Trex (a.k.a. Trix)
Trex, also known as Trix, is a game for four players which is popular in the Middle East. Unusually, Trex has five different sets of game rules that could be in force for any given hand, so it could be considered to really be five games in one.
Object of Trex
The object of Trex is to accurately judge your hand to select the most favorable set of rules to play it under (when able), thereby scoring the most points.
Setup
Trex uses the standard 52-card deck. Naturally, we recommend Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards, but I guess if you wanted to play with something else, you could…we’d be so disappointed, though….
You also need something to keep score with. Pencil and paper is the traditional route, but if you’re more comfortable using a chalkboard, a dry erase board, an abacus, or your phone, we’re pretty flexible around here.
Shuffle and deal thirteen cards to each player. The player who is dealt the 7♥ exposes it, and is said to own the kingdom for the first five hands.
Game rules
Upon receiving their hand, the player who owns the kingdom selects any of the five games listed below for the hand about to commence. Once this is done, the hand is played out and scored. The next hand is then dealt by the player who owns the kingdom, and they select any of the four games that weren’t already chosen. This continues until the player has played all five games, and then the kingdom passes to the player to their right, who also deals all five games in whatever order they see fit, and so on until all four players have owned the kingdom, meaning twenty hands have been dealt.
All of the games except Trex follow a trick-taking format. The dealer leads to the first trick; thereafter, each trick is led by the winner of the previous one, with play proceeding to the left. Players must follow suit if able; otherwise, they may play any card. The winner of each trick is the player who plays the highest card of the suit led. Won tricks are not taken into the hand, but placed in a discard pile in front of the player, with any cards affecting the score extracted and placed face-up to allow players to keep track of what cards have been taken by whom (except in Eltoosh).
Diamonds
Each diamond captured by the player scores +10 points.
Eltoosh
Each trick won by the player scores –15 points. Tricks are kept in a face-down discard pile, with each trick laid at a right angle to the previous, allowing for easy counting at the end of the hand.
Girls
Each queen captured by the player scores –25 points. A player holding a queen may elect to double it by exposing it before the first trick is played. In so doing, the penalty for capturing this particular queen is increased to –50 points, and the holder of the queen scores +25 points. If the player holding the doubled queen is the one that captures it, they score –50 and the player that led the trick scores +25 points.
King of Hearts
The K♥ scores –75 points when captured by a player. Hearts may not be led to a trick unless the player has no other option.
The player holding the K♥ may double it, as in Girls, by exposing it prior to the first trick. The penalty for capturing the K♥ is increased to –150, and the holder of the king scores +75. If the player captures their own king, they score –150 and the player that led the trick scores +75.
Trex
Trex is, unlike the other four contracts, a Stops game, closely resembling Fan Tan. Upon receiving their hands, any player holding all four 2s, or three 2s and a 3 of the fourth suit, may expose these cards, and the hand is abandoned. The player who owns the kingdom is not necessarily required to choose Trex as the game on the redealt hand, so long as other options remain available.
The dealer plays first, with play continuing to the left. If a player is unable to legally play a card, they simply pass, but if they are able to make at least one play, they are compelled to do so. Play starts with the jacks; they are placed in the center of the table in a vertical row. Further cards may be played to these jacks, so long as they are the same suit and one rank higher or one rank lower than any cards previously played to them. In this manner, each jack is built up to the ace (which is high) and down to the two.
The first player to run out of cards scores +200 points. Play continues until the entire tableau is assembled, with scores of +150 for second place, +100 for third, and +50 for last.
Solo Whist
Solo Whist is a trick-taking game for four players. Whereas Whist is a strategic partnership game, Solo Whist provides a more relaxed, accessible, non-partnership alternative.
Solo Whist gained popularity as a Whist alternative in the late 19th century. Solo Whist was particularly popular on the commuter rail of the era, where its structure made it possible for travelers to easily join and drop out of the game as they boarded or departed the train.
Although Solo Whist is sometimes just called Solo, there is another game by that name: Solo (Ombre), which derives from the French game Manille, rather than Whist.
Object of Solo Whist
The object of Solo Whist is to successfully estimate the strength of one’s hand and accurately place a bid for the hand. If one doesn’t successfully win the bidding, the object is to stop the winner from completing the bid.
