Home game variations

[reubenf]

My friends and family love to play poker with me, and for the past year or so that's been my primary social activity. However, they all get bored of the same games over and over, so we've created and tried out tons of variations. I thought I'd share the two that have been most successful and ask that anyone who does the same thing share their better variations.

Draft'Em - This is my personal favorite, and everyone likes it. It plays well at a full table, but I think it plays best shorthanded.

1: Post blinds - same as hold'em.
2: Deal a flop of three community cards, and deal four cards face-down to each player. This is called the pack.
3: Bet
4: Each player selects one card from the pack as her first hole card. Then the player passes the rest of the pack to the right.
5: Bet
6: Each player selects a card from the pack as her second hole card, then passes the pack to the right.
7: Bet
8: Select a hole card, pass the pack.
9: Bet


Mole - I don't really like this one, but everyone else enjoys it immensely. It's okay at a full table but terrible shorthanded.

This is a variation on 7-Stud Hi/Lo split. First, each player is dealt a face-down card called her assignment. If this card is 7 or below, this player is aiming for the low hand. If it is 8 or above, this player is aiming for the high hand. The Ace swings either way, but not both, and is determined at the showdown. The assignment cards remain face-down until the showdown, and are not a part of any poker hands.

After dealing the assignments, play 7-stud. At the showdown, half of the pot is awarded to the highest high-assignment hand and half is awarded to the lowest low-assignment hand. If all hands at the showdown have the same assignment, the entire pot is awarded.

[Phat Mack]

Thanks for posting these--they seem like two interesting games.

[ QUOTE ]
Draft'Em - This is my personal favorite, and everyone likes it. It plays well at a full table, but I think it plays best shorthanded.

1: Post blinds - same as hold'em.
2: Deal a flop of three community cards, and deal four cards face-down to each player. This is called the pack.
3: Bet
4: Each player selects one card from the pack as her first hole card. Then the player passes the rest of the pack to the right.
5: Bet
6: Each player selects a card from the pack as her second hole card, then passes the pack to the right.
7: Bet
8: Select a hole card, pass the pack.
9: Bet


[/ QUOTE ]

Do the players end up with 4 hole cards? I wonder how it would play if you dealt the community cards down, then turned them up one at a time after each pass.

Re: Mole

How hard is it to put players on a direction in this game? Seems interesting, but I'm thinking that if you were locked into a direction, it wouldn't be as intricate as other hi-lo formats. Also, I'm wondering if there have been any attempts to switch assignment cards with down cards... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[KuQuAT]

Here's two (well, one and a variant) that we play. They work well with 4-8 players and are high-low (though I suppose that's not strictly necessary)...

Love Canal:

Deal 6 cards to each player.

Bet.

Each player selects two cards of her six to reveal, retaining four.

Reveal one of two cards.

Bet.

Reveal other of two cards.

Bet.

Declare (again, I suppose you could play "cards speak", but the declare is pretty nice).

Your hand is EXACTLY 3 of your remaining 4 cards with SOME OTHER PLAYER'S two revealed cards. You can swing, using a (slightly) different 3 of 4 and some other players revealed cards. They keys are that you must use precisely 3 of 4 and one other persons revealed cards.

Then you scream at the person who revealed suited cards, as it made someone elses flush :-)

Variant (that we actually play more)...

Chernobyl:
Same game, but select your cards one at a time. That is, don't select your second card until after you've seen everyone else's first card.

The problem with this variant is -- what do you do if someone folds after revealing 1 card? We solve this by having them select a random card from their remaining 5.

Enjoy!

[(my name it is) Sam Hall]

Sorry if this game already exists. I swear I thought it was somewhat original... It plays well shorthanded.

Holdit:
1) dealer deals one hole card to each player.
2) first betting round
3) dealer deals two community cards face up
4) final betting round

Hand values are the same as three-card poker --> straight beats a flush.

[JaBlue]

I like Chicago and Baseball for a change. Chicago is 7stud with highest spade in the whole taking down half of the pot. Baseball has 3s and 9s wild (which you may or may not to choose to have to pay for) and an open 4 gets another card.

[reubenf]

[ QUOTE ]
Re: Draft'Em

Do the players end up with 4 hole cards? I wonder how it would play if you dealt the community cards down, then turned them up one at a time after each pass.

[/ QUOTE ]

They do end up with 4 hole cards. We've tried exposing the community cards in phases before, but everyone complains that passing becomes too mechanical with so little information exposed.

