House Poker Guidelines:

Getting Going

• $40 buy in. We use chips representing $0.25-Yellow, $0.50-Red, $1-Green, $2-Black, $5-Pink, $10-Purple. If you need additional chips, you may buy another $40 from the bank or any amount from another player.
• Please don't buy from the pot!!
• Choose a seat, but it won't necessarily be yours for the whole night. The host often rotates players between tables. The manner that players will rotate is typically the first Jack dealt, the highest one or two cards dealt, or the lowest one or two cards dealt. The timing that this occurs is set by the host and normally tracked via a microwave timer. If you really don't want to move, you can pay the pot a Quarter and be exempt from THAT rotation.

• Someone grabs the cards and shuffles them. He or she then deals each player a card. First player to get a jack is the first dealer. Dealing rotates to the left.

• Misdeals:There are no penalties for the dealer if a card is

inadvertently turned over. The player may choose to keep that card or to take the top card off of the deck, without looking at any additional cards (including other down cards). If the dealer has seen this card then all other players at the table may see the card, whether kept or buried on the bottom of the deck. A misdeal shall cause all the cards to be returned to the dealer for a re-deal. A misdeal may not be called once substantial action has taken place on a deal. "Substantial action'' is defined as three players taking any action (including a fold), or two players acting by a bet, call or raise before attention is called to the error. Substantial action can only occur when the dealer is no longer in the act of dealing cards. A player who discovers that he has too many cards after action has begun has a dead hand. The following items shall cause a misdeal to be declared if there has not been substantial action:

• Failure to shuffle and cut the deck before dealing.
• Dealing to the wrong player first.
• Failure at some point to deal each player only his proper card (except that a player whose card flashes may receive the burn card in its place). After the first player gets the top card of the deck, each player receives his card for that round directly after the person on his immediate right. If a card initially dealt to the wrong player can be moved to its proper owner in a simple manner, without any damage being done, this is acceptable. If there is any chance the wrong player looked at the card's face, it is a misdeal.
• In a game using an ante, if a player who has anted is dealt out, it shall be declared a misdeal so long as no player has yet been dealt all the cards for a starting hand. If the error is not discovered until one or more players has been dealt all of his cards, the player dealt out receives his ante back, and the deal is played.
• Dealing too few cards to a player, except when that player is due to get the top card of the deck.
• Dealing too many cards to a player, except when the last card dealt was due to be the burn card and can be returned to the deck.
• The exposure of two or more cards that need to be replaced.
• In seven-card Stud, if a player has either hole card exposed on his initial hand. If all players agree, the first up card to this person may be dealt downward.
• The discovery of a joker (improperly) in the deck.
• The discovery of one or more cards missing from the deck or that the deck is defective or marked.

• Bottom Card of the deck: The bottom card of the deck is never to be dealt.
• Audio etiquette: We're here to have fun, but distractions should be minimized. Avoid audio influences such as cell phones, stereo, television, etc. All devices shall be muted. Stereo at a low volume is fine as long as it does interfere with game discussions or our friendly conversations.

Games Allowed:

• All Hoyle poker card games may be played (100+ available) with proper explanation. The choice of games is the dealer's, which rotates clockwise after each hand. Players may announce to sit out after a game has been called and before cards are dealt. Dealers should attempt to call a game that is on the poker game list. But we reserve the right to groan and bellyache so that you won't call that game ever again. You'll find that we can be really convincing.

Betting

• Ante = $0.25 per player, unless specified by the dealer.
• Deal only after ALL ante's are in. It is the dealer's responsibility to assure everyone has ante'd. Any absence of ante's that cannot be determined will be made up by the dealer.
• Only bet, call or raise, when it is your turn. You may fold at any time. While there is not a "penalty" for betting early, you will be obligated to keep that bet or call. If there are 3 additional $2 bets after the initial bet and before your bet, you will be obligated to call or raise as you declared earlier.
• Minimum bet is $0.25, maximum is $1. Betting will always occur in a 3-chip range. If the ante is $0.50, then the maximum raise is $2. If someone raises $1, the following raise may be only $0.25.
• Check and raise is permitted.
• If no one opens the first betting round, we do not throw our cards in for a re-deal. However, the dealer may make this a feature of the game if the dealer clearly specifies such a change at the beginning. For instance, this rule is often changed for Jacks or better, trips to win.
• Maximum of three raises per betting round, with the opener not considered a raise. Therefore, you may have to put in as much as $4.00 for a $0.25 ante and $8 for a $0.50 ante.
• If a table is tending to bet heavier, use the fourth chip more often, or is routinely hitting three max. raises per round they should consider voting on increasing the table's stakes (from $0.25 ante to $0.50 or from $0.50 to $1). Any table can change the stakes of the table by consensus at any time (this applies to increases and decreases).
• A player may buy additional chips from anyone at any time. We avoid selling additional chips from the bank.
• If a player runs out of chips during a hand and is unwilling to buy additional chips from another player, the player may remain until showdown by declaring "All in!". The other players contribute their subsequent chips to a side pot. The player who ran out chips continues to receive cards and can win the main pot but cannot win anything in the side pot.
• No Table Talk: This is a problem with some people, they like to fold and then tell everyone what they had, or show their cards. DON'T DO THAT! If you're out, you're out, turn your cards face down and grab a beer. Don't start looking at other player's cards or telling them what they should do. After the hand is over say what ever you want, but not while the hand is still playing. You say Sorry, no table talk. If a player tells one player what cards they had before they folded, then they must tell every player at the table.
• No Pay - No Peek: If you fold, resign, or concede, for what ever reason DO NOT pick up another players cards and look at them. You may ask them what they had, I'm sure they'll say "I forget" and go on. If you don't pay to see the player's hand then you don't have the right to look at their cards.

