Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

All current poker variants suck.

CP is for losers who want to gamb00l it up without playing real poker.

TD is for losers with masochism. (In the words of Chris Fargis, "Triple draw is like a carnival game. Step right up and try to accomplish some wacky goal. You get three tries!")

Draw is for losers who haven't entered the 21st century.

Your challenge: invent a new poker variant with a novel mechanism. (It can be a stupid game for losers, too. It just has to be a new one.)

No previously-published variant allowed.

Bonus points (*) if it's a lowball game.

(*) Points are worth nothing, just like Drew Carey.

13-card Nim Poker
 

aka "Nim-chinese-poker"

Each player in this game is dealt 13 cards. The table is marked with spots for four to eight 5-card hands and two to four 3-card hands. (2x and 1x the number of players.)

Each player in turn, starting to the left of the dealer, places one card face-up in one of the hands. Subsequent rounds alternate between placing cards face-down or face-up.

The player who completes a five- or three- card hand must pick it up immediately and play it as one of his three chinese poker hands. A player may not complete a hand if he has no more room to take it.

Once all hands are taken scoring proceeds as in chinese poker.

Variants: 2-7 in the middle, of course. You might also scrap the alternating face-up/face-down rule and play either all exposed or all face-down. Or require only the first card in each hand be exposed, etc.

Re: 13-card Nim Poker
 

Man, I was hoping for some entries here. I've invented some weird ones, but have published them on RGP etc.

Lately I've been thinking of an omaha indian variant. Players would get four cards, two down which they would see, and two that would be placed on their forehead (or in their hat band) that only their opponent would see. Players would have to play one down card and one forehead card. I suspect that it would have to be played high- or low- only. Played high-low, one wouldn't know if he had a low qualifier until showdown. Perhaps the strategy would be to play high hands that could back into low hands.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

Each player is dealt nine cards from a double poker deck. A round of betting occurs, then each player exposes one card clockwise from the button. Repeat etc.

While there are two of each card in play, each card may be exposed only once, and only exposed cards play. A player who has exposed all possible cards may choose to be treated as all in. After all players have either reached this state or exposed seven cards, showdown occurs and the best five-card poker hand wins.

Obviously this can be played as lowball or high-low as well. A seven-card Badugi version could be quite interesting with blockers and reblockers.

ETA: may be better with a stripped deck.

Bhowani Junction
 

This is my own invention, and I have named it, just this instant, Bhowani Junction, after the film of that title. It is an adaptation of the game Iron Cross aka Fiery Cross aka Southern Cross.

In Iron Cross each player has two hole cards and a common card is dealt face up. A round of betting ensues. A further three common cards are dealt with a round of betting after each. Each card represents a point on the compass with the initial card being north. Finally, a card is dealt to the centre of the cross. There now ensues the final round of betting. No cards are wild. In conjunction with your hole cards you use north-centre-south to comprise your five card hand or east-centre-west. So if you had AA in your hand and the cards were dealth K (n) Q (e) J (s) T (w) J (c) you would either have AAKJJ or AAQJJ but as you can only use one axis of the cross you would use AAKJJ for two pair. The trouble with this is that card that must comprise your hand the centre card is dealt last.

Bhowani Junction: the centre card is dealt first, then north-east-south-west follow. Dealing the centre card first takes much of the variance out of it. You still have the five rounds of betting as normal. No cards are wild.

This adaptation is one of my better tinkerings...

Re: Bhowani Junction
 

Not sure if anybody wrote this before, but in my homegame we sometimes play hold'em, omaha and CP with 2 or 3 (2 recomended) flops. You bet into the same pot, and if you win 1 of 2 boards you simply win 50% of the pot. Pretty easy, but still adds a lot to the game.

Re: Bhowani Junction
 

[ QUOTE ]
Not sure if anybody wrote this before, but in my homegame we sometimes play hold'em, omaha and CP with 2 or 3 (2 recomended) flops. You bet into the same pot, and if you win 1 of 2 boards you simply win 50% of the pot. Pretty easy, but still adds a lot to the game.

[/ QUOTE ]

Double-flop Hold'em is well-known:

http://www.pokernews.com/poker-rules...lop-holdem.htm

(Heck, even Wikipedia mentions it.)

Re: Bhowani Junction
 

[ QUOTE ]
This is my own invention, and I have named it, just this instant, Bhowani Junction, after the film of that title. It is an adaptation of the game Iron Cross aka Fiery Cross aka Southern Cross.

