I’ve been an avid poker play for 25 years. And I’m sick of the games we’re playing!
We have about… 5 or 6 that we play all the time. Anaconda, Cris Cross, Texas Hold 'em, hi/lo, Texas Low (great 3 card game), and a couple others.
I’ve had friends tell me great games that I don’t write down and promptly forget. Anyone got anything good? (that isn’t too insane, like Follow the Queen and Baseball)
stoid
playing poker this Saturday
I used to like “7/27”. It’s a high/low game.
The object is to get as close to either 7 or 27. Higher beats lower (as in 7 1/2 beats 6 1/2 - 27 1/2 beats 26 1/2.
Cards are worth their number. Aces are 1 or 11 and face cards are 1/2 a point.
Everybody is dealt one down and one up.
You bet.
Each player can either take a card or pass. The way we used to play is once you passed three times, you were locked. Others have played it where if you pass once, you’re locked. But our way made for some keener strategizing.
You bet after every draw/pass round.
Once everyone is locked, you declare 7 or 27 and show.
It’s very cool trying to fake people into declaring high when you’ve got a six showing, even if you have a ten in the hole.
yeah, we play that one all the time. It’s just not real “poker”. 
Big pots, though!
[list][list][list][list][list][list][list]Strip poker
…:o…
Indian poker.
Everyone licks the back of their card and puts it one their forehead, then, places bets on their card. This game will drive you nuts.
That’s right- you can see everyone elses, but not your.
For real money.
Ok, coins & singles.
Pennies=$1
Nickles=$5
dimes=$10
quarters=$50
Fifty cent pieces=$100
you get the picture.
Be a tycoon!
As for the bank, get a regulation set, work out how much it’s worth on the above chart, & divide the cost of getting in amongst yourselves equally.
Winner take all!
It’s fun, fair, & everybody knows the rules!
Omaha - Everyone is dealt 4 cards that they can look at. Then four cards are placed down in the center. There’s on blind bet. Then, the center is turned over one at a time with a round of betting after each. Make the best 5 card hand out of 2 in your hand and three in the center.
Really sucks when your dealt 3 of a kind, or 4 cards to a flush.
High Chicago - Kinda like high-lo. It’s a split pot game. Standard 7 card stud, with dueces wild on aces, straights, and flushes. High hand wins, and highest spade in the hole wins. Rocks out when you’re dealt two 2’s up, one 2 down, and an ace of spades down.
Fuck Your Neighbor - Played at the end of the night, everyone puts their “change” in the pot, with one lowest denomination in front of them. Everyone is dealt one card. You either keep or pass to the left. If the person to the left has a king, they can show it and not have to trade to their right, otherwise they have to trade. Lowest card loses and puts their piece into the pot. Lose again after losing your piece and you’re out. Get an ace, you put your piece in and your out… automatic loss. The dealer can either keep what’s passed to them, or go to the top of the deck.
Hope this helps.
It’s a long time since I played this game. The ideal scenario is to hold a three when you are looking at two people with deuces. I was involved in such a hand once, having the misfortune to hold one of the deuces.
I am very poor.
This might fall under the “too crazy” category, but damn if it don’t make the blood race.
3’s and 9’s:
Anti up. Everyone is dealt 3 cards face down. Pick up your cards and look at them. The goal is to get the best hand. Only pairs and 3 of a kind are valid (no flushes or straights). So 3 Aces is the best hand you can have. 3’s and 9’s are wild.
You can discard 1 or 2 cards at this point. Dealer issues replacement cards. Now the fun part:
Everyone holds their cards (face-down) about 3 inches above the table. Dealer counts 1, 2, 3. On three, everyone either holds their cards or drops them on the table (folds). Anyone who keeps their cards up, then reveals their hand. If you held your hand up, and you lose, then you have to match the amount in the pot for the next round.
But you don’t have to beat JUST each other. At the end, three cards are drawn from the top of the deck and placed face-up on the table. If this is the highest hand, then everyone who stayed in now has to match the pot. Fresh round, everyone antis up, and the pot is alot bigger.
Now all of the sudden to match the pot can get pretty expensive. Especialy if everyone stays in and the deck wins.
In the case of a tie, say 3 aces to 3 aces, the hand with the most Natural aces wins. If the winners still have the same hands, nobody wins, the pot remains, and everyone anties up again.
I can’t tell you how much I LOVE this game. But it’s dangerous. After playing a little bit you run into the decks personality. It can be cruel or it can be your saving grace. We ended up naming the deck “Molly”, so we could beg for her mercy (careful, she doesn’t like brown nosers), or curse her in an attemp to psych her out (ballsy strategy). But watch how you speak to her, she can be a spiteful bitch (don’t tell her I said that).
DaLovin’ Dj
Heck, I love baseball. We play Night Baseball, sometimes with Rainouts. With a rainout, if Marge Schott appears (Queen of Spades) all the cards are picked up, the game is immediately redealt, with the pot carrying over. You have to put a limit on rainouts though (we usually say only 1 or 2).
How about Nickel-Dime-Quarter? Everyone gets two cards, face down. Then the dealer turns over two cards by the deck. And in turn offers each player (including himself) his choice of which card to buy. The first card can be bought for a nickel. The second can be bought for a dime. Or, if the player prefers to get a face-down card, it costs a quarter. If a face-up card is bought, it is replaced (if it is the nickel card, the dime card moves into its place and a new card is dealth off the top to become the dime card. If it is the dime card, a new card is dealt off the top and the nickel card stays the same).