Showdown

* Rank of hands, from high to low:

* Five of a kind (only possible if wildcards are used)

* Straight flush

* Four of a kind

* Full house

* Flush

* Straight

* Three of a kind

* Two pair

* Pair

* High card

• A tie is a tie. We don't break it by referring to the number of wildcards used or by the value of some other card in each player's possession. We do not split on suits, but two tied hands split the pot. If a high-low game is played and two players have the best low hand, then each take 25% of the pot and the high hand takes 50%.
• While it is possible to obtain a 6 or 7-of-a-kind with wild cards, it is not a legitimate hand in 5 or 7-card poker. Five Aces beats a hand with six Jacks, as only five Jacks are playable. If you don't like this rule, remember that Vegas and Reno do not acknowledge a Five-of-a-Kind, as a Royal Flush is the best hand possible, but not here. Rank order of Full House's is the card which you have 3 of a kind, first. For example, 99944 beats 77766.
• Cards speak for themselves. If a player has the best cards showing at the showdown, they win, even if they were confused and mistakenly claimed to have something else.
• Players surviving to the showdown need not show their hands, but they should, given the generosity of the cards speak rule.
• In games where the low hole card is wild, the player may choose whether to treat a hole ace as high or low.
• A-2-3-4-5 is the weakest straight possible, just weaker that 2-3-4-5-6.
• Kickers: If a game is called where a low spade takes half the pot, the default lowest card is a 2, the default high card is the Ace.
• At any point before the showdown, the players involved in the pot may split the pot amongst themselves as they see fit. If anyone player still involved in the pot objects, the game continues to the showdown.

Low Hands

• The best low-hand is A-2-3-4-6, the second-best is a A-2-3-5-6. A-2-3-4-5 is a straight.
• While Aces can be used as the lowest card for a low hand, a pair of aces is highest pair possible and is not lower than a pair of deuces.

High-Low Split

• Some games allow one player to win half the pot for having the best high hand and another player to win the other half of the pot for having the best low hand. These are called high-low games.

• After what would normally be the final betting round were the game merely straight high or straight low, each player declares which half of the pot the player seeks. To do this, players each take two chips below the table (denomination does not matter). Players now bring one fist over the table and simultaneously reveal the number of chips in the fist. Show:

· * Zero chips to win the low half of the pot;

* One chip to win the high half of the pot; or

* Two chips to win both halves of the pot.

• One final betting round occurs after the declare. If one lucky player is the only one who declared for a particular half of the pot, that player is called the "lock" and gets to start the betting round, typically by betting the maximum. Otherwise, one of the players going for the high half begins the betting.
• If after the declare only two players remain, neither attempted to take the entire pot, and they are not contesting a half of the pot, the hand is over and the two simply split the pot.
• An ace is one higher than a king in high hands and one lower than a deuce in low hands.
• If there is an uneven amount of money in the full pot making it impossible to equally split it in half, the extra amount goes to the player who won the high half.
• If there is an uneven amount of money that must be split between more than two players (split into thirds or fourths), the extra amount is returned to the center of the table and will be won during the next game. It does not go to the high hand.

Cashing Out

• Leaving early: There are times when all of us have a curfew or an early morning tee time. Please announce to other players within the first hour of play that you will be leaving at Midnight, or whenever you must go. Unless you have over $20, try to cash in with another player to avoid breaking a game.
• No Change!!! Do not cash in change. If you have $18.75 worth of chips, you will be leaving the last $0.75 worth of chips for the last hand of the night.
• After the last hand has been played, each of us counts our chips.
• Each of us places the amount over the last dollar into the center of the pot. If anyone left early, we place their amounts over the last dollar in the pot. One player acts as the dealer, shuffles the cards, and deals five cards face up to all remaining players, whether they put money in the pot or not. High hand wins all the money in the pot.
• Done properly, this should result in no one needing any change from the bank.
• We cash out beginning from the person with the fewest chips. That way, if the bank is short, it is most likely to hurt the big winner the most. If extra money is left in the bank, it goes to the host.

Contact Skip Benjes for proposed changes to the Poker Rules Guidelines. Back to home page