Let's invent a hold'em variant

[thylacine]

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The other night in that last lucid moment before falling asleep, I got to wondering what hold'em would look like if players had three hole cards and four community cards. For the sake of argument, let's say players get all three hole cards before the first betting round, the flop is two cards, and everything else proceeds as in hold'em.

How would this change the game? I mean, beyond the obvious like pocket aces being not-quite-sure they're not losing to rolled up trips.

I'm particularly interested in how domination theory would be affected. For example, it seems clear that AJ7's preflop disadvantage against AK9 would be less than AJ vs. AK. In this regard it would play more like 7-stud, it seems to me. But there are still four community cards, so the level of "individuality" wouldn't be on a par with stud.

Thoughts?

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Lots more bluffing potential, and nuts is at least quads.

[Abbaddabba]

Im not sure that AAx 3 suited is necessarily better than 910Js (or anything like that).

Rolled up trips are clearly the best though (about as rare as 3 to a straight flush)

[SGspecial]

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Just re-read the post; rolled-up trips implies we can use all three hole cards to the end.

So basically this is a crazy form of Crazy Pineapple. Or a Pyschotic Pineapple. I don't think this would work particularly well, in the same way that Omaha only lets you use two cards.

One thing I would envisage straight away is the number of flush/straight possiblities on any given flop being far greater. Also there's potential for people to have equally ranked flushes in different suits.

I'm supposed to be studying for an exam tomorrow so I can't really give it too much thought, but it's interesting to think about.

Pyscho Pineapple Hilo 8 coming to a table near you... []

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To take the Crazy Pineapple analogy to the extreme, a friend showed me a variant called "Thermonuclear Pineapple" which is played like CP except that each player is dealt 5 cards and must discard 1 before the flop, turn, and river. Talk about an action game!

[glass_onion]

At homegames when I get 15 or so people together who all fancy themselves internet pro's, we play this game at the end of the night, so the PLO players or NLHE players don't start bitching.

Basically, standard holdem but flop is 2 card, and turn is 2 cards. River, of course, 1.

Much less nutpeddling and much looser calls in this game. Basically everyone wants to see the turn, now, which is where the betting gets very aggressive. That turn can pretty dramatically change your fortunes, as you might imaging with pairs, or even AK overcards.

The basic think is that everyone doesn't have thier equity memorized on the flop.

[Yakuman]

This is a heads-up variant:

1. Each person gets half the deck before the flop. One gets the red cards and the other gets the black cards.
2. Players can pick their own hole cards.
3. After this, the dealer shuffles the deck and the rest of the hand is played like standard holdem or omaha.

Here's the rub: both players will give them selves premium hands, so every flop is a potential monster.

[schroedy]

I would like to see a "community card" variation of Stud but the real unique feature of stud (vs. HE or Omaha) is the hidden (and therefore, necessarily private) river.

Three private cards to start, the last of which is up. Three community cards, one at a time in the middle.

And a fourth private card down is the river.

Betting is as in stud -- antes, no blinds. Low card brings it in for about 1/3 of the small bet. Double betting on 4th if the community card pairs any door card, etc.

[jackaaron]

5 players to a table.

Each player is dealt 3 cards. Everyone must discard one starting with UTG (we still have SB, and BB), however, the discard you make becomes the board. After the BB discards (5 cards are on the board), the betting begins. Best five card hand wins if it goes to showdown obviously.

I suppose this would make quicker hands played, everyone sees an entire board before betting, and I would assume since it's no limit, there could be a lot of action, although it obviously wouldn't be on multiple streets.