Awesome card games

[Admin]

No Limit texas Hold'Em
This is arguably the number one card game of all time in terms of being simple, very difficult (if not impossible) to master and appealing to humans.

Unfortunately this game has been analyzed to death via solvers and other tools, still it is being played a lot today.

https://www.pokerlistings.com/poker-rules-texas-holdem

The issue with the game being easy to solve could maybe be fixed by scapping the blind-system and instead just have people pay antes into the pot (which can be position dependent). With antes only everyone could potentially see the flop for free.

Max players = 23

pot limit: none

 

[Admin]

Pot Limit Omaha
This is still not as popular as texas holdem but it is very popular at the higher stakes due to being significantly harder to solve.

In PLO you hold 4 cards of which 2 will be selected for a hand, this will be combined with 3 from the table (of 5). Betting is limited to the size of the pot.

While this is still a relatively simple game it is flawed in the sense that betting has to be artificially limited due to starting hands being too close in equity.

max players = 11

pot limit: 100%

 

[Admin]

Best of 3 omaha
Its like normal omaha except now there will be 3 (flop, turn, river) meaning you end up with 3 hands and in order to get the entire hand you need to win at more hands than anyone else.

hand1: won by player 1
hand2: split between player 0 and player 1
hand3: won by player2 with player 0 having the second best hand.

Here the entire pot will go to player 1 but if player 2 would have folded then the pot would instead be split between player 0 and player 1.

Max players = 9

This can be played without any limit to how much you are allowed to bet when you are deep stacked.

 

[Admin]

8 card poker
The following scoring system can be used when selecting 8 card out of 11 (version 98):

I did attempt tweaking it to replace the points for 4pair with 3 of a kind + 2pair but i was not able to come up with anything good (see 96, 97, attachments).

 

[Admin]

No limit stud
5 cards out of 7 are selected just like with texas holdem. There are no community cards.

preflop: 3 cards
flop: 5 cards
turn: 6 cards
river: 7 cards

The rules for this game has not yet been finalized but it is supposed to have the same or similar betting structure as No Limit texas Hold'Em

max players = 7

Pot limit: none

 

[Admin]

No limit draw poker
You are only allowed one draw, if you discard just one card then your first card option will be public, if you do not want that you will get a second card that will not be public.

After the second betting rounds all remaining player will show 3 cards of their choosing.

 

[Admin]

5 suit holdem
A fift suit and an additional card can be added so you select 5 cards out of 8 for the following

0. 5 of a kind
1. straight flush
2. 4 of a kind
3. rainbow straight
4. flush
5. full house
6. straight
7. 3 of a kind
8. 2pair
9. pair
10. nothing

A = (1,14)
K = 13
Q = 12
J = 11

3 can be counted as 16 for straight flush or rainbow straight
2 can be counted as 15 for straight flush or rainbow straight.
K can be counted as 0 for straight flush or rainbow straight

It has the disadvantage of requiring a special deck of cards which most people do not have.

Preflop: each player hold 3 cards
flop: 2 community cards are added
turn: 1 community card is added
river: 1 community card is added
spate: 1 community card is added

max players = 20

pot-limit: none

3 of a kind (without full house) as the final hand is actually less common than a straight. The rules as suggested here might not actually be ideal.

 

[Admin]

6+ Hold'Em
The size of the deck is reduced making it easier to solve in the HU case. It might still be harder to gain an age via solvers in practise due the blind structure making it likely multiple people will see the flop.

Card rankings are (from best to worst):

0. straight flush
1. 4 of a kind
2. flush
3. full house
4. straight
5. 3 of a kind
6. 2pair
7. pair
8. nothing

Max players = 15

pot limit: none

 

[Admin]

Double pot limit Omaha
It can be played like Pot-limit Omaha except now you will be able to bet up to 2x the pot.

This is supposed to be played with deep stacks (100BB or more).

Max players = 11

Pot limit: 200%

 

[Admin]

3card Hold'Em
It can be played like No limit texas holdem except you start holding 3 cards and the flop is only 2 cards.

Max players = 16

Pot limit: none

 

[Admin]

Instead of blinds
You can have a fixed ante only dependent on the number of players, no forced betting to see the flop.

