Miscellaneous Poker Variants

List maintained by Peter Sarrett at http://www.gamereport.com/poker. Last modified: Nov. 18, 1995 (11/18/95).

Miscellaneous Poker Games

This class includes all games which, although still Poker, don't fall into the other classifications.

Guts (11/18/95)
Buddha's Folly
Three Five Seven
Indian Poker (8/23/95)

Guts
PLAYERS: 4-10 (the more the merrier)
INITIAL DEAL: two cards down to each player
PLAY: Everyone secretly puts a chip in their hand if they are staying in, otherwise they leave their hand empty. Players then hold their closed hands in front of them and open them simultaneously. Players who held chips (and thus stayed in) reveal their hands. The winner takes the pot and the losers have to match what the pot was. New hands are then dealt. The game continues until only one player stays in, and thus the pot is emptied.
WINNER: Highest hand, without straights and flushes
STANDARD VARIATIONS:

  • Deal 1, 3, 4, or 5 cards to each player
  • Weenie rule: If nobody stays in, everyone reveals their hand and whoever has the best hand (and thus would have won) must match the pot.
  • Beat the deck: When only one player stays in, the top two cards from the deck are turned over. If these cards beat the player's hand, the player loses and must match the pot.
  • Limit match: A limit is set on the amount players must pay if they lose. If the pot is more than this amount, players just pay the limit.
  • Instead of declaring with chips, dealer counts out "one-two-three-drop" while all players hold their cards above the table. On "drop" all players who are dropping out drop their cards. This is faster, but can lead to arguments if one player is slower to drop than the others.
  • Auction Guts: An additional "mystery hand" is dealt face-down. Before the showdown, players bid for the right to switch hands with the mystery hand. This continues until nobody wants to switch with the new mystery hand.
  • Hold Your Guts: If nobody stays in, play again with the same hands. Repeat until somebody stays in.
  • Pass Your Guts: If nobody stays in, everyone passes 1-5 cards (decided beforehand) to the right, until someone stays in.
  • Progressive Guts: Start with 2 cards. If nobody stays in, everyone gets dealt another card. Repeat until someone stays in. Straights and flushes become legal at 5 cards.
  • Bloody Sevens: Deal 2 cards down to each player, players still in after guts get 3 cards up. 7s down are wild. Anyone with a 7 up immediately folds. High hand takes the pot, losers match (someone killed by a 7 does not match).

    Buddha's Folly
    PLAYERS: 4-10
    INITIAL DEAL: 5 cards down to each player
    PLAY: The lead rotates each hand, starting with the player to the dealer's left. The dealer turns the top card of the deck face up. The lead player has the option of taking that card or passing it to the next player clockwise. If the card is taken, the player taking it must replace it with a different card from his hand, passing that card clockwise. This continues until a card makes it all the way around without anyone taking it. Play then continues as in Guts.
    WINNER: Highest hand.
    STANDARD VARIATIONS:

  • Weenie rule: See Guts, above
  • Limit match: See Guts, above

    Three Five Seven
    PLAYERS: 3-7
    INITIAL DEAL: 3 cards down to each player
    PLAY: Players examine their cards and indicate whether or not they're staying in as described in Guts above. Players who are in determine who has the best hand by examining each other's hands-- players who did not stay in don't get to see these hands. Threes are wild, and straights and flushes don't count. Players who stayed in but lost must each pay the winner the amount currently in the pot. If two players have equal hands, no money is exchanged between them. All players, including those who didn't stay in earlier, are dealt two more cards down. The above procedure is repeated, but this time fives are wild instead of threes and straights and flushes count. When the winner has been paid, all players again receive two more cards and repeat the procedure with sevens being wild instead of fives, using each player's best five cards. If only one player stays in during a hand, that player earns a point. The first player to earn three points takes the pot, ending the game. If no player has three points after the 7 card hand, everyone antes again. The cards are shuffled, and play starts again with 3 cards down to each player.
    WINNER: High hand for each individual hand; first player to reach 3 points for the pot itself.

    Indian
    PLAYERS: 3-up
    INITIAL DEAL: one card down to each player
    PLAY: Do not look at your card! Each player carefully places the card face out on their forehead, taking care not to see the suit and/or rank of their card. Each player can freely view the cards of their opposing players. A betting round ensues as does a showdown.
    WINNER: High hand
    STANDARD VARIATIONS:

  • High/low hands split.
  • Low hand wins.
  • Deal 2-5 cards to each player

    This list is maintained by Peter Sarrett (editor@gamereport.com).
    Thanks to CMU's Gaming Club for getting me started with their list.

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