Mexican Poker

[pete fabrizio]

does anyone here play it? I've played maybe 50 hours or so and I've done a lot of analysis (and I had a friend of mine write an odds calculator). I'd like to discuss some things but I want to know if anyone else is interested first.

[Murakawa]

never heard of it... rules? does it involve tacos

[Al Mirpuri]

[ QUOTE ]
does anyone here play it? I've played maybe 50 hours or so and I've done a lot of analysis (and I had a friend of mine write an odds calculator). I'd like to discuss some things but I want to know if anyone else is interested first.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have not played this as it is only spread in Los Angeles area and I am UK based but I did analyse this game myself sometime ago when there was a thread or two on it. I am willing to discuss it with you.

Let us agree the rules: stripped deck nothing below 7s plus a Joker that is completely wild face down but last card in straight or flush or an Ace if up?

[Nate.]

Pete --

Your legacy caused this game to find its way into a dorm game rotation. I'm interested.

--Nate

[HarmonicaMan]

Al, it's not a proper French deck according to this:
http://www.commercecasino.com/gameDe...&gameType=

As played at Commerce, it has 8's, 9's, T's removed, so it's 40+Joker.
I play french deck games(including 'French' 5-stud), but have never played this game. I will follow the discussion, and contribute where i can.

First I would say that you should rarely be exposing your down card, unless you have a str8/flush draw on 4th.
Your starters should probably be similar to French-deck 5-stud. High pairs or live Ace-paint, or of course (Joker)-x.

Thoughts??

[pete fabrizio]

[ QUOTE ]
Al, it's not a proper French deck according to this:
http://www.commercecasino.com/gameDe...&gameType=

As played at Commerce, it has 8's, 9's, T's removed, so it's 40+Joker.
I play french deck games(including 'French' 5-stud), but have never played this game. I will follow the discussion, and contribute where i can.

First I would say that you should rarely be exposing your down card, unless you have a str8/flush draw on 4th.
Your starters should probably be similar to French-deck 5-stud. High pairs or live Ace-paint, or of course (Joker)-x.

Thoughts??

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: drawing up or down. That was my initial intuition when I first started playing. Everyone exposes their hole card almost all the time, and I thought they were totally crazy. But after more practice, I found that it depends a lot on your table. Against some opponents, a strategy of concealing on 2nd and playing very aggressively on 3rd to steal a lot of pots can be very effective. On other tables, you'll be playing total payoff monkeys, and the best strategy against them is to wait for the live joker (which you only get if it's dealt down) and then stack them. Also, it's easier to hit a pair and keep it concealed when you're drawing down, since you can hit any of your board cards, and when you draw up it will only be concealed if it hits your hole card. Similarly, if you have a pair on board (but can't bluff), you'll often want to draw down so that a) a joker will give you trips and b) if you hit trips it will be concealed.

In the limit version of the game (which I've only played while waiting to get on a no limit table), I assume it's even less necessary to keep your hole card down, since after a certain point you're basically just never going to fold anyone out, and you want to maximize your chances of getting the live joker.

[Al Mirpuri]

[ QUOTE ]
Al, it's not a proper French deck according to this:
http://www.commercecasino.com/gameDe...&gameType=

As played at Commerce, it has 8's, 9's, T's removed, so it's 40+Joker.
I play french deck games(including 'French' 5-stud), but have never played this game. I will follow the discussion, and contribute where i can.

First I would say that you should rarely be exposing your down card, unless you have a str8/flush draw on 4th.
Your starters should probably be similar to French-deck 5-stud. High pairs or live Ace-paint, or of course (Joker)-x.

Thoughts??

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for clarification on the rules.

I cannot see how it would benefit you any to take the joker down when you have a straight or flush on fourth.

[pete fabrizio]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Al, it's not a proper French deck according to this:
http://www.commercecasino.com/gameDe...&gameType=

As played at Commerce, it has 8's, 9's, T's removed, so it's 40+Joker.
I play french deck games(including 'French' 5-stud), but have never played this game. I will follow the discussion, and contribute where i can.

First I would say that you should rarely be exposing your down card, unless you have a str8/flush draw on 4th.
Your starters should probably be similar to French-deck 5-stud. High pairs or live Ace-paint, or of course (Joker)-x.

Thoughts??

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for clarification on the rules.

I cannot see how it would benefit you any to take the joker down when you have a straight or flush on fourth.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, the main reason is that if you hit the joker face-up on the fifth card, your opponents will know you have a straight. Plus, taking the last card face-down may give you a good bluffing opportunity if you miss.