Setup
Solo Whist is played with a standard 52-card deck. While you could use any manner of 52-card deck out there, if you want a deck that’s durable enough to last through any game, always use Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards.
Solo traditionally handles scoring through counters of some form, such as poker chips. If the players desire, each counter can be purchased in an initial buy-in and represent some amount of real money. Otherwise, the counters can serve as valueless MacGuffins. Score can also be kept with pencil and paper.
Shuffle and deal thirteen cards to each player in sets of three, with the thirteenth card being dealt by itself. The dealer’s thirteenth card, the last card in the deck, is turned face-up. The suit of this card is considered the default suit for this hand.
Game play
Bidding
Each hand begins with a bidding round, with the player to the dealer’s left opening the bidding. Players may make any of the following bids, from lowest to highest:
- Prop (1 credit): Player makes a proposal to join in a temporary alliance with any other player in an attempt to capture eight tricks. So long as no higher bid has been made, any other player may respond with “Cop”, accepting the proposal and joining the alliance, should the bid not be overcalled. The default suit becomes trump.
- Solo (1 credit): The player will win five tricks, playing alone. The default suit becomes trump.
- Misère (2 credits): The player will lose all thirteen tricks, playing alone. There is no trump.
- Abundance (3 credits): The player will win nine tricks, playing alone. If the bid is successful, the player will name any suit desired as trump.
- Abundance in Trump (3 credits): The same as an abundance, but using the default suit as trump.
- Misère Ouverte (4 credits): The same as a misère, but the player must play with their hand exposed after the first trick.
- Slam (6 credits): The player will win all thirteen tricks, playing alone. There is no trump, and the player leads to the first trick.
A bid may only be overcalled by a higher bid. Players may also elect to pass; upon passing, a player cannot rejoin in the bidding for this hand. (There is one exception: if the player to the dealer’s left passes, the next player bids Prop, and the remaining players pass, the player to the left of the dealer has the option to call “Cop”.) Bidding continues as long as necessary: until there has been both a Prop and a Cop, or any higher bid, and all other players pass.
If all four players pass, the hand is abandoned and a new hand is dealt by the same dealer. If a player bids Prop and no other player accepts the bid by calling “Cop,” the bidder has the option to change their bid to any higher bid. If they decline, the deal is abandoned.
The successful bidder or bidders become the declarer(s), and the other players become the defenders. The defenders’ goal is to prevent the declarers from fulfilling their contract.
Play of the hand
After bidding concludes, the dealer takes their thirteenth card into their hand, and the player to the dealer’s left leads to the first trick, unless the bid was slam, in which case the declarer leads. Players must follow suit unless they are unable, in which case they may play any card, including a trump. Tricks are won by the player who played the highest card of the suit led, or if the trick contains a trump, the highest trump. Collected tricks are not added to the player’s hand, but are placed face-down in a won-tricks pile in front of the player, with succeeding tricks placed at right angles to one another to allow them to be counted later. (If the contract is Prop, the declarers may stack their tricks in a single pile in front of one of the partners, rather than maintaining separate stacks).
After the first trick is concluded, but before the second trick begins, the declarer must spread their hand face-up if the contract is Misère Ouverte.
When all thirteen tricks have been played out, the declarer counts their tricks to determine whether the contract was made or broken. If it was made, all defenders pay the declarer the amount of their contract (for a made Prop bid, a defender must pay one credit each to both of the declarers). If the declarer(s) failed, they must pay the amount of their contract to each defender. (If keeping score with pencil and paper, simply score the amount of the contract under each declarer if successful or under each defender if not successful.)
Durak
Durak is a Russian game for two to five players that is popular in the countries that once made up the USSR. Several sources call it Russia’s most popular card game, and John McLeod even asserts “It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that every Russian who plays cards knows this game.”1 Many variants exist, including partnership versions and versions for six or more players. The individual-play version is described here.
Object of Durak
The object of Durak is to avoid being the last one with cards left in their hand, who is labeled the durak (дура́к, meaning fool or idiot).
Setup
Durak is played with a diminished deck of only 36 cards. Starting from a deck of Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards, remove all of the 2s through 5s, leaving only aces through 6s in all four suits.