In Iron Cross each player has two hole cards and a common card is dealt face up. A round of betting ensues. A further three common cards are dealt with a round of betting after each. Each card represents a point on the compass with the initial card being north. Finally, a card is dealt to the centre of the cross. There now ensues the final round of betting. No cards are wild. In conjunction with your hole cards you use north-centre-south to comprise your five card hand or east-centre-west. So if you had AA in your hand and the cards were dealth K (n) Q (e) J (s) T (w) J (c) you would either have AAKJJ or AAQJJ but as you can only use one axis of the cross you would use AAKJJ for two pair. The trouble with this is that card that must comprise your hand the centre card is dealt last.

Bhowani Junction: the centre card is dealt first, then north-east-south-west follow. Dealing the centre card first takes much of the variance out of it. You still have the five rounds of betting as normal. No cards are wild.

This adaptation is one of my better tinkerings...

[/ QUOTE ]

I think Bhowani Junction has the attributes to make it a mainstream poker variation...

Re: Bhowani Junction
 

I've played criss-cross where not only was the center card dealt first, it was always the same card, a joker. "Dealt first" is a bit of misnomer, however--the joker was nailed to the center of the table. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Bhowani Junction
 

At the 2+2 homegame in DC we played Second Best Hold'em. Exactly same rules as LHE but the SECOND best hand wins the pot.

It's completely insane. Anyone heard of that before? Is it strategyless?

--GA

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

Super power poker.

It may not quite be what you are looking for, but it is an extremely novel variant of holdem. It only works heads up.

Played exactly as normal holdem, except one player has to play with their cards face up. to make up for this, the person with the face up cards gets to know which cards are coming on the flop, river and turn before the hand begins.

I have played quite afew hours of this to settle an argument over whether having a perfect read, or knowing the coming cards was better HU. turns out they are surprisingly evenly balanced, making for a fun game.

Re: Bhowani Junction
 

[ QUOTE ]
At the 2+2 homegame in DC we played Second Best Hold'em. Exactly same rules as LHE but the SECOND best hand wins the pot.

It's completely insane. Anyone heard of that before? Is it strategyless?


[/ QUOTE ]

Mark and I have talked about it a fair bit, along with a variant where the most medium hand wins the pot, which is even weirder. There's a great deal of strategy in manipulating one and only one better hand than yours to stay in the pot while also making the pot bigger. Doing it as a board or draw game should be better than a community game.

Re: Bhowani Junction
 

[ QUOTE ]
At the 2+2 homegame in DC we played Second Best Hold'em. Exactly same rules as LHE but the SECOND best hand wins the pot.

It's completely insane. Anyone heard of that before? Is it strategyless?

--GA

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a good game with a good bit of strategy. If your best hand has a pretty good low and you can get it heads up, you have a lock. If a third player catches you making a move for heads up and is in the middle, he has a play to stay in, unless of course the best player drops.

Usually played NL.

Re: Bhowani Junction
 

IMO myself and a couple other 2+2ers invented second best holdem and we have posted about it in a few trip reports. Some additional things we decided were necessary are a portion of the pot for the best hand (we chose 5 BB but it was sort of dependent on the donkishness of the game/stakes to be fair) as well as scoop potential for the best hand which we chose as a full house or better. This allows for some pot size manipulation strategies as well as scooooop potential which is always fun.

-DeathDonkey

Re: Bhowani Junction
 

51 Card Solitaire

You win when you kill yourself.

Re: Bhowani Junction
 

[ QUOTE ]
IMO myself and a couple other 2+2ers invented second best holdem and we have posted about it in a few trip reports. Some additional things we decided were necessary are a portion of the pot for the best hand (we chose 5 BB but it was sort of dependent on the donkishness of the game/stakes to be fair) as well as scoop potential for the best hand which we chose as a full house or better. This allows for some pot size manipulation strategies as well as scooooop potential which is always fun.

-DeathDonkey

[/ QUOTE ]

You may very well have invented it, but I'm not sure that y'all were the first to invent it. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I was playing it ~1990 in Texas. I think it's been around since the draw days.

BTW, long-time 2+2 poster Blank Frank has a some second-best variations listed on his excellent web site:

Five Stud Place
Second Hand High
Place and Show
Vice President

This is a great site on which to spend a few minutes browsing.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Super power poker.

It may not quite be what you are looking for, but it is an extremely novel variant of holdem. It only works heads up.

Played exactly as normal holdem, except one player has to play with their cards face up. to make up for this, the person with the face up cards gets to know which cards are coming on the flop, river and turn before the hand begins.

I have played quite afew hours of this to settle an argument over whether having a perfect read, or knowing the coming cards was better HU. turns out they are surprisingly evenly balanced, making for a fun game.