For 10% min-raise (when there is more than 2 people in the post):

Players A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H    I    K    L     M
2       2   4   9  15  25  40  80 200  400  800 1600  4000
3       2   3   6  13  20  30  60 160  300  600 1200  3300
4       2   2   5  10  15  25  50 125  250  500 1000  2500
5       2   2   4   8  12  20  40 100  200  400  800  2000
6       1   2   3   6  10  16  33  80  160  330  660  1600
7       1   2   2   5   8  14  28  70  140  280  540  1400
8       1   2   2   5   8  12  25  60  125  250  500  1250
9       1   1   2   4   6  11  22  50  111  220  440  1111
10      1   1   2   4   6  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
11          1   1   3   5  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
12          1   1   3   5  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
13          1   1   3   4  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
14          1   1   2   4  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
15          1   1   2   4  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
16          1   1   2   3  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
17          1   1   2   3  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
18          1   1   2   3  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
19              1   2   3  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
20              1   2   3  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
21              1   2   3  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
22              1   2   3  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000
23              1   2   3  10  20  50  100  200  400  1000

 

[Admin]

For 25% min raise:

Players A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H    I
2       2   3   5  10  25  50 100 200  500   
3       2   2   4   8  20  40  80 160  400   
4       1   2   3   6  15  30  60 120  300   
5       1   1   2   4  12  24  48  96  240 
6       1   1   2   4  10  20  40  80  200   
7       1   1   1   3   8  17  34  68  172 
8       1   1   1   3   8  15  30  60  152 
9           1   1   2   6  13  26  52  132 
10          1   1   2   6  12  24  48  124
11          1   1   2   5  10  21  44  116 
12          1   1   2   5  10  20  40  104
13              1   2   4   9  18  36   96
14              1   2   4   8  16  32   90
15              1   2   4   8  16  32   84
16              1   2   4   8  16  32   80
17                      4   8  16  32   80
18                      4   8  16  32   80
19                      4   8  16  32   80
20                      4   8  16  32   80
21                      4   8  16  32   80
22                      4   8  16  32   80
23                      4   8  16  32   80

 

[Admin]

for 20% min raise:

Players A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H    I    J    K     L     M
2       2   4   5  12  20  40  80 150  250  600 1500  2500  6000
3       1   3   4   9  15  30  60 125  225  500 1250  2250  5000
4       1   2   3   7  12  25  45 100  175  400 1000  1750  4000
5       1   2   3   6  10  20  35  85  150  325  850  1500  3250
6           1   2   5  10  17  30  75  125  300  750  1250  3000
7           1   2   5  10  15  25  70  125  275  700  1250  2750
8           1   1   5  10  15  25  65  125  250  650  1250  2500
9           1   1   5  10  15  25  60  125  250  600  1250  2500
10          1   1   5  10  15  25  55  125  250  550  1250  2500
11              1   5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
12              1   5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
13              1   5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
14              1   5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
15              1   5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
16                  5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
17                  5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
18                  5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
19                  5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
20                  5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
21                  5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
22                  5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500
23                  5  10  15  25  50  125  250  500  1250  2500

 

[Admin]

For 12.5% min raise:

Players A   B   C   D   E   F   G    H
2       2   4   7  10  20  50  80  200   
3       2   4   6   8  18  40  64  160   
4       2   3   5   7  16  30  56  120   
5       1   2   4   6  14  24  48   96
6       1   2   4   6  12  20  44   84   
7       1   2   3   5  10  16  40   72
8       1   2   3   5   9  16  36   64
9           1   2   4   8  16  32   64
10          1   2   4   8  16  32   64
11          1   2   4   8  16  32   64
12          1   2   4   8  16  32   64
13          1   2   4   8  16  32   64
14          1   2   4   8  16  32   64
15          1   2   4   8  16  32   64
16          1   2   4   8  16  32   64
17                      8  16  32   64
18                      8  16  32   64
19                      8  16  32   64
20                      8  16  32   64
21                      8  16  32   64
22                      8  16  32   64
23                      8  16  32   64

 

[Admin]

Cardchess
This is a card game inspired by chess and the Yu-Gi-Oh anime

In this game you take turns doing one of the following
0. Attacking a card (you can use one or more cards to attack with)
1. Moving a card 1 step in the attack direction
2. Adding a new card to a spot you can move to.

Cards of a a number divisible by 2 can attack horizontally and vertically (2, 4, 6, 8, T, Q, A)
Cards of a a number divisible by 3 can attack diagonally (3, 6, 9, 12)
Other cards (5, 7, 11, 13) can attack in the exact direction a horse moves in chess.

The defense of a card is 10 times is number (10 for A, 20 for 2,,, 100 for T, 110 for J, 120 for Q, 130 for K).

Notice how A is counted as a 14 for attacks and 1 for defense.

The attack is 8x when hearts is attacking spades, when spades is attacking clubs, when clubs is attacking diamonds, when diamonds is attacking hearts (16 for 2, 24 for 3,,,112 for A).

The attack is 4x when diamonds is attacking spades or when hearts is attacking clubs (or the other way around)

The attack power is 2x when spades is attacking hears, when clubs is attacking spades, when diamonds is attacking clubs, when hearts is attacking diamonds.

The attack is 1x when a color attacks another card of the same color.

You have to turn a card up permanently when you use it to attack.

You take the sum for all attacks against that card and if you reach the defense number for the card of higher the card will be removed unless enforced.