Shuffle and deal six cards to each player. Turn up the first card of the deck stub; the suit of this card becomes the trump suit. Place the remainder of the deck on top of this card at a ninety-degree angle, forming the stock. Despite the fact that it is exposed, the turned-up card is the last card of the stock and will be the final card to be drawn.
Game play
The player holding the lowest trump in play serves as the first attacker, and the player to their left becomes the first defender. The attacker begins by playing any card that they wish face-up. The defender then attempts to defeat this card by playing a higher card of the same suit (aces are high), or any trump card, irrespective of rank. This card is played atop the attacking card in question. Any other player, including the initial attacker, may now contribute to the attack by playing another card of the same rank as any of the cards face-up on the table. The defender must then defend against this card. This continues until the defense is abandoned or defender successfully fends off all attacks, as described below.
The defense is abandoned when the defender is unable or unwilling to defeat one of the cards they were attacked with. When this happens, they collect all of the face-up cards and add them to their hand. Additionally, other players may give the attacker any cards from their hands that would have been possible to add to the attack. The player to the defender’s left then becomes the attacker for the next hand.
The defense is successful when:
- The defender has defeated all attacking cards and nobody is willing to play further attacking cards.
- The defender depletes their hand.
- Six attack cards have been played and defeated.
When the defense succeeds, all cards on the table are collected and discarded. The defender becomes the attacker in the next turn.
After each turn, players draw back up to six cards, in the following order:
- The attacker.
- Any other players that assisted the attacker by playing cards.
- The defender.
When the stock is depleted, play continues with no further draws, players short on cards or not. At this point, any player who runs out of cards simply sits out for the rest of the hand.
Game play continues until only one player remains with cards. This player becomes the durak. (If two players run out of the cards at the same time, with one player attacking with their final card and the other player successfully defending against it, the hand is a draw and the durak from the previous hand keeps the title.) The durak is responsible for collecting the cards, shuffling, and dealing the next hand. The player to the left of the durak becomes the first attacker in the next round.
Sources
- McLeod, John. “Podkidnoy Durak“. pagat.com. Version as of 2014-08-12, accessed 2015-04-30.
Celebrating one year of blogging
At the end of last April, we posted for the first time on our brand-spanking-new blog, sharing the rules to Thirteen. Over the past year, we’ve been pretty busy—we’ve posted the rules to 48 different card games! You can find a list of them on our new Game Rules Index page, which you can access at any time from the link on the blog’s right sidebar.
Here’s to another year of blogging!
President
President (also known under a number of colorful titles, such as Bum, Scumbag, and Asshole) is a game of Asian origin, bearing some similarity to Thirteen. Like Thirteen, the object of the game is to get rid of all of your cards, and play progresses with each player playing progressively higher ranks of cards (some group them together as climbing games). President has the novel feature of assigning each player a rank based on how well they did in the last round and having them rearrange themselves according to the ranking.
President is best for three to seven players.
Object of President
The object of President is to avoid being the last player to hold cards.
Setup
President uses the standard 52-card deck. You can use any deck of cards, but if you use Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards, you’ll definitely appear a lot more presidential.
You will need to establish a rank system, with one rank for each player. The top rank is something suitably impressive or positive and the last rank is typically something derogatory. One example for a six-player game would be President, Vice President, Governor, Lt. Governor, Citizen, Asshole. You could also use military ranks, ranks of nobility, job titles from your workplace—use your imagination. For the purposes of illustration, we will use the ranks just mentioned whenever the ranking system comes up.
You also need to establish chairs for each rank. The President should have the nicest and most comfortable chair, with the next-nicest sitting to the left and being occupied by the Vice President, and so on around the table to the Asshole, whose chair is to the President’s right and is the most unpleasant seat available—like a wooden crate, a backless stool, or the like. Some players also prefer to have silly hats that the holder of each rank is required to wear.
Shuffle and deal the cards as far as they will go. Some players may receive more cards than others. They’ll just have to deal with that, though.
Card ranking
President uses the same unconventional card ranking that Thirteen does. Aces rank high, but twos rank even higher than the ace. That means that the lowest card in play is the three, giving us a rank progression of (high) 2, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 (low). Unlike in Thirteen, however, suits do not matter.
