[fiveminuteplan]

This is a poker variant which I invented that incorporates elements of a few different games, namely: Pinochle, Royal Holdem, Chinese Poker and Seven Card Stud. I will post the rules and then make a few comments. This can be an interesting and fun game for your home poker night. If you play this and enjoy it, let me know.

Pinochle Stud - Seven card stud played with a Pinochle deck plus four jokers for a total of 52 cards. Jokers act as wild cards. The game is played high-low split. The lowest possible hand is: 9 9 10 10 J. The lowest possible hand with a joker is a K high straight. A flush beats a full house and four of a kind.

BEST HAND:
The best possible hand is four jokers. A four joker hand wins royalties from every player equal to the maximum bet in addition to the pot. A four joker hand does not split the pot if a qualifying low hand exists.

PINOCHLE:
Anyone holding a Pinochle (Queen of Spades, Jack of Diamonds) in the hole after the initial deal may show it and claim the antes right there. At that point, he would sit out the rest of the hand. Everyone else would re-ante and play the remainder of the hand. It must be in the hole to claim the antes. If the player tries to claim it incorrectly, he loses his ante and has to sit the hand out anyway.

Hand rankings from lowest to highest:

Two pair
Three of a kind
Straight
Full house
Four of a kind
Flush
Five of a kind
Straight flush
Four jokers

THE SHOWDOWN:
At the showdown, the last player to bet or raise shows his hand first. It is the player's responsibility to read his hand correctly. If a player claims a hand that is lower than his best possible five card hand, the hand which he claimed plays and it's not possible to change. If a player claims a higher hand than his best hand or if a player claims the low hand, but a better hand is possible, he automatically loses. Players must announce their hand verbally, laying the best hand face up along with the two other cards separately for all opponents to see. Once the hand is announced, it cannot be changed. Opponents may examine the hand and dispute it if there are errors. If the remaining players agree that the hand is good, they can then throw their hand away without showing as in other poker variants. Only players involved in the showdown may dispute or read hands.

SPLIT:
In order to qualify for the low hand, two pair must be the best hand you have. A hand with a joker cannot possibly win the low hand.


The hand rankings are drastically different than standard poker hand rankings. This is because of the nature of the deck. A single Pinochle deck consists of 48 cards: 9-A of each suit twice. That means that there are eight of each rank of card, making a full house and four of a kind a lot easier to come by. Conversely, a flush is more rare in this game because there are only 12 cards of each suit. There are also two non-standard hands. Five of a kind is pretty standard in poker variants with wild cards. You will probably never see a four joker hand as the odds of making it are higher than a royal flush in standard poker.

I think this game has a little something for everyone. People like to see the big hands, and folks over 35 generally like to play seven stud better than Holdem. Also, home games usually involve wild cards (ie Baseball, Football or Follow the Queen). The problem I have with those games is that there are too many wild cards, and consequently...too many possibilities. Home games usually involve people who play to the river in almost every hand and odds can be hard to quantify with so many possibilities out there.

The difference with this game is that there is an element of those home games, but also an element of analysis which is necessary to win consistently. Counting outs is easier because you don't have to remember as many cards as in Baseball and they don't change as in Follow the Queen. If you play the right hands, it's about as hard to get outdrawn in this game as any standard poker game.

I highly recommend playing this high-low with a limit (possibly as low as ten times the ante) and a three raise limit. The reason for the former is because making two pair is actually quite difficult and the latter is because the betting can get out of hand. No one likes folding a full house on fifth street, and they especially won't like it when all their money is in the middle, you turn over five of a kind and they find out they're almost drawing dead. Also, seven handed to the river, there will be a low hand most of the time.

A few more things. This is obviously a big hand game (I will tell you right now that the worst possible winning hand seven handed with each player going to the river is kings full of aces). But, this is also a game which demands a big card theory; and by big cards I mean aces, kings and jokers. This game may seem weird at first glance, but I can tell you that it can actually be extremely challenging and complicated. It's a game which casual players will have fun playing because of the perceived high luck factor, but those people will also play way too loose.

Technically, rolled up trips is still the best starting hand in this game, but playing rolled up 9s through Qs can be a sucker's game. The reason is because you can't protect your hand by raising. No one will respect a raise from a 9 - Q, and rightly so. If you don't make quads by fifth street, there is almost no way you can win against more than three other opponents. One of the best starting hands is actually 9 10 J suited. The reason being is because you might improve to a flush or straight flush and you have a good chance of making the low if you don't. Also, another strange thing is that sometimes a straight is the best hand on fifth. People might fold if you bet strong and it's possible to win on the end heads up with a straight (if you have a joker, you will probably make a full). Also, you might be playing with a low hand anyway. Low hands make things very interesting because they can bet off winning hands with almost no risk. A weak player who isn't reading the situation will fall prey to this tactic.

Finally, reading your hand and its possibilities can be complicated in this game. That's the reason for the showdown rule. If you can't read your hand properly, you don't deserve to win. It demands a certain level of concentration.