Burlesque Poker
My name is Daniel Moskal. I'm an inventor and an amateur poker player. I had an idea for a new poker game that you might find a fun change of pace. Please let me know what you think.
I tried to balance having enough luck to keep the weak player’s in, and enough skill for serious players to make decent money over time. Also, I wanted to balance the information available to the players with the hidden information. I’ve also tried to force situations where the player must make tough choices.
The rules are simple.
There is a small blind of ½ a small bet and a big blind of 1 small bet, as usual. Antes optional. The button acts last before the flop, but position after the flop is determined by a means explained below.
Each player is dealt 3 cards face down. They use 1 or 2 cards from their hand with the 5 community cards to make the best 5 card hand. You may not play the board.
Every player who has a live hand after the pre-flop betting is complete chooses one card, and sets it aside. All players turn up that cards simultaniously. Whomever has the highest card showing has position for the next betting round (ties broken by the usual spade, heart, diamond, club order). I think it works better if everyone turns their card up simultaneously, because if the cards are revealed one at a time it would provide too large of an advantage to the player showing last. (All rules are flexible, of coarse).
If playing Low, or Burlesque8 (Hi-Lo), the low card has position.
Post flop dealing and betting rounds are just like Hold-Em / Omaha. If the high card folds, the highest live card remaining gets position during the next betting round.
A few thoughts:
*Forcing the players to choose an up-card is a tough choice, and reveals much about their play- even when they fold. If playing multi-games, it can reveal something about how they play those games.
*Giving the high card position in later rounds creates a conflict of interest. You want to hide your best cards, but you want position too.
*Because the blinds won’t necessarily have bad position in later rounds, it gives them reason to defend.
*Players can buy position by forcing the high card out.
*You can't hide a dealt pair every time, sometimes you must split them. Otherwise observant players will know that if you pair your up card, you don't have trips.
*You can't say "My hand pre-flop is a XX% favorite against a hand with X upcard, because the upcard wasn't a random choice.
*A four-flush or four-straight on the board is dangerous.
*In Burlesque8, fewer low hands are made, so more scooping. A strong starting high hand has more value.
Let me know what you think, and happy playing.
Daniel Moskal
PS: I call it Burlesque Poker because you tease the players by only showing a little bit (when you turn the card face up).
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