3-card Big River stud as a short-handed game

3-card big-river, or murrumbidgee, is seven-card stud with a floating hole-card, a two-card flip and the river-card face-up, which in poker notation is (2,1)1+2+1+1.


One, two or none (but not three) of the concealed cards may be used in the final hand. This is probably the best head-to-head or short-handed game PL/NL game you'll ever play, though I don't expect anyone to believe that for a while. 3-card big river/murrumbidgee can be spread for six players (seven at a pinch) since it uses more cards than conventional 7cs games. The floating hole-card spices things up when playing short-handed, and it's a much better option than stripping the deck.


The game can also be played "pinapple" or "crazy pinapple" style, ie, discard the floater at the first or second round, which is (2,1*)1+2+1+1 and (2,1)1+2*+1+1 respectively. Informed comments are welcome.

mm

We played crocodile(?) (1,1)1+1+1+1, and sometimes (1,1)2+1+1, short handed at a social game over the holidays. It was no limit with a dead ante and one blind (time warp, huh?). It was enjoyed by all. Some of the players were old enough to remember NL 5 or 6 stud.


I hadn't thought about making a pineapple-like toss. A game like (1,2) 1*+1+1*+1 might develop some interesting hi lo possibilities.

Hi Mack, thanks for the feed-back. I'm not too sure about the (1)2+1+1+1 layout which you mention... two door-cards raises some problems with exposed starting strength and I think that 50% exposure is about as far as you can go at the start. Far better IMO to add the extra card at the second round, making alligator-6cs,

(1)1+2+1+1. You can add a floating hole-card if you wish, and discard it at some stage or keep it till the end, but I don't think it really needs it. The two-card flip provides a 19% chance of improving a starting pair when you use a full deck and your cards are live, which is pretty generous seeing as holdem only offers the ~12% chance of making trips on the flop.

We were just toying with the two door cards, basically trying to generate action. It was 3,4 and 5 handed when we played croc. We never had more than 4 up cards, so the 2 door cards meant one less betting round. I think it was the idea of two down cards, must use one, that got the juices flowing. The two door cards were tried a couple of hands, then seemed to fade away, but I think it has potential. The problem with it was a big pair in the door had a somewhat chilling effect on the action...