[ QUOTE ]
Re: Mole

How hard is it to put players on a direction in this game? Seems interesting, but I'm thinking that if you were locked into a direction, it wouldn't be as intricate as other hi-lo formats.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's hard for me to put people on directions in this game, and I do believe it isn't as interactive as other hi-lo games. That's why I don't like it as much as the others.

[ QUOTE ]
Also, I'm wondering if there have been any attempts to switch assignment cards with down cards... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

We haven't made any attempts at that. I like the idea, though, and will be thinking of some way to do that which isn't too complicated.

[reubenf]

[ QUOTE ]
Love Canal:

[/ QUOTE ]

I love this one. It sounds like a lot of fun to play. Do you reveal, and can you play from, the cards from folded hands? If not, that seems like it could get really random. But from your comments on Chernobyl, I suspect you do get to play from the folded hands. We have to try this one out, thanks!

[KuQuAT]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Love Canal:


[/ QUOTE ]
I love this one. It sounds like a lot of fun to play. Do you reveal, and can you play from, the cards from folded hands? If not, that seems like it could get really random. But from your comments on Chernobyl, I suspect you do get to play from the folded hands. We have to try this one out, thanks!


[/ QUOTE ]

It is fun. It's also nice because it plays well from 2-8 players (though short-handed is a much different game). We play that a hand that is folded before any revealing does not reveal, but a hand that is folded after one or both cards are revealed stays in play for use by the others.

Of course, it's a pretty loose game and there's not much reason to bet heavily or fold before any cards are revealed, so there's not much pre-reveal folding. I once wrote a program to try to evaluate the best starting hands, and it's not obvious.

By the way, in games like this, we use an ante. We have the dealer ante for the whole table - saves lots of "OK, who forgot to ante" junk. So, if you're playing nickel-dime-quarter with eight players, the dealer puts in 40 cents before dealing. Works very well.

[(my name it is) Sam Hall]

[ QUOTE ]
Holdit:
1) dealer deals one hole card to each player.
2) first betting round
3) dealer deals two community cards face up
4) final betting round

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I've got an improvement to this one that makes it interesting.

HoldIt/KillIt

1) Each player antes 1 unit
2) Dealer gives each player one hole card, plus a hole card to the "Kill Hand" next to the pot.
3) First betting round: Players check/bet/call/raise starting from dealer's left. The limit is 2 units per bet, cap at four bets.
4) Dealer deals a two-card community flop.
5) Second betting round. Players check/bet/call/raise starting from dealer's left. The limit is 4 units per bet, cap at four bets.
6a) If all but one player folds, the remaining player gets the pot.
6b) If more than one player retains interest in the pot after all bets are called, these players show down against each other AND against the previously unseen Kill Hand. If a live player wins, he gets the pot. If the Kill Hand wins, the pot is moved to the Kill Pot and all antes/bets in the next hand are doubled. Ties between live players split the pot. Ties between a live player and the Kill Hand go to the live player.
7) Hands with a Kill Pot. If a Kill Pot exists, created by a previous hand in (6b), the first five rules play the same except the antes and betting limits are doubled from the hand in which the Kill Pot was created.
7a) If all but one player folds, the remaining player gets the pot, but not the Kill Pot yet. The remaining player then has the option of placing an even-money side bet against the Kill Hand for the Kill Pot. If the live player wins, he gets the Kill Pot and the betting limits revert to the minimum. If he loses, his side bet is added to the Kill Pot, and the betting limits remain the same for the next hand.
7b) If multiple live players remain to see a showdown. All live hands compete with the kill hand for the pot plus the Kill Pot. If a live player wins, he scoops everything and the betting limits revert to the minimum. If the Kill Hand wins, the current pot is added to the existing Kill Pot, and the betting limits double again (double kill) for the next hand.

Hand ranks (I think...):
a) straight flush
b) trips
c) straight
d) flush
e) pair (aka. full shack)
f) high card

You can limit the kill to a double kill, quadruple kill, or whatever to keep the limits small enough to keep the game going. I wasted the whole weekend playing this heads-up with my gf and we still couldn't agree on a strategy, so it's complex enough to hold some interest. It may get a little more mechanical at a larger table. Anyone care to try a few orbits to see how it goes?

Sam

[Hedge Henderson]

We can't claim to have invented it, but lately we've been playing a round of pot-limit five-stud/low Chicago nearly every week

I know what you're thinking, and I'll admit it's not a game worth playing short-handed. With ten players, though, it can be a lot of fun, especially if you've got a few "gambling" players who like action. Then it's even fun to watch.