Game play
The player with the 3♠ goes first. That player plays it face up to the table, either singly, or with any number of additional threes. The next player to the left plays the same number of cards of a higher rank (e.g. if the first player laid down a pair of 3s, the next player would have to lay down a pair of 4s or higher). The number of cards must match exactly with what the first player set down (so a pair must be followed by a pair, and not three of a kind, etc.). If a player cannot or doesn’t want to play on a particular turn, they pass, although they can still elect to play the next time it’s their turn.
Each player continues playing cards of ascending rank until all players pass except the last person to play. This player is then permitted to lead off, playing any number of cards of the same rank that they choose to.
The game continues in this manner until one player runs out of cards. This player is declared to be President, and play continues with the player to the left, as normal. This President-elect takes no further part in the hand. As more and more players run out of cards, they too receive titles and sit out of the game. Finally, the last player to run out of cards gets the last good rank, and the player stuck with cards becomes the Asshole.
Players now “take office” for the next hand, rearranging themselves to sit in the seats assigned to their new rank. The Asshole is required to perform the game-running duties for the next hand, including clearing the cards away from the last hand, shuffling, and dealing. The Asshole is also required to surrender their highest-ranked card to the President, who chooses any card they wish from their hand and passes it back to the Asshole. The next round begins, with the President playing first, leading with any card they wish.
See also
Omaha
After Texas Hold’em, Omaha is the next most popular variant of poker in modern play. Omaha was once known as Omaha Hold’em, and shares a lot of similarities with Texas Hold’em, including the use of five board cards and four betting rounds. However, Omaha uses four hole cards instead of two, giving more opportunity for strategic play. While Texas Hold’em is often played no-limit, Omaha is usually played at pot limit (often referred to as PLO—pot limit Omaha).
Object of Omaha
The object of Omaha is to form the best five-card poker hand from a combination of two of the four cards in your hand and three of the five shared cards (called board cards), or to bet in such a way as to convince your opponents that you have the best hand.
Setup
Omaha uses a standard 52-card deck. As always, we recommend using plastic playing cards, specifically Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards.
Prior to game play, establish whether the game is limit or no-limit and the minimum bets. You should also agree on the amount of a buy-in, that is, how much each player’s initial stake will be, and whether you will allow players to deep stack (i.e. buy in for a greater amount).
All players either ante or post blinds, although Omaha is typically played with blinds. Shuffle and deal four cards to each player. These cards are called the player’s hole cards.
Game play
Players inspect their initial hand, and then the first betting round, known as the pre-flop betting round, occurs. The first player to act is the player to the left of the dealer, unless blinds have been posted, in which case the player to the left of the big blind (referred to as being under the gun) has first action. The betting follows the usual pattern of betting in poker. If, at any time, all players but one fold, the pot is awarded to the last remaining player, and the hand ends. No further cards are dealt to “see what would have happened”, and the winning player is not required to reveal their hand.
After the betting round has concluded, the dealer discards one burn card face down and deals three cards face up to the center of the table. (See “Dealing the flop, turn, and river” for more information on how this is performed). These three cards, called the flop, are the first three of the five board cards, and can form part of every player’s hand. After the flop, another betting round occurs, with first action going to the player to the left of the dealer (the player who posted the small blind).
When the flop’s betting round is resolved, the dealer burns one card and deals another card face up, called the turn. As before, another betting round is conducted, after which another card is burned and the fifth and final board card, the river, is dealt. One final betting round is conducted, and then each player reveals their hand.
The player who has the best five-card poker hand, using five of the seven cards available to them (three of the five board cards and two of their four hole cards), wins the pot. It must be emphasized that a player must use exactly three board cards and two hole cards. A player may not use all four hole cards, nor can they use one hole card and four board cards, nor can they “play the board” (use all five of the board cards as their hand).
Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold’em is the most popular variant of poker in play today. The vast majority of games spread in casino poker rooms are either limit or no-limit Hold’em, and over half of the events at the World Series of Poker are some form of Hold’em. At the turn of the 21st century, Texas Hold’em quickly gained popularity over older forms of poker like Five-Card Draw because Hold’em offers more betting rounds, increasing the amount of betting action in the game, and the presence of shared cards in the middle of the table adds allows for more strategic play than many other poker variants.
