game. Also, of course, if a player does not at least see each bet that comes his way, he is out of the game. The game ends when all players have flipped over all of their cards. The best hand wins.

Variations (on Blind Baseball):

Most people think that there should be special cards in this game that revolve around a baseball theme. For example:
- Innings: Nine cards dealt instead of seven, called "nine innings".
- Wild cards: Threes and nines wild, modelled after three strikes, three outs, nine innings, and nine players. Other people play that when a player turns up a card that is wild, they must pay for that card to be wild, a small amount like a quarter at a nickle-ante table.
- Extra card: If a player flips up a four, modelled after four balls and four bases, that player is dealt an extra card face-down from the dealt. Other people play that the player if a player flips up a four and wants the extra card, he must also pay for it, typically 50 cents at a knickle-ante table. Other than that, the card does not contribute anything to the hand other than being a regular four. However, getting the extra card can really help a hand.
- Baseball: Blind Baseball is not basic Baseball, only the more popular version. Basic Baseball (or just Baseball) is a standard seven card stud game, in which threes and nines are wild, and a four dealt face-up allows you to receive a new card from the deck. These threes, fours, and nines typically cost a player a predetermined fee in order to take advantage of them (at a quarter-table, for example, it may be a quarter for a three or nine to be counted as wild, and 2 quarters to get an extra card from the four).
- Winter Baseball: A variation on either Baseball or Blind Baseball. The exception is in this game, a four gets you an extra card but costs nothing, a nine is wild but costs nothing, and a three is wild but the player who receives it (at all in Blind Baseball, or dealt face-up in Baseball) must match the pot for it to be counted as wild. If the player is not interested in matching the pot, that player can simply fold, or put a "price" on the wild card. Going clockwise around the table from the player, other players decide if they are willing to pay that player's price for the three in exchange for a card from their hand. The first player to decide he will pay the player for that wild card must pay the player's price to the player, as well as match the pot.
 

Count Your Diamonds
• The pot gets split in half, half of the pot going to the player with the best poker hand. After this, each player adds the numbers on all of the diamond-suited cards in their hand, whether dealt face-up or face-down. Two to Ten counts as the number, the Ace of Diamonds counts as fourteen, the Jack counts as eleven, the Queen counts as twelve, and the King counts as thirteen. All of the Diamonds in a player's hand are tallied together as a point score. The player with the highest number of 'Diamonds points' gets the other half of the pot.

Countdown
• This game has a wild card, determined only after all of the cards have been dealt. After the betting round that follows the deal of the seventh and final card, the number of players remaining in the game becomes the card number that is wild. If, for example, five players start this game, and after the last betting round of the game, only three players remain, then Threes are wild in everybody's hand.
• Considering most poker games consist of a table of five to seven players, it's safe to assume in this one that only a low card is going to end up being wild. What is more, the challenge is trying to bet strategically as to plan the number of people that remain in the game

Dirty Schultz
• Seven card Stud Poker. If throughout the course of cards being dealt face-up, a player pairs up (receives a card of the same rank as a card already in his or her hand face-up), then the next card dealt face-up (and all matching cards) is wild.
• If, later in the same hand, a player pairs up again, then the next card dealt up is wild, with the old wild card no longer wild, a la Follow The Queen.

English Stud Poker
• This is dealt as standard seven-card stud with two down, four up, and one down. First two cards down and third card up are dealt, followed by a betting round. Fourth card up, followed by a betting round. Fifth card is dealt face-up, followed by a "draw", in which each player has the option to discard one card from their hand for a new one from the deck. If the player discards one that was face-down, that player receives the new card face-down. If the player discards one that was face-up, that player receives the new card face-up. The draw is followed by a betting round.
• Sixth card is dealt face-up, followed by another draw of one card, and another betting round.
• Seventh card is dealt face-down, followed by a final draw of one card, followed by the final betting round.

Follow the Queen
• Standard seven card stud with Queens wild. Throughout the course of the deal, if a Queen is dealt face-up to a player, then the card that is dealt face-up after that Queen is called the "trailer" and it is also wild as well as Queens. These Queens and trailers are also wild in determining who has the best hand showing to open each betting round.
• If in the course of the deal, another Queen is dealt face-up to a player, then the trailer that follows that more recent Queen is now the new trailer and the new wild card as well as Queens. The old trailer is no longer wild...in other words, other than Queens, there is only ever one other wild card. Queens and cards matching the current trailer are also wild if they are dealt face-down. Best hand wins.

Have A Heart
• Seven card Stud Poker. If throughout the course of cards being dealt face-up, a player is dealt any Heart, then that player has the option to take any face-up card from any player at the table. The player with the Heart does not need to discard a card from his or her hand, nor does the player whose card has been taken get a replacement. The player with the Heart takes the new card face-up in his or her hand. This occurs with each Heart dealt face-up throughout the course of the game.

Kings and Little Ones
• Kings are always wild, as well as the lowest card face-down in each player's hand.

Sequence
• Dealt as seven card stud. If throughout the course of cards being dealt face-up, a Two appears, then all Twos are wild in all hands. If this is established, and later a Three appears, then all Threes are wild in all hands (with Twos no longer wild). These cards have to appear in sequence, and this wild-card reversal continues to Fours and up, should they be dealt face-up in the game. If a Two does not appear throughout the course of the game, then there is nothing wild, and it is played as regular seven card stud.
 
 

Hold 'Em Games

Texas
• 2 down to each (rest are community cards). Bet. Burn and turn ("flop" 3 cards). Bet. Burn and turn. ("turn" 1 card). Bet. Burn and turn. ("river" 1 card). Bet.
Showdown: Best 5 card hand possible using any combination of 2 in pocket and 5 community.

Omaha
• Like Texas, but players dealt 4 cards (instead of 2) at beginning. Players must use 2 of their 4 hole cards, and 3 of the 5 community cards when constructing their hand.

Irish
• Played the same as Omaha Hold 'Em, with one exception:
After seeing the first three community cards on the flop, each player must discard two of their four cards. The rest of the game is played with players using the five community cards and the two cards left in their hand.

Super Eight
• Played the same as Texas Hold 'Em, with the one exception that each player is dealt three cards at the beginning of the game instead of two.
Variations
• Tahoe: Played the same as Super Eight, with the one exception that each player can only use two of their three hole cards in their final hand.
• Pineapple: Played the same as Super Eight, with the one exception that players must immediately discard one of their three hole cards between the first betting round and the flop.
• Crazy Pineapple: Played the same as Pineapple, with the one exception that players discard one of their hole cards after the flop and before the second betting round.