Help me improve a poker game my friend and I made up

[greggg230]

My friend I were playing some heads-up PLO8 and NLHE and we decided we'd try some variants neither of us had played before. I was familiar with a game called Southern Cross, though I hadn't played it before. We looked up the rules and it was just completely awful (at least according to the rules we played - there were 10 rounds of betting).

So, we decided to change it up a little and here's what we came up with:

1) Players are dealt 5 cards face down
2) Betting round (we did SB/BB limit)
3) Board is laid out like Southern Cross - 9 cards laid out in the shape of a cross. The 4 cards on the ends of the cross are revealed.
4) Betting round
5) Each player discards one card
6) 4 cards on the inside of each of the beams of the cross are revealed.
7) Betting round
8) Each player discards one card
9) Center card is revealed.
10) Betting round
11) Player with the best hand using 0-2 of his hole cards and 3-5 of the board cards that are on the same beam of the cross wins.

The only problem we had was that, especially if there is a raise pre-flop, it's very rare to want to fold on the flop. You're paying one small bet to see 4 more cards, getting at least 3:1, possibly 5:1 or better.

The possible solutions to this would be change the betting structure to No Limit or Pot Limit (I was leaning towards NL, but my friend suggested PL) or to make the middle cards be revealed two at a time.

All thoughts / comments are appreciated. The game actually was really good and generated a ton of action.

[Phat Mack]

>>The only problem we had was that, especially if there is a raise pre-flop, it's very rare to want to fold on the flop. You're paying one small bet to see 4 more cards, getting at least 3:1, possibly 5:1 or better.


I don't understand how not wanting to fold the flop is a problem.

[tmcdmck]

maybe it would just work better no limit/ pot limit/ spread limit. but yeah, i agree with mack

[greggg230]

I guess I hadn't thought about it not being a problem. It just seems like a betting round which probably won't involve folding is a little crippled.

Any thoughts on Pot Limit vs. No Limit? I know in most games, it usually isn't that big of a deal (in HE it obviously stops open-pushing in situations you would want to), but it seems like there'd be a strong incentive to overbet the pot on the flop here to cut down on odds. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

Also, name suggestions are welcome. Currently we're calling it "Pineapple Cross", as it is a hybrid of Pineapple and Southern Cross. The wackier the name the better. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[tmcdmck]

i think pot limit might be more fun, as it sounds like an action game, and pot limit encourages action in early rounds, whilst allowing additional skill (giving incorrect odds etc).

[Phat Mack]

[ QUOTE ]
I guess I hadn't thought about it not being a problem. It just seems like a betting round which probably won't involve folding is a little crippled.

Any thoughts on Pot Limit vs. No Limit? I know in most games, it usually isn't that big of a deal (in HE it obviously stops open-pushing in situations you would want to), but it seems like there'd be a strong incentive to overbet the pot on the flop here to cut down on odds. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

Also, name suggestions are welcome. Currently we're calling it "Pineapple Cross", as it is a hybrid of Pineapple and Southern Cross. The wackier the name the better. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

In some of these games, the center card and all cards of equal rank are wild, so if you want tighter flop action, you might make the first flip the center card, and make it wild. This might encourage players without wild cards in their hand to put on the brakes.

It should be played pot limit, but I say that only because I think ALL games should be played pot limit. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Buzz used to call a pineapple game with multiple discards "psychotic pineapple." Instead of a cross, you could lay out the cards in an "X" pattern, and call it "X-rated psychotic pineapple."