Bored now. Invent a novel poker variant.

[Phat Mack]

[ QUOTE ]
"Democratic Poker"

Odd number of players necessary. 5 seems a good number due to that being the number of rounds.

Each player is dealt two hole cards (or however many, could be Omaha style hands if you wanted). There is no betting, perhaps an ante could be taken at the start. Two cards are revealed from the deck, and starting from the first player to act for that round, votes are taken for which card is to be the next community card. Rotating one player to start the voting for the next card, another two cards are revealed and voted for. Continue until five community cards are selected. Hands go to showdown and the best high hand wins.

It seems there could be quite a bit of strategy firstly with voting strategically to deny other hands based on previous voting habits, and secondly by implicit collusion (which could be encouraged) by having players without a hope of winning the pot voting to help someone else's hand in the hope that they may recognise this and do the same for you in a latter hand.

Another possibility is having two winners, particularly for larger numbers of players, which could lead to more intricate decisions such as implicit collusion occuring in the space of a single hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

I really think this game has potential. It might even affect starting hand selection if voting patterns could be identified, allowing the play of non-standard hands.

It might be useful to come up with a mechanism for allowing an even number of players; say, not allowing the button to vote, or only allowing the button to vote in case of a tie. (Call the button the Vice President. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] )

An interesting variant might be to expose some of the player's cards, e.g. one card in hold 'em or two in omaha. Or even play it "Indian" style.

[Biggle10]

Agreed. I like the idea of the button not voting. Also, does everyone still vote even if they fold at some point?

[Nichlemn]

Well, currently it doesn't have any betting other than say an ante at the beginning, though perhaps there could be a single betting round after all cards are voted for. The logic being that everyone needs to be voting to improve their hand (or at least to hopefully get a favour later) so having players not in the hand voting is bad, as is having a heads up pot. No folds ensures you have the 5, 7 or 9 votes the game was meant to have. The basic strategy has simply shifted from betting to voting.

[Salmon]

I think any decent poker variant has to have a skill element BUT a large enough volatility that the fish return.

Here is my variant.

It's draw poker for high. One draw. Two blinds. Four betting rounds.

First betting round is pre-draw.
Second betting round is post-draw.
Third betting round is after every player simultaneously reveals two cards from their hand.
Fourth betting round is after every player simultaneously reveals one card from their hand.

Show-down, each player reveals their remaining two "hole cards".

Betting is 1/1/2/2 as in Hold 'Em.

I suppose you could play this Pot-Limit and/or as a lowball game as well.

[Salmon]

I call this variant "Flip Flop Hold 'Em".

It plays like Hold 'Em EXCEPT.

You deal out two flops.

After the post-flop betting round, you flip a coin to see which flop is "good" and which is discarded.

Buahahahahaha...

[Salmon]

Okay - draw poker for high, two blinds.

One betting round.
Draw cards.
Second betting round.
Show-down and the best hand wins HALF the pot.
Players keep their hands and then draw cards again.
Players then play their cards like a trick-taking game - a card is dealt off the top of the deck to declare trump. The player who won the first half of the pot leads to the first trick. The player who wins the most tricks wins the second half of the pot.

[Phat Mack]

Here's an interesting omaha variant posted on another list by long-ago Other Games poster "occupant."

Scooter: Players are dealt four cards; either before or after the flop, players discard as many cards from their hands as they wish, but at showdown they must use all the cards they kept.

[DanielM]

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).

[Nichlemn]

Potripper Hold'em:

(Online only)

Every hole card has a (25%?) probability of, unknown to that player, being revealed to all other players.

[Ben Young]

"7-card draft"

this was actually invented by some of my dad's friends, and is kind of like roll your own pass the trash or something.

the idea is for it to be a draft like M:TG

Rules:

Each player is dealt 7 cards face down and they pick one, put it face down, and pass the remaining 6 cards to your left(or right, up to the people playing or the dealer or whatever). You continue passing in the same direction, taking one each time. You MAY NOT look at your already picked cards that are down, until you are finished drafting all 7 cards.

Betting part rules:
a)my variation:
Split-pot lo 8 or better(A-5 rules like stud8) betting: half-pot limit
take your seven cards and put them in any order you wish, then when everyone has done this, everyone turns up their top card and the low card brings it in, next round whoever is left does this again, but from now on high showing hand is first to act, do this again and again... until the 7th card if players are still in, when there will obviously be no betting(on the 7th card).

b) my dad's friend's variation
instead of rolling your own with 7, you do it with 5, but you still draft 7.

c)my dad's variation
9lo qualifier instead of 8 lo, the rest is like b)