[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting. The same general idea could be applied to a Stud or Draw game, leading to these three variations (which work multiway):

California Clairvoyance: Each player is dealt one card face down, which they may look at and then return to the table. Each player is then dealt a five-card hand. Play proceeds as in California lowball (limit betting, low A-5 hand wins) except that if a player draws any cards, his first replacement comes from the "hole card" dealt to the player on his left.

Prognostication: Seven-card stud for high. The river cards for all players are dealt first; these river cards may be inspected by the player to the left. After that they must remain face-down until 7th street, at which point the player that owns the card may take it into his hand.

Vero Beach: Seven-card stud, hi/lo. Each player is dealt their 7th-street card first, but must place it on their forehead so that all the other players may observe it (while they cannot) until 7th street.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

Sick thanks for the links guys...why I've never heard of it before IDK, I've read Frank B's listing way back when.

Strat vs thinking players seems almost endlessly recursive. How do you bet someone off anything? If the best hand gets a portion then it's just insane.

If anyone's in Vegas on July 6th I'm gonna make sure we play this at a 2+2 magoo-fest!

--GA

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

We have played omadraw H/L a few times. After the flop you have the option to draw up to two cards.

Position is huge in this game as the draw can often reveal a players hand.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

I'm sure people have tried to create games like this before, but...
what about a Stud/Hold'em hybrid. Could be played hi/hi-lo/lo.

2 down cards to each player
betting
1 up card to each player
betting
3 community cards
betting
1 down card to each player
betting

Has it been tried ?
Is it interesting?

Tx.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

Such variations are pretty common, see for example "Oxford Stud":

http://www.xenomind.com/pokervar/Com...7/cm07029.html

There are also stud/draw combos.

If one is playing a stud game with community cards, does the 'lowest hand' refer just to board cards, or to board cards + community cards. I.e., if somebody has a 2 up but the community cards are 22A, does the 2 start the bidding, or would a 3 up be the lowest?

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sure people have tried to create games like this before, but...
what about a Stud/Hold'em hybrid. Could be played hi/hi-lo/lo.

2 down cards to each player
betting
1 up card to each player
betting
3 community cards
betting
1 down card to each player
betting

Has it been tried ?
Is it interesting?

Tx.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

The last time I played a game like this, the players' door cards started the betting on the first round, then the best hand made of door cards and community cards led on subsequent rounds.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

If I was creative I would invent a game where I didn't continue to get tortured by absolutely horrible players in shorthanded/HU games and they'd just light up their money like God intended.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

[ QUOTE ]
If I was creative I would invent a game where I didn't continue to get tortured by absolutely horrible players in shorthanded/HU games and they'd just light up their money like God intended.

[/ QUOTE ]
You're talking about Stud 8.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

My favorite variant so far is roll your own O8. After the flop betting round each player turns over one card of their choice in order with the small blind acting first.

A variant of this variant is double roll your own O8, where you disclose a second card of the player's choice after the turn betting round is complete.

its tough game if you play it seriously, it adds a significant amount of complexity to the decision process.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If I was creative I would invent a game where I didn't continue to get tortured by absolutely horrible players in shorthanded/HU games and they'd just light up their money like God intended.

[/ QUOTE ]
You're talking about Stud 8.

[/ QUOTE ]

The problem is that when one of these magically friendly fellows shows up in 30/60 Stud 8 the game is never shorthanded because there a lot of people like me that don't play the game that much but check it often to see if there are any players that are known to be allergic to money.

I keep offering to play people Stud 8 live but for some reason nobody will play.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

Rank the hands based on true frequency. i.e. Threes up is harder to make than AA-up so threes-up wins. However, in cases of equal frequency AA vs. 33 normal runs would win.
So if playing Hold'em. AA vs 33. Preflop AA is ahead. Flop comes 765 (AA has best hand). Turn makes it 7655 (33 has best hand as Fives up is harder to make than AA up). River is 5. AA wins pot.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

Pineapple dice stud...err, let's call it pomegranate stud. You get dealt three down cards and one up card. You have a round of betting. Then you role a die. 1-2, you play stud high, 3-4 you play stud/8, 5-6 you play razz (or maybe stud for low with KC lowball hand rankings). Then you discard one of your hole cards and play the rest as normal. It's purely theoretical, but the idea of some betting before you know exactly what game you are playing intrigues me.

Open crazy pineapple. Played just like pineapple except that you expose your discard in front of you.

n-card high-low badugi. Not sure what n should be.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

It's purely theoretical, but the idea of some betting before you know exactly what game you are playing intrigues me.

