Poker

This Querki Space describes a large number of poker games that we play at our monthly table. It doesn't claim to be complete -- it's mainly the games that we've invented and find fun. Instead of the usual modern habit of playing nothing but Texas Holdem (which I find horrifyingly dull), we play what is typically called "Dealer's Choice": the dealer of each hand gets to choose which game we will play for that hand. So long as the game is reasonably fair, anything goes. We've been getting together each month for the better part of 20 years now, so we've picked up a lot of variations.

I assume that the reader is familiar with the basic rules of Poker, but here is a quick introduction, and here are our house rules. These rules are described pretty briefly; feel free to ask questions about details.

Some of these are moderately well-known variations, but most of them were invented by members of the table; this list reflects our tastes. We don't call many games with large numbers of wild cards (unless someone calls Night Baseball just to razz everybody), and we tend to prefer games that have some actual complexity and strategy to them. As you can see, we are fond of Seven Card Stud variations, which provide a nice blend of visible and hidden information, and enough rounds for strategy to get interesting.

Those who would like to learn more variants are strongly advised to pick up a copy of Dealers Choice, which is the one good work I know on the subject; we often play games from that book, and some of them are referred to here.