What's the name of this poker variant?

[Chessic_Sense]

Players play head to head with a 52-card deck. Each player is dealt five face-up cards in a row that are positioned opposite the opponent’s five cards. Then each player is dealt a single card, and they play this new card onto one of their five table cards, face up. Then they each receive another card to play on the board. In this manner, the players build five 5-card poker hands. The last (i.e. fifth) card in each hand is played face-down.

At any time, the player may discard a card instead of playing it on the board. He may do this only once. The discarded card plus the five 5-card hands equals 26 cards, each. So two players use the whole 52-card deck.

Once all the cards have been played, players turn over their fifth cards and compare hands. The left-most hand of player 1 is compared to the right-most hand of player 2 (i.e. the hand across from it). The winner keeps his cards face-up while the loser turns his hand face-down. The player with 3 or more face-up hands wins a point. First to 5 points or 10 points wins the game.

What’s it called?

[Chessic_Sense]

Is it too early for a bump? Well, I’ll be on a plane all day tomorrow, so I better do this now.

[notfrommensa]

I have played a lot poker variants in my life, but I have never heard or seen this type of game.

[VarlosZ]

Nope, never heard of this or anything like it.

Then each player is dealt a single card, and they play this new card onto one of their five table cards, face up.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to play the cards face down initially? That is, both players would declare to which hand their card is going before turning it face up? If the cards are just dealt face up, then whoever plays their cards first is at a pretty big disadvantage.

Of course, even knowing that your opponent is playing an unknown card to a given hand is useful information. Probably they should alternate who goes first each round (or, better still, each card).

[EllisDee]

Never heard of this game, and by the description it doesn’t seem well-suited for betting. But it sounds like an awesome two-player card game, so kudos.

I know of another good two-player card game if anyone is interested. Might make for a good thread.

[Chessic_Sense]

@VarlosZ

Nope, never heard of this or anything like it.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to play the cards face down initially? That is, both players would declare to which hand their card is going before turning it face up? If the cards are just dealt face up, then whoever plays their cards first is at a pretty big disadvantage.

Of course, even knowing that your opponent is playing an unknown card to a given hand is useful information. Probably they should alternate who goes first each round (or, better still, each card).

You’d think so, but the mystery that’s lost is worth the gain of information. For example, if you have 2233 in one hand and you see that your opponent has four clubs, you can look around the table and see how many clubs are remaining and how many 2s and 3s are still in play. Then you can decide to chase your third 2 or 3 to make a full house or count on them busting their flush draw and trusting your two-pair. Furthermore, you have to play 25 out of the 26 cards you’re dealt, so card slots are at a premium. You WILL have to dump bad cards somewhere. So if you have 2-2-3-3 and you see that the other 3s are gone and there’s only one 2 left in the deck, you can use that fifth card as a valuable “dump slot”. If you don’t dump cards somewhere, you’ll end up in the unenviable position of having a 2-3-4-5 hand and a hand with four clubs while you decide where to put the 10 of diamonds you’re holding.

Usually, your cards are forced early on, and late in the game, you know the opponent is drawing for something like a straight, flush, or full house, so it’s not really relevant who plays first. Worst case scenario, you can just play the card “on the count of three” or whatever.

@EllisDee

Never heard of this game, and by the description it doesn’t seem well-suited for betting. But it sounds like an awesome two-player card game, so kudos.

I know of another good two-player card game if anyone is interested. Might make for a good thread.

I’ve got a lot of flying to do this week, so I’d love to have something to play on the tray tables with my fiancee. Post it!

As for betting, you can just bet on the game as a whole or the difference in points. Like, if the final score is 10-7, I owe you three beers. Or, since winning 4 hands out of a set is relatively rare (maybe 20% of the sets), you can make that a “bonus win” or some sort.

I recommend, though, that since the object is only to win the set, it doesn’t matter if you win 3, 4, or all 5 hands (strategically losing hands is part of the game), that you don’t make #-of-won-hands a betting criterion.

[EllisDee]

@Chessic_Sense

I’ve got a lot of flying to do this week, so I’d love to have something to play on the tray tables with my fiancee. Post it!