Play continues until everyone has 7 cards. Then you have a round of betting. It’s guaranteed to raise the pot because even the cheapest person spends 5 nickels to get their cards (unless they fold). Also: Cards you purchased face-up must stay face up in front of you. Cards you bought face-down (Quarter cards) can join your hand and no one but you can see them. Sometimes people buy cards solely to screw the person after them (when they can see what they’re building). It’s fun.
We also love a game called “Auction”. It’s where players get two cards and then “bid” on other cards. I can’t write out all the rules but I bet they’re online somewhere.
I’ve played that 7/27 game and it’s really fun and unexpected things happen.
Guts is always good for some variety. If you never played, the game is simplicity itself: [li]Everybody antes up and is dealt two cards (you are allowed to look at them.) []Everyone holds their cards, face down, over the center of the table and the dealer does a count of three.[]At “three” you can either hold your cards or drop them. If you drop them, you are out for the game. If you hold them, you and everyone else that held theirs turn them over and the highest set of cards wins. Winner takes the pot.[]If you stayed in and you lost, you match the (former) pot. ie: if the pot was $1 and 3 people stayed in, one wins, the other two lose so the next pot is $2. If the same scenario happens the next round, the winner would have $2 and the pot for the next round would be $4 (2 players coughing up $2.) []the game is over when only one person holds their cards at “three.”[/li]
This has the tendency to get big pots swiftly. It can get ugly, too.
The game Simetra called FYN, we called “Pass Left,” but it was a bundle of fun. Cranky is right, (midnight) baseball is great.
We played another one, which was great, but I can’t recall how it goes, save that you start with three stacks of chips in front of you and you play until their is only one person with any stacks left…hmmm.
On occasion we would play fun games like baseball or follow the queen, but I really can’t stand those games. I don’t want to risk losing money on games that don’t really require that much skill to play. I try to stick with 7 stud, or Texas Holdum`. Albeit, I have only been playing poker seriously for about 4 years, but I never really cared much for the fun game when money is involved. If money isn’t involved, I would rather play PS2.
If you thought baseball was insane, try midnight baseball. Midnight baseball is basically baseball but much more chancy. Deal out your hand all at once but face down. You then play the game like midnight, but with baseball wilds. First guy flips one card over. Round of betting. Next guy flips card until he can beat the previous showing hand. Round of betting. So on and so forth until all cards are displayed.
Remind me never to invite you guys over for poker.
I’d rather watch flies fuck than play even High-Low.
– Ukulele “Stud or Draw?” Ike
agreed. That is why I stick with 7 stud or T Hold
Well, Ike, remember that Championship poker is Texas hold’em!
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Lotta silliness. Lotta games we already play or know, different names. 5-10-25 we play as “Grocery Store” (and it’s actually a great strategy game!). We play Chicago without the wilds, just split the pot between spade in the hole and high hand.
Some of these I have to study more closely… keep 'em coming!
stoid
Auction - Every player is dealt 5 cards with 4 face down in the center. Everyone makes a bet on their current five card hand. The first card is turned over and the player to the dealers left starts a bid on that card. You either bid or pass, but if you pass, you can’t bid again. Whoever wins the bid… gets that card to put in their hand and pays the pot the bid. Next card is turned over and the person to the left of the person who last started the bidding, starts the bidding. Goes until all 4 cards are bought… then one round of betting at the end starting with the person who bought the highest face value card(s). Best five card hand wins.
What’ll fly depends on the crowd. I play with several different people and some prefer straight up what-are-the-odds poker and some like a twist.
Bouray is a coon-ass game that can be interesting. The idea is to win the pot by taking tricks.
Everyone antes and is dealt five cards. Then the dealer rolls one and that suit becomes trump. Starting left of the dealer players declare whether they’re in or out. Once they’re in there’s no going out. As soon as everybody’s declared people can draw cards, up to five.
When everybody has their cards, play begins with the player left of the dealer leading. If you have the Ace, King or Queen of trumps and it’s your lead, you must lead it. Otherwise you lead with the hope of taking the trick. You must follow the suit lead if you can, or trump (if possible) if you cannot follow suit. At the end the player with the most tricks wins. No split pots; in the case of a split everyone antes again and another hand is dealt.
The kicker is that anyone who winds up with no tricks must match the pot.
It can get pretty hairy. We play as per Hoyle’s now (and I would heartily recommend you acquire a copy), but I learned a deadlier set of bouray rules as a kid. I once played a two day game that was nickel ante and wound up with a $3200 pot.
A lot of poker people don’t like high low games, but I’ll pass along a variant of 7-27. Same rules, it’s 2-22 red cards only.
Have fun, tip your waitress.
If you want to make it more interesting, just double the stakes.
Screw conventional card games and go with Nuclear War.
More shouting, accusations, taunts, retorts, and wild-ass comedy than your typical round of seven-card draw, plus the added benefit where most games end up with everyone getting killed anyway! 
Absolutely great with pretzels and the beverage of your choice. I blew four years of college playing that game…
Gay Pride poker. Queens wild, two of a kind beats a straight.