More Poker Games That Are Not Poker

I have been presenting in this series the rules for games that casinos claim are poker but are not. Here are more such games:

casino stud poker: A house-banked game popular in European casinos, played at a blackjack-type table with seven players, dealt from a single standard deck of cards. Each player first antes, by putting a wager (within the range of table limits) into the "ante" box before him, and then players and dealer all receive five cards facedown, with the exception of the dealer's last card, which is turned faceup. Each player in turn decides whether his hand can beat the dealer's. To do so, the dealer's hand must qualify. To qualify, a hand must contain at least an ace and a king. Hands rank exactly as in poker, ranging all the way from no pair to a royal flush. The player has two choices. He can surrender the hand by announcing, "Passe," and give up the ante bet. He can elect to have his hand challenge the dealer's by announcing, "Relance" (continue), and place double the ante bet into the "relance" box. After all players have indicated their intentions, the dealer reveals his hand and compares it with each of the remaining player hands. Two possibilities exist. The dealer's hand does not qualify, in which case the dealer pays even money on each ante bet and the relance bet is a push (it neither wins nor loses). The dealer's hand does qualify, in which case the dealer compares his hand with each player's hand. If the player's hand beats the dealer's, the dealer pays the player even money (1-1) on the ante wager and a bonus amount on the relance bet, ranging from even money for one pair through 100 times the relance bet for a royal flush. Unlike poker, if the player and the dealer have the same rank of hand, it is a push. For example, if player and dealer both have a flush, it is a push, no matter the values of the individual cards. However, the better three of a kind, full house, or four of a kind wins. Thus, for example, the hand K K K A 9 beats the hand J J J A Q, but the hand A K 10 9 4 is a push against the hand 8 6 4 3 2. One additional option exists, one that is somewhat analogous to the bluff in cardroom poker. A player can win without his hand beating that of the dealer, but to do so, he must make an extra wager. That is, if the player's hand does not qualify initially, the player can still elect to put out the relance bet, gambling that the dealer's hand will not qualify. At the time of hand comparison, if the dealer's hand does not qualify, the player wins the ante bet (as before), and the relance bet is a push. If the dealer's hand does qualify, the player loses both the ante and the relance bet. A variant of casino stud (sometimes called "Extra Plus") exists in which a player can replace one card at the expense of invalidating the bonus bet.

crazy four poker: A house-banked game dealt from one deck, similar to three-card poker. Each player and the dealer receive five cards from which to make four-card poker hands (with four-card straights and four-card flushes as ranking hands, and hands ranked thus: four of a kind, straight flush, three of a kind, flush, straight, two pair, pair, high card; ace is high except in A-2-3-4); only the best four cards in each hand are used to determine winners. Two equal bets must be made, ante and super bonus. The super bonus bet pays off for a straight or better per a posted payoff table. An optional queens up bet pays for two queens or better per a posted payoff table. Anything less loses the bet. After seeing his hand, a player can either fold or stay in the game by making a second bet equal to the ante (the play bet) – or up to triple the ante if the player has a pair of aces or better – and then his hand competes against the dealer's. If the player does not make the play bet, he loses the original bet. If the dealer does not have a qualifying hand of king or better, the player is paid even money on the ante and nothing on play. If the dealer does qualify, the hands are compared. If the dealer wins, the player loses both ante and play. If the player wins, the ante and play are both paid at even money. Regardless of whether the dealer qualifies or whether the player beats the dealer, super bonus and queens up bonus hands are paid according to the payoff table. The super bonus bet pushes when the player has less than a straight but beats or ties the dealer's hand.

More next time.

(Thanks to Michael Shackleford, "The Wizard of Odds," for input on some of these definitions. Look on his site, http://www.wizardofodds.com, for good strategies on how best to play these games and mathematical analyses of the house edge.)

Michael Wiesenberg's The Official Dictionary of Poker is the ultimate authority on the language of cardrooms. Order it online at CardPlayer.com. And look for The 1,000 Best Casinos in the World this summer.