"Home" games

These are somewhat less-serious games that are typically played only in home games at small stakes. This does not necessarily mean that there is less opportunity for skillful play, just that the games are seen as more social than competitive.

Shotgun ("Roll 'em out" and "Skinny Minnie")

This is a draw game that plays much like a Stud game. First five cards are dealt to each player, followed by a betting round, and a draw. Now, in place of a second round and showdown, there is a Rollout phase, which begins with the players arranging their five cards in any chosen order, placing them face down in front of themselves. Each player's top card is now revealed, followed by a betting round. Then each player reveals his next card, followed by a betting round. Then a third card is revealed, followed by a betting round, a fourth card, a betting round, and finally a showdown. Players may not change the order of their cards at any time during the rollout phase.

This game can be played for high or low, but plays best at High-low split, in which case it is called "Skinny Minnie".

Spit in the ocean

This might be classified as a hybrid draw/Community card game, but it is placed here because it plays mostly as a draw game. On the initial deal, each player is dealt four cards, and then a single card is dealt to the center of the table face up. This card plays as if it were the fifth card in every player's hand. It is also a wild card, and every other card of its rank is also wild. The first betting round is then played, followed by a draw in which each player replaces cards from his hand with an equal number, so that each player still has only four cards in hand. A final betting round is followed by a showdown. High-hand values are used.

Here's a sample deal: Alice deals four cards to each player, then deals the next card face up to the center of the table. it is the 6 of diamonds, and this makes all 6-spot cards wild. Bob opens for $1, Carol raises to $2, David folds, Alice and Bob call. Bob discards two cards, and receives two replacements. Carol draws one card, and Alice draws one. Bob checks, Carol bets $2, Alice raises to $4, Bob folds, Carol reraises to $6, and Alice calls. The cards in Carol's hand are Q-Q-6-4. Because the 6 in her hand and the one on the board are wild, her hand is four queens. Alice's hand contains K-J-9-7, all spades. With the shared wild card, this gives her a flush, which loses to Carol's four queens.

Anaconda ("Pass the trash")

Seven cards are dealt to each player. Before the first betting round, each player examines his hand, and removes exactly three cards from his hand and places them on the table to his left. After each person has thus discarded, he picks up the cards discarded by his right-hand neighbor and places them in his hand (thus, each player will have given three cards to his left-hand neighbor). It is important that each player discard before looking at the cards he is to receive. After the first pass, there is a betting round. Then a second pass occurs, each player passing two cards to his right. A second betting round is followed by a third pass, each player passing one card to his left. Finally, a fourth betting round and a showdown, in which the player with the best five-card high hand he can make out of the seven in his hand wins the pot.

In some casual games, the showdown is replaced by a rollout phase, as described above in "Shotgun". This makes a total of eight betting rounds in the game, which generally destroys any chance for skillful play in the later rounds.

Ad hoc variants

Any of the above games can be modified in many ways upon player whim, by designating additional wild cards, betting rounds, more or fewer cards, altered hand values, and any other change agreed upon by all players prior to each deal. You can announce such a game by using the name of an existing game and specifying the variations, for example "Three-card Triple-draw California lowball, Kings wild" (a surprisingly good game head up). Many times this will result in a game that does not play well, but occasionally will produce a game that is well-suited to a particular group of players. Even if it doesn't, such games can be used sparingly to enliven an otherwise serious game.

Here are some general guidelines:

• If you want to designate some normal suited cards as wild, choose cards that would otherwise be bad for the game being played. For example, deuces wild for high-hand games, kings wild for lowball, 9-spots wild for High-low split (where an 8-high or lower is necessary to win low).
• High-low split games play best with more than four players.
• When playing high-low split, it is necessary to have either a Declaration phase or a qualifier (but not both). The most common form is 8-high or better to qualify low, but also common is any pair/no pair (that is, a pair or better is required to win high, and no pair or better low is required to win low), and 9-high for low.
• Designating more than four wild cards (or possibly six) will result in considerable confusion and many ties.
• Two to five betting rounds makes a good game. One round or more than five rounds reduces the amount of skill involved.
• Giving each player more than eight or nine cards usually makes a bad game. (Note that in Anaconda, each player will have seen up to thirteen cards!)