The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorite and Forgotten Games (23 page)

No other card game uses as many wild cards as Salt-and-Pepper. The twos, fours, tens, and one-eyed jacks (the J♠ and J♥) are all wild, making fourteen wild cards in all. Salt-and-Pepper is a poker game, and your objective is to win the pot. You’ll need two or more players and a deck of fifty-two playing cards. Salt-and-Pepper can be played draw or stud style.

Everyone antes to start the game. The dealer deals five cards, one at a time, face down, to each player. Beginning with the player to the dealer’s left, each player can check, bet, or fold his hand. Those players who remain in the game can discard any cards from their hand, to be replaced by the dealer. The player to the dealer’s left starts a final round of betting as above. The remaining players show their hands, and the highest hand wins the pot.

Everyone antes to start the game. The dealer deals two cards down and one card face up to each player. The player with the highest card showing on the table begins a round of betting by paying the minimum bet into the pot. If the player doesn’t want to bet, he folds, and play continues clockwise. The dealer deals three more up-cards, with rounds of betting in between each. If a pair is showing on the table, the minimum bet automatically doubles from that point on. A final card is dealt face down to any player who remains in the game. The player with the highest hand showing begins a final round of betting. Players must match the bet or fold their hands. The remaining players display their hands, and the highest hand wins the pot.

Seven-card stud is a very popular and demanding poker game that incorporates different betting and playing techniques depending on what street the current deal is on. You need two to eight players and a standard deck of fifty-two cards to play. You all need to agree on a minimum bet, and that becomes the ante that you each contribute to the pot before starting play.

Seven-card stud opens with a random dealer being chosen. Clockwise, he deals two cards, one at a time, face down to each player. He then deals the door card face-up to each player. At this time, the game is at third street because each player has three cards in his hand. Deal will continue to rotate in a clockwise direction after each hand is played.

The player with the highest door card opens the betting. If there is a tie for the high card, the player closest to the dealer’s left becomes the first bettor. The player with the highest door card must bet an amount at least equal to the minimum bet. If he doesn’t want to bet, he can fold his hand, and play moves clockwise. Once a player bets, the remaining players must either fold, call the bet, or raise the bet.

After the first round of betting is complete, the dealer deals one card face up to each player—thus beginning fourth street. In this hand, and in following hands, the first player to begin the round of betting is the player with the best hand in his open cards. During fifth and sixth street, the dealer continues to deal one card face up with a round of betting in between. During seventh street, the dealer deals one card face down.

If at any time during the betting rounds, there is only one person remaining (that is, every other player folds), that player wins and takes the pot. If there are two or more players remaining, the players have reached the showdown. You must pick up your cards and build your best five-card poker hand. You discard two cards face down and reveal your five cards to your opponents. The player with the best hand wins and takes the pot.

You don’t have to live in Texas to play Texas Hold ’Em. This game has recently exploded in popularity in casinos that have poker table rooms—in no small part due to the television show
Celebrity Poker Showdown
and the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. It’s a difficult game to master but an easy game to learn. With just a few practice lessons you will be able to play on the table, but you’ll need to play multiple hands to learn when to bet and when to fold. You’ll need at least two players and a standard deck of fifty-two cards to start playing this game.

Texas Hold ’Em opens with the two players to the left of the dealer placing out a predetermined amount of money (the blinds) so there is an initial pot to play for. The first player to the left of the dealer posts the small blind, and it is typically equal to half of the minimum bid declared at the table. The second player posts the big blind, and it is equal to the minimum bid declared. The dealer deals clockwise, two face-down cards, one at a time to each player. Deal will continue to rotate in a clockwise direction after each hand is played. If you’re playing at a casino, deal will not rotate, but there will be a marker to indicate whose turn it is to post the blinds.

The game begins with everyone picking up their cards and assessing their hands. The player to the left of the two who posted the blinds opens the first betting round by calling the bet, raising, or folding his hand. Play continues clockwise around the table with each player calling, raising, or folding his hand until all bets are equal.

After the betting round is over, the dealer burns (or discards) a card from the stockpile and then flips the next three cards, known as the flop, face up on the table. These cards are communal cards shared by every player at the table. These cards make a five-card hand, combined with the two cards you hold.

Another round of betting starts with the player to the dealer’s left. In this round and in future rounds of betting, a player can check, bet, raise, or fold his hand. After everyone has called the bets or folded, the dealer burns another card from the stockpile and flips over the next card (known as the turn) onto the table. Now you can use the four communal cards with the two cards that you hold to make the best five-card poker hand.

Another round of betting starts with the player to the dealer’s left. After the betting is complete, the dealer burns another card and flips over the next (and last) card (called the river) onto the table. You can now use any combination of the five cards on the table and the two cards you hold to form the best possible five-card poker hand. One final round of betting occurs.

If at any time during the betting rounds there is only one person remaining (that is, every other player folds), that player wins and takes the pot. If there are two or more players remaining, you have reached the showdown and must reveal your hands. The player with the best hand wins and takes the pot. If any two hands tie, the players split the pot and each wins half.

Guts is a poker game played with only three cards, so up to seventeen players can play with a standard deck of fifty-two cards. The name derives from a player needing enough “guts” to stay in the game. Each player chooses to be “in” or “out”—if you’re out, you sit out the rest of the hand. If you stay in, your hand is compared with all other hands that stayed in. The best hand collects the pot, and the losers must match the value of the pot.

Guts opens with a random dealer being chosen. Players each ante, and then the dealer deals clockwise three cards, one at a time, face down to each player. Deal will continue to rotate in a clockwise direction after each hand is played.

After the deal, you pick up your cards and assess your hand. All players must declare simultaneously whether they are in or out. This can be done in one of several ways. You can hold your hand over the table and at the dealer’s cue, drop the cards if you do not want to play. Or you can place a poker chip in your hand if you intend to drop your cards, and at the dealer’s cue, you all open your hands to reveal your decision.

If all players drop, a new hand is dealt. In the “wimp” variation of Guts, if all players drop, the player who had the highest hand has to match the pot instead of each player re-anteing. If only one player remains after the players drop, he wins the pot. If there are two or more players remaining, you have reached the showdown and must reveal your hands. The player with the best hand wins and takes the pot, and the other players who were still in the game must pay into the pot an equal amount of what was in it. This money starts the pot for the next hand and the players do not ante.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Four to seven

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
One hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Easy to medium

If you’ve ever wanted to be president, or at least have control over your friends and family, this game is for you! The objective of President is to get rid of all your cards as fast as possible because the order of winners determines a player’s social status in the next hand. Just make sure you’re not the last player to go out, or you have to obey everyone else at the table. This game is also known as Bum, Scum, Butthead, Capitalism, and other derogatory names. The cards rank from high to low as two, ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three. The suit is irrelevant.