Enforcements will counts as 10x the attacking value and can be done to a card you would be able to attack with 8x if it was a card of your opponent. This can only be done (once) by a card that is turned down (by turning it up). If a card is enforced the attacker is allowed to an an equal number (or more) additional attackers.

The game can be played on a 7x7 board where you win by having a card remain in the goal-zone after the turn ended. You can use the rows furthest from you as the goal zoon and begin with 7 cards in what is the goal-zone for your opponent.

All cards are initially placed turned down so your opponent cannot see them. You are free to look at them yourself of course.

You can begin with 5 cards on the hand for each player after discarding 7 cards (which can be used to indicate the grid of you have none marked out). Before you play you draw a new card from the deck (unless you are opening in which you do not draw any card before making your move).

You can use more than one deck of cards for this (such as each player having their individual deck of cards to reduce the impact of randomness).

 

[Admin]

Bid and match
Both players/teams bid for what they score they will get.

In the 2-team mode the player-mode you can have the following

If you were the only one to score your bid (or higher) you get your bid² points, in addition you will get 25 times what the sum of the bids exceeded the sum of the scores for the players (in the case the sum of the bid was higher than the sum of the scores).

If both teams scored their bid or more the team who got closest will get (their bid)² points, if both teams got equally close the team who had the highest bid will score (the difference between the bids)² points.

The game is played by 4 hands which can be controlled by humans or be a public hand controlled by the player at the opposite side. The game starts out with the winner of the bidding war playing a card.

You score 1 point for your team by playing the highest card for that round (2 for the final round if no Trump color was chosen). The succeeding hands have to respond by playing a card of the same color as the original card (if they have any card of that color) otherwise any other color can be played which will count as lower unless it's a card of the trump color.

A public hand can be 6 up-face cards laying on 7 cards faced down with each up-face card laying on 2 down-face cards blocking them from being played or turned up until the card or cards above it is played.

The hand that won the round will play the next card.

For the mathematically illiterate:

Bid  bid²
0    0
1    1
2    4
3    9
4    16
5    25
6    36
7    49
8    64
9    81
10   100
11   121
12   144
13   169
14   196
15   225
16   256
17   289
18   324

The bidding war
The bidding war starts by a player announcing a bid and choosing a Trump color. Players after that then all also have to place bids. If your bid is higher than previous bids you can change the trump color (you don't have to) or change to no trump. This continues until all players have made a bid for the color, you only have to place a bid if your team doesn't already have a bid for that color (such as 4 when spades is Trump) and you cannot lower a bid placed for a particular color.

Scoring for more than 2 teams
Of the teams who scored their bid or higher the team who got closest will get (their bid)² points. If they got equally close the team with the highest bid will get (the difference between the bids)² when comparing the 2 highest bids who got the closest.

In addition the team who got furthest from their bid will have to pay a fine of 6 times the difference in how close the got to the player who got the closest (when the highest possible score is 18 to 21).

Examples for 3 teams

       bid  score   points
team0  10   10      6²+3=39
team1  4    4       3
team2  4    3       -6

Here because team0 and team1 got equally close they shared the penalty points team3 got (only getting 3 each).

       bid  score  points
team1  10   9      6
team2  4    6      16-3=13
team3  4    2      -3

Here team2 and team3 shared the -6 penalty points (each getting -3).

The general rule is that the penalty factor is set to the max score divided by 3 rounded down to the next integer.

Max Score   penalty factor
30 to 32    10
27 to 29    9
24 to 26    8
21 to 23    7
16 to 18    6
15 to 17    5
12 to 14    4
9 to 11     3
6 to 8      2
3 to 5      1
0 to 2      0

When penalty points are given (reward of punishment) is always rounded down if it ends up not being an integer.

The max score is 1 more than the number of cards a hand starts with.

Example (4 teams, max score = 14)

       bid  score   points
team0  8    8       64+4=68
team1  2    1       -2
team2  3    2       -2
team3  4    3       -2

As you see it's rounded down here from -4/3 to -2.

Using more than one deck
You can increase the number of cards per hand by adding a second deck of cards. Then if the same highest card is played more than once the first hand to play it will win the round.

Example (5 teams, max score = 21)

       bid  score  points
team0  10   6      -11
team1  4    8      -11
team2  4    3      0
team3  3    1      0
team4  2    0      0
team5  1    2      1+21=22

Example (3 teams, 6 hands, max score = 18)

       bid  score  points
team0  10   4      -30
team1  10   5      0
team2  10   9      30

Here the total score is 18 since no trump color was choosen by the winner of the bidding war.

 

[adolf512]

Nice advices. I only played magic, but I could try one of the games you listed/

These are great games to play IRL, you cannot play most of these online afaik.

8 card poker and no limit draw are the ones like the most by people i know it seems, both invented by me.