Object of Texas Hold’em
The object of Texas Hold’em is to form the best five-card poker hand from a combination of the two cards in your hand and five shared cards (called board cards), or to bet in such a way as to convince your opponents that you have the best hand.
Setup
Texas Hold’em uses a standard 52-card deck. Most casino poker rooms, and an increasing number of home poker games, use plastic playing cards to ensure game integrity and reduce the number of deck changes required. We, of course, recommend Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards.
Prior to game play, establish whether the game is limit or no-limit and the minimum bets. You should also agree on the amount of a buy-in, that is, how much each player’s initial stake will be, and whether you will allow players to deep stack (i.e. buy in for a greater amount).
All players either ante or post blinds, although Hold’em is more often played with blinds. Shuffle and deal two cards to each player. These cards are called the player’s hole cards.
Game play
Players inspect their initial hand, and then the pre-flop betting round occurs. The first player to act is the player to the left of the dealer, unless blinds have been posted, in which case the player to the left of the big blind (referred to as being under the gun) has first action. The betting follows the usual pattern of betting in poker. If, at any time, all players but one fold, the pot is awarded to the last remaining player, and the hand ends. No further cards are dealt to “see what would have happened”, and the winning player is not obliged to reveal their hand.
After the betting round has concluded, the dealer discards one card face down (called burning a card) and deals three cards face up to the center of the table. (See “Dealing the flop, turn, and river” for more information on how this is performed). These three cards, called the flop, are three of the five board cards, and are considered part of every player’s hand. After the flop, another betting round occurs, with first action going to the player to the left of the dealer (the player who posted the small blind).
When the flop’s betting round is resolved, the dealer burns one card and deals another card face up, called the turn. As before, another betting round is conducted, after which another card is burned and the fifth and final board card, the river, is dealt. One final betting round is conducted, and then each player reveals their hand. The player who has the best five-card poker hand, using five of the seven cards available to them (the five board cards and their two hole cards), wins the pot.
Betting in poker
Poker without betting is hardly poker! While there are some varieties of poker that don’t involve betting—like Knock Poker—it is a feature of the vast majority of them. Most poker games include one or more betting rounds (Texas Hold’em and Omaha, for instance, have four betting rounds before the showdown). Fortunately, once you get used to how the betting in poker operates, the knowledge transfers pretty well to every other variety of poker.
This post describes some of the rules governing cash or ring games—that is, non-tournament games. Tournament games have special rules because they are played with chips that have no cash value; real money is only given out when the tournament is over. Also, while the rules of poker are fairly standard, there are some variations and extra bets that some players and cardrooms add to spice up the game. If you’re joining an unfamiliar game, it’s best to ask about the rules before you play!
Basic betting actions
- Check. The simplest betting action is to check. This is option is only available when no bets have been placed in the current betting round (even blinds are considered a bet in this instance). A check declares that you wish to keep the current bet at zero and not wager any additional money. If all players check, the betting round ends with no more money being added to the pot.
- Raise. A raise increases the current bet. If all other players have checked, a bet of any amount is a raise. If another player has bet, a raise is betting an amount more than what the previous player bet.
- Fold. To refuse to match a raise. In so doing, the player surrenders their cards and takes no further part in the game until the next hand.
- Call. Matching whatever the current bet is. If a previous player bet $5, a call is also betting $5. Note that any amount previously wagered does not have to be re-matched; if you bet $5 and the next player raises to $10, you need only wager $5 more to call. When all active players have called, the betting round ends.
Table stakes
Most poker games include table stakes rules. A player is limited to the money they have in front of them on the table at the beginning of the hand. They cannot exchange money from their pocket for chips midway through a hand. This is done to allow a player to limit their risk and to prevent players with more money from bullying less-wealthy players out of the game. If a player wishes to rebuy, that is, buy more chips to bet with, they must wait until in between hands.