There's a game called Binglaha, which is omaha played with a die. After the flop betting is complete, the button rolls a die. If it's 1-2-3, the game is O8; if its 4-5-6, then it's omaha high. Pot limit, of course.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

I'm still stumping for Swingo. I know you said all previously-devised games suck, but nobody's heard of Swingo, and it's awesome.
[ QUOTE ]
Named after a Naked Raygun song, Swingo is the poker game for the 21st Century, incorporating elements of 5-card draw, stud, hold-em and intentional angle-shooting. Invented (though rarely played) at the Tuesday game.

Swingo
Pot-limit played with two equal blinds.

Everyone is dealt five cards, and there is a round of betting. After the betting closes, each player places two of his cards face-down on the table. When all players have placed their hole-cards down, all players still in the hand expose the other three cards in their hand by placing them on the table face-up. These cards ("the Board") remain in play unless the hand holding them folds. There is another round of betting, starting with the best hand showing (as in stud), not taking other players' cards into account. For example, a player with two Kings on board would act first if no other player has a better hand showing, even if another player could make trips using a board card in addition to his up-cards. After the betting is closed, a final community card is dealt face-up on the table. There is a final round of betting. Players, starting with the last player to bet or raise, show their hands and declare them. The best legal declared hand wins. Declaring a hand your cards do not allow does not kill your hand, but it makes you a dick, and you have to get it right or ask for help for your next try.

A player may use any one of the other players' exposed cards (the Board, not another player's hole cards) in his hand. More than one player may use the same Board card. Any player may use the river card in his hand. Players are not required to use any board cards or the river card to make their hands. A player must use a minimum of three cards from his original five-card hand. The best five-card hand wins.

There is some debate about whether this game should be declared or cards-speak.

Other options: Hi-Low split, split pot with a player whose board card you use to make your hand (for this version, the hands should be declared rather than cards speak, since a player may opt to play for the whole pot by declaring a hand that doesn't use an opponent's up card).

[edit: I do not know of any site that offers Swingo online]

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

2-7 Triple Draw variant

The rules are exactly the same EXCEPT after the second draw there is a community card put out for players to use. Six cards total to make the best five card hand. Mmmm.. more action !

2-7 Triple Draw Hi/Lo variant

Players are dealt 5 cards each face down. After the players SECOND discard they are dealt the number discarded plus one additional card (6 cards total now.) Players are allowed to use three cards for the high (AAA being the best) and three for the low (A23) being the best).

The best hand is AAA23x.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm still stumping for Swingo. I know you said all previously-devised games suck, but nobody's heard of Swingo, and it's awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice, sounds like a really rocky game too [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Here are 2 new variants from the DPC homegame that I came up with (this is the same home game that brought us Thermonuclear Pineapple, invented by Bounty Hunter and unleashed on the world by Lottery Larry).

1. Lomaha -- Played much like O/8 but only for low. If none of the remaining players can make a qualifying low on the river then the board is mucked and a new flop, turn, river are dealt with bets upped as a half kill. A maximum of 3 boards are dealt, and the pot chopped if no player(s) can claim the pot by that point. If the board make a low impossible, then after the next betting round is completed the board is mucked and play resumes with a new flop at the increased limits.

2. Draw Pai-Gow -- A variant on Pai-Gow poker (ok, not real poker but still fun). Each player is allowed to draw one card (or stand pat) in turn, starting on the dealer's left, before setting their hands. Best when played with a bug (tho maddening when you have 3 pr and the bug and have to pitch it to draw for a full house!)

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

Binglaha is great. I play it in a home game, for crazy stakes (everyone antes $25, except for the dealer who antes $50). We don't usually have dice around, so we take the top card off the other deck to determine whether we're playing hi or hi/lo--black for hi/lo, red for hi only.

Another game we play is an oldie, suggested in one of Mike Caro's old books from the 70's--"Tic-Tac-Toe Holdem"--except we play it as Tic Tac Toe Omaha/8 (with declare). Players are dealt four hole cards, and the community cards are laid out in a 3X3 grid. First betting round is based on your starting cards, and the flipping of the two "middle" cards--but not the center one. Top row is flipped for the second round. Bottom row for the third one. And the all important "center square" is flipped for the fourth and final round.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

I prefer Lomaha played without the qualifier. It's a less trivial game--- low-only Omaha with the 8 qualifier is all about having ace-deuce with a low backup.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

[ QUOTE ]
I prefer Lomaha played without the qualifier. It's a less trivial game--- low-only Omaha with the 8 qualifier is all about having ace-deuce with a low backup.

