What's your favorite (variation or made up) home game?

TwoOuter · #1 07-10-2005, 01:27 AM

I play with friends who don't like traditional games so we end up playing Baseball and Anaconda etc. over and over. It's incredibly boring when every other card is wild and every hand ends up with 5 of a kind beating a straight flush, but what can I do- they're my friends and I enjoy hanging out with them.

Any suggestions on different games of this ilk to break up the monotony? I'm not thinking of Guts or 7/27 or anything like that. Just some variations or made up games that are fun and require some skill.

Thanks for any feedback

snowgurts · #2 07-10-2005, 02:36 AM

If you guys are into Omaha or that wimpy limit game, 7-card stud (note the sarcasm in wimpy), 7-stud Chicago is a fun way to mix it up (highest spade in the hole, NOT showing, takes half the pot, the best hand takes the other half). A variation my friends and I made was by making Omaha Chicago. We play it two ways: standard Omaha rules, except highest spade takes half the pot; OR Omaha with a twist -- you can use any or all 4 of your cards. I don't know. There's a ton of things you can change to make exciting with Omaha Chicago.

Texas hold 'em Chicago? Texas hold 'em with the turn and river coming out at the same time? Texas hold 'em or Omaha with cards turned up?

Just ideas.

Moneyline · #3 07-10-2005, 03:37 AM

My favorite home game is "TJ Cloutier" (AKA: Bob Dole). TJ Cloutier is played in honor of TJ's two second place finishes in the WSOP main event, and is the exact same as 7 Card Stud... only the 2nd best hand wins at showdown. TJ Cloutier hold 'em is a pretty good game as well.

I like it because you can get some really big pots going without having to resort to wild cards.

GoblinMason (Craig) · #4 07-10-2005, 03:51 AM

I don't know the name, but 5CS H/L declare is good times.

-Criag
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TwoOuter · #5 07-10-2005, 12:48 PM

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. Omaha Chicago sounds good, although in general this crowd has to really spice up games like Hold'em and Omaha and 7 stud- things like "your lowest hole card is wild and you can buy (exchange) two cards at the end." Or we play "Bingo" where there are 9 community cards turned up one at a time to go along with your 4 hole cards, the highest of which is wild. Good grief.

The T.J. Cloutier variation may be a nice change of pace. It'll throw everyone off but positioning your hand for a 2nd place finish sounds interesting. I'll see if it I can talk everyone into trying it.

5 card H/L is my kind of game but alas may be too much like real poker for my friends. They don't like calculating whether or not their ace high is good- they like to see royal flushes around the table. I like 7 card high/low stud roll your own, but they usually insist that we play with face cards wild or something which kind of throws the game out of whack.

Much appreciated. If I have to play Anaconda one more time I'm going to explode.

bugstud · #6 07-10-2005, 02:40 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know the name, but 5CS H/L declare is good times.

-Criag
<font color="red">

[/ QUOTE ]

this is the only good answer

The_Missile · #7 07-10-2005, 04:44 PM

When we play dealer's choice games, we play a lot of games. Personal favorites are:

Cross
Good-Bad
Chicago
Greek
Guts
The Big Gay (also known as Mariah)

The last one is a type of seven-card stud in which in order to take down the pot, you must have the best hand AND the highest hole-card spade. If no player has that, another hand is dealt, with the same antes and betting. Pots in this game can get huge, but I recommend it.

Lottery Larry · #8 07-10-2005, 05:24 PM

6-stud with first and last card down is better

Lottery Larry · #9 07-10-2005, 05:35 PM

Non-wild:

5/7/9- This is a high/low game. 5 card draw that becomes 7 card stud. first round, dump up to 3 cards to get up to 4 (drawing to 6 cards). Second round, dump 3 to get 4 to get 7 cards.
Now arrange them in order. Next 4 rounds, turn one card at a time and bet each time. Declare at the end, make a final bet.

Tree- Sort of a reverse Omaha. You are dealt 4-5 cards, you set up 7 pairs of board card in a tree pattern (trunk and canopy). Turn over two pairs on the canopy, bet. Turn over the other two pairs, bet. Now bets double and you turn over one pair on the "trunk" on each round.
You HAVE to use 3 cards from your hand and a pair on the board. High/low declare.

Double Diamond- Omaha/8 version. 4 cards to each player, 8 board cards (two diamond shapes touching at the side). Must use a row of 3 connecting cards and two from your hand. Turn over 3 cards, bet, 2 more cards, bet, then 1 card for three rounds. You can add a replace to this game.

Bingo- not a traditional type game. Each player gets X cards, until only around 11 cards are left. Player to dealer's left discards a rank- any matching cards are also discarded by all players. Each player does this once, with dealer going last (4 players, go around twice)
High/low game- cards are face value, with royalty worth 10 and Aces worth either 1 or 11 (or both if you're scooping)
Declare, bet and show cards. An ending (acquire or replace option) is good for this game.

TwoOuter · #10 07-11-2005, 09:30 PM

Thanks for the additional suggestions.

Missle, that Mariah game with the escalating pots sounds great- I'll definitely play this next weekend. Haven't heard of Greek or Good/Bad, but I'll google 'em and see if anything turns up.

Lottery Larry, thanks for the reminder about 6 stud with two down. I used to play this a long time ago and it will be resurrected. Tree and double-diamond also seem perfect for my motley assortment of friends- especially with the replace at the end. In our game everyone likes to have many, many chances to make a hand [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img])

Thanks all.