Once a player has chips in front of them, whether by exchanging cash for them or by winning them from other players, they cannot take a portion of them off the table or cash them in; they must remain in play. If a player wishes to cash out, they must leave the game and take their entire stack of chips. While it is possible to leave the game immediately after scoring a huge pot, it’s considered good etiquette to stay in the game for at least a few more hands to allow other players a chance at winning some of the money back.
Minimum bets
When discussing what type of poker game is being spread, the game is usually quoted as the minimum bets for the table, whether it is limit or no-limit, and the type of game (if multiple types of poker are being spread; otherwise, Texas Hold’em is usually assumed). One of the most popular games in casino poker rooms, for example, is $1/$2 no-limit Hold’em.
The two amounts given as the minimum bets are in effect at different points in the hand. In Texas Hold’em and Omaha, the first two betting rounds (pre-flop and the flop) are conducted with the minimum bet at the first, lower rate. The last two betting rounds (the turn and river) have minimums equal to the second amount, which is called the big bet and is usually double the smaller bet.
Limits (or not)
No-limit poker
Most poker games are said to be either “limit” or “no-limit”. No-limit games are simpler: you can bet almost any amount at any time, including your entire chip stack! There is usually a restriction that a raise cannot be followed by a smaller raise, so if the first player to act raises $50, you cannot raise after them by $1.
Of course, no-limit games also offer a substantial degree of risk to the players—a player can be forced to call a hand with every chip they have on the table! Some players, especially newcomers, may not feel comfortable playing no-limit games.
Limit poker
Limit poker is often preferred by less confident players, but it is also slightly more complicated. All raises must be equal to the minimum bet for the round. For example, in a $3/$6 limit Hold’em game, during the first (pre-flop) round, each raise is $3. So, if blinds are used, the big blind will be $3, and the first raise will be an additional $3. The next player can either call for $6, or raise another $3, bringing the bet to $12, etc. This continues until a cap, a fixed number of raises, is reached. For example, three raises may be allowed before the betting is capped. When the cap is reached, no further raises are allowed; players may only call or fold.
Pot-limit poker
Pot-limit poker is kind of a compromise between limit and no-limit poker. In pot-limit games, the maximum bet is equal to whatever the pot currently contains. This amount includes whatever was in the pot at the beginning of the betting round, plus any raises or calls that have taken place, plus however much it would cost the current player to call. So, if the pot had $100 from antes and prior betting rounds, and a previous player on this betting round raised to $50, the current player could raise by up to $200 ($100 + $50 from the previous player + $50 call from the current player).
Unlike limit games, however, you are never compelled to bet the maximum (called potting it); you may bet any lesser amount that you wish (although raises must usually at least equal the amount of any previous raises). There is also no cap on the number of times players may bet the pot on any betting round.
Going all-in
When a player ends up with their entire chip stack in the pot, whether they called an amount that exceeded their stack, or because they raised by the total amount of their stack in a no-limit game, the player is said to have gone all-in. An all-in player is allowed to keep their cards and participate in the showdown at the end of the hand, but cannot take part in any further betting rounds, because they don’t have the money to do so. Therefore, any further betting that takes place by other players is kept in a separate side pot. The all-in player cannot win this side pot. If additional players end up going all-in at later stages of play, additional side pots can be created.
At the end of the hand, if the first all-in player has the best hand overall, they are awarded the main pot, and each side pot is awarded to the player eligible for it with the best hand. If a non-all-in player has the best hand overall, they get the main pot, plus all the side pots.
Rank of poker hands
No matter which variant of poker you play, the rank of poker hands always stays the same. The hand ranking was determined over a hundred years ago, with each hand’s rank roughly corresponding to the likelihood that a particular hand will occur (unlikely hands are ranked higher), although the exact odds for each hand will vary between different types of poker.
We now offer a Rank of Poker Hands poster (image at right) that can be displayed in your game room to help your newer players learn the hands and the order they rank in. It’s an excellent way to head off questions about what outranks what that can reveal to other players what might be in the newbie’s hand.
The standard rank of poker hands is:
- 1. Five of a kind
- This is technically the highest-ranked hand, although it is only available in games involving wild cards. Five of a kind consists of all four of a particular rank of card, plus a wild card (example: 9-9-9-9-2 in a deuces wild game). Ties are broken by the rank of the cards (five nines beats five eights).