Cathedral

Players are dealt 6 cards face down. Each chooses 3 of those cards to be saved for later, which get placed face down somewhere other than the discard pile. The remaining 3 cards compose your starting hand.

Each turn, you discard 1 or more cards that beats (is higher than) the top card on the discard pile. The first player to go starts the discard pile with their own card; you don’t have to beat one from the deck.

You either play a single card, a pair, a triple, or four of a kind. You don’t have to play pairs if you don’t want; you can play high cards indivdually to maximize their benefit. After playing card(s), if you have fewer than 3 cards left you draw from the deck until you have 3. If you play your last card(s) and the deck is gone, you pick up the 3 you set aside at the beginning. (They are picked up all at once, not one at a time, and not until you have no other cards.) Winner is the first to discard all their cards.

If you cannot play any cards you must pick up the entire discard pile and add it to your hand. You don’t get to discard after picking up the pile, that’s the end of your turn. Note that you don’t have to discard if you can; you can choose to just pick up the pile. (Maybe it contains a lot of 2s?)

2s beat (are considered higher than) everything, “wrap” the counter back to the lowest, and let you go again. (Draw from deck to get back to 3 cards before going again.) You’d never play more than one 2 at a time, though you can if you want.

10s act like 2s in every way, plus they clear the discard pile. Cleared cards never return to play.

Four of a kind also clears the pile and let you go again like 10s do, but they can only be played in proper numerical order. As in, if the top card on the discard pile is a Jack, and your hand is four 9s and a 10, you can’t play the four 9s. You have to either clear the discard pile with your 10 (and then play some amount of 9s) or pick up the discard pile and add it to your hand.

Aces are high.

There is strategy to selecting your first three cards to set aside. Ideal is a 2 or 10 plus a pair, meaning you can guarantee win in a single play. (Play the 2 or 10, then play the pair.) 2s are better than 10s because you want 10s to clear the pile, and they can’t do that if they’re set aside until the end of the game.

[Chessic_Sense]

@EllisDee

Cathedral

Players are dealt 6 cards face down. Each chooses 3 of those cards to be saved for later, which get placed face down somewhere other than the discard pile. The remaining 3 cards compose your starting hand.

Each turn, you discard 1 or more cards that beats (is higher than) the top card on the discard pile. The first player to go starts the discard pile with their own card; you don’t have to beat one from the deck.

You either play a single card, a pair, a triple, or four of a kind. You don’t have to play pairs if you don’t want; you can play high cards indivdually to maximize their benefit. After playing card(s), if you have fewer than 3 cards left you draw from the deck until you have 3. If you play your last card(s) and the deck is gone, you pick up the 3 you set aside at the beginning. (They are picked up all at once, not one at a time, and not until you have no other cards.) Winner is the first to discard all their cards.

If you cannot play any cards you must pick up the entire discard pile and add it to your hand. You don’t get to discard after picking up the pile, that’s the end of your turn. Note that you don’t have to discard if you can; you can choose to just pick up the pile. (Maybe it contains a lot of 2s?)

2s beat (are considered higher than) everything, “wrap” the counter back to the lowest, and let you go again. (Draw from deck to get back to 3 cards before going again.) You’d never play more than one 2 at a time, though you can if you want.

10s act like 2s in every way, plus they clear the discard pile. Cleared cards never return to play.

Four of a kind also clears the pile and let you go again like 10s do, but they can only be played in proper numerical order. As in, if the top card on the discard pile is a Jack, and your hand is four 9s and a 10, you can’t play the four 9s. You have to either clear the discard pile with your 10 (and then play some amount of 9s) or pick up the discard pile and add it to your hand.

Aces are high.

There is strategy to selecting your first three cards to set aside. Ideal is a 2 or 10 plus a pair, meaning you can guarantee win in a single play. (Play the 2 or 10, then play the pair.) 2s are better than 10s because you want 10s to clear the pile, and they can’t do that if they’re set aside until the end of the game.

So play can go A-99-KK-2-3? That is, pairs beat an Ace, higher pairs beat lower, a 2 can play on anything, and then it’s low again so it loses to a 3? Do I have that right?