[/ QUOTE ]

Damn, scooped again! Thanks for the link tho Mark. The best part of the description:

[ QUOTE ]
<u>Where to Play </u>
This variant is probably only seen in drunken home games.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

each player is dealt 3 cards, one face up.
after the first round of betting, each player passes one card to his left.
if he passed the face up card, he gets 2 more cards and discards another 2 cards.
at the point of this discard, any player may yell BENJAMIN HOLLOWS and if so, randomly exchanges one of his down cards with a discard.
in the event that this card pairs his hand, he turns over those two and each player antes X amount where X is the number on the paired cards times the big bilnd.
next comes the flop. 3 cards.
if the flop is monotone, each player discards all cards of that color and receives new cards for each discard.
at this point, all players must announce their hand, based on the following rules:
if the cards are all numbers, they must tell the truth.
if they are all face cards, they must lie.
if they are one face card and two numbers, they must pretend to lie but tell the truth under their breath.
if vice versa, they must pretend to tell the truth about 2 of their cards and must lie about the third one while intentially "accidentally" turning it over.
each player then ante's 10x the pot, for no reason.
the final 2 cards are then dealt.
the best 5 card hand wins the pot. unless the pot is an odd number. then its lowball. if the pot is a prime number, its H/L.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

[ QUOTE ]
2-7 Triple Draw Hi/Lo variant

Players are dealt 5 cards each face down. After the players SECOND discard they are dealt the number discarded plus one additional card (6 cards total now.) Players are allowed to use three cards for the high (AAA being the best) and three for the low (A23) being the best).

The best hand is AAA23x

[/ QUOTE ] The hi/lo one sounds like a blast..have to try that sometime. Is the low hand played same as regular A-5 TD (i.e., straights and flushes don't count against you), or Badugi style (a "wheel" has to be A23 of three different suits)?

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
2-7 Triple Draw Hi/Lo variant

Players are dealt 5 cards each face down. After the players SECOND discard they are dealt the number discarded plus one additional card (6 cards total now.) Players are allowed to use three cards for the high (AAA being the best) and three for the low (A23) being the best).

The best hand is AAA23x

[/ QUOTE ] The hi/lo one sounds like a blast..have to try that sometime. Is the low hand played same as regular A-5 TD (i.e., straights and flushes don't count against you), or Badugi style (a "wheel" has to be A23 of three different suits)?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would think it's best played flushes do not count against since low is only 3 cards, A-3. I've never played it though, I just made it up lol. Perhaps a better version may be to just deal 6 cards from the beginning. I'm determined to think of a great TD hi/lo so if anyone can do better or refine please do so.

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
2-7 Triple Draw Hi/Lo variant

Players are dealt 5 cards each face down. After the players SECOND discard they are dealt the number discarded plus one additional card (6 cards total now.) Players are allowed to use three cards for the high (AAA being the best) and three for the low (A23) being the best).

The best hand is AAA23x

[/ QUOTE ] The hi/lo one sounds like a blast..have to try that sometime. Is the low hand played same as regular A-5 TD (i.e., straights and flushes don't count against you), or Badugi style (a "wheel" has to be A23 of three different suits)?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would think it's best played flushes do not count against since low is only 3 cards, A-3. I've never played it though, I just made it up lol. Perhaps a better version may be to just deal 6 cards from the beginning. I'm determined to think of a great TD hi/lo so if anyone can do better or refine please do so.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe a 4 card low instead of 3 card low would be more balanced against the 3 card high.

AAA234, thoughts ?

Wait, no one else cares ? Yea I know it's stupid [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

Re: Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.
 

Here is one from my never-been-play-tested (except for dealing hands to myself) file. Its novelty lies in the ranking system (much like badugi).

Vienna: It's a triple-draw game where each player is dealt five cards to start. The goal is to make the worst flush possible (aces are low). If no player has a flush, the worst four-flush wins, and so on. Offsuit cards don't play. I believe (but haven't bothered to confirm) that it has a "reverse bunching" trait.

In holdem, if it is folded to you on the SB, there is a "reasonable" strategy that your opponents could be following that would make it slighty more likely than random that the BB is holding an ace. In Vienna, when it is folded to you on the SB, I believe there is a "reasonable" strategy that your opponents could be following that would make it less likely that the BB has a playable hand. This is interesting if the BB knows you know this.

Here's another one: At the end of our Chinese Poker sessions, we sometimes play a few hands of some variant. One we have been playing lately is CP high, with the front being won by the highest point total there. So, AAA in front (33) is the nuts, but junk like KJT or QJT is actually solid. Usually 30 points in front will give you a shot, sometimes 29.