- 2. Royal flush
- This is the highest-ranked traditional poker hand. A royal flush consists of A-K-Q-J-10 of the same suit. Competing royal flushes split the pot.
- 3. Straight flush
- A straight flush consists of five cards of the same suit in sequence (example: 4-5-6-7-8♠). Ties are broken by the highest card; competing straight flushes with the same top card split the pot.
- 4. Four of a kind
- Four of a kind consists of all four of a particular rank of card (example: 5-5-5-5-J). Ties are broken by the rank of the cards (four 6s beats four 5s).
- 5. Full house
- A full house consists of three of one rank of card and two of another (example: 7-7-7-3-3). Ties are broken by the rank of the three matching cards (Q-Q-Q-9-9 beats 10-10-10-K-K).
- 6. Flush
- A flush consists of five cards of the same suit, not in any particular order (example: 5-6-9-J-K♦). Ties are broken by the rank of the highest card, then by the next highest if necessary, and so on until the tie is broken.
- 7. Straight
- A straight consists of five cards of any suit in sequence (example: 4♦-5♣-6♣-7♠-8♥). If all cards are the same suit, it becomes a straight flush. Ties are broken by the highest card; competing straights with the same top card split the pot.
- 8. Three of a kind
- Sometimes called trips or a set, three of a kind consists of three cards of the same rank and two non-matched cards (example: 7-7-7-3-A). Ties are broken by the rank of the three matching cards.
- 9. Two pair
- Two pair consists of two matching cards of one rank and two matching cards of another rank, with a fifth unmatching card (example: 7-7-3-3-10). Ties are broken by the higher pair, then the lower pair, then the unmatched card.
- 10. One pair
- A pair with three unmatched cards (example: A-A-5-7-9). Ties are broken by the pair, then the highest unmatched card, then next highest, and so on.
- 11. High card
- Five unmatched cards (example: 4-5-7-9-10). Ties are broken by the highest card, then the next highest, and so on.
Blinds and antes
All betting games that involve a pot (rather than a casino-style game like Blackjack that pays players out of a bank run by the house) need some way to establish its opening balance. After all, who is going to want to risk some of their money when there’s not something out there as a possible reward? There are two ways by which this is achieved—by ante or by blind bets.
Antes are the traditional way that pots are seeded, going back as far as the origins of poker, if not older. Antes are dead simple—everyone contributes an agreed-upon stake to the pot before the cards are dealt. If someone doesn’t want to play a hand, they just don’t ante and don’t get cards.
Texas Hold’em and Omaha, the two most popular forms of poker played today, tend to use blinds instead of antes. The player to the left of the dealer is designated the small blind and bets first, and the next player to the left follows it up with the big blind. (The terms big blind and small blind are used to refer to both the actual bets and the players that are responsible for posting them.) Both of these players are compelled to make a bet to seed the pot—the big blind makes a bet equal to whatever the game’s minimum bet is, and the small blind bets half of the minimum (rounded, if necessary, to avoid the bet being a fraction of a chip).
Blinds offer the advantage that all but two players are able to get cards for free and decide whether or not to participate in a hand without having to bet. It also prevents the first betting round from being actionless because everyone decided to just check (decline to bet). Also, blinds make the game go much smoother because there are only two players that owe money to the pot, and if one of them fails to bet it’s obvious which one it is—with antes it can be difficult to tell who shorted the pot, especially if everyone splashes the pot. However, there are some drawbacks to blinds: chiefly, what do you do if it’s someone’s turn to post a blind and they aren’t at the table?
There are two ways to handle a missed blind. One way is to simply have the dealer collect and post the absent player’s blind from their chip stack, and if they don’t return in time to play the hand they are dealt, muck the hand whenever action comes back to them. Another option is to require them to sit out until the next time the big blind comes back to them. Yet another method is to require the player to post any missed blinds as “dead bets” that effectively serve as an ante and, other than being part of the pot, have no effect on the betting (usually games using this method give the player the option to wait until their turn to post the next big blind to rejoin the game, and in exchange, do not obligate them to pay for the missed blind). Whatever you decide, it’s important to establish the rules for a missed blind in advance to ensure all players are treated equally and fairly.
