Baseball (poker)

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Baseball is a variant of stud poker based on the American sport of the same name. Unlike traditional versions of poker, 3's, 4's and 9's hold special value because of their significance in the rules of baseball - three strikes, three outs, four balls, and nine innings.

Contents

Rules

Play of the hand, including betting rounds, is the same as seven-card stud, with the added provisions that: [1]

As poker author Irwin Steig noted, Baseball is a form of stud "scorned by purists and avoided by those whose tastes run to more peaceful games ... [it] is the choice of dealers who want sparkling action and big pots." [1]

With a reasonably large number of players, it typically takes four of a kind of more to win a Baseball hand, and going for straights and flushes is usually futile. [2] When Baseball is played high-low, perfect lows (equating to 6 4 3 2 A) become common and anything less in that direction is likely to lose. [3]

Variations

Any number of variations of Baseball are possible. Limits may be put on the cost of matching the pot. [1] Or the buy-the-pot rule may only be in effect for the first person to receive an open 3; if bought, all open 3's received by anyone from that point on are wild with no further requirements. [4] Or the pot-matching requirement can be omitted altogether and any open 3 is simply wild.

The extra card for getting a 4 can be dealt face up rather than face down. Another version of the game also makes face down 4's entitled to an additional card. There are variations as to when the player must announce they have a face down 4, and also whether the additional card should also be face down as a result. Still another variation on the face-down 4's requires the player to "buy" the additional card by putting an additional sum into the pot (often a multiple of the minimum bet). In this case, if the player declines to make the additional bet, they do not have to fold, but they do not get the additional card. And yet another flavor has an open 4 not getting an extra card, but rather a replacement for the 4 if the recipient so chooses. [4]

If a card is mistakenly dealt before a player has made a decision about a 3 (or, in a variant, a 4), then such a card is considered out of play. [5]

Football is an alternative version of Baseball Poker where 3's and 6's are wild and an additional card is drawn if a player is dealt a 2.

Woolworth is another variant, this time with 5's and 10's being wild, [6] with an additional card awarded for players dealt a 2.

Blind Baseball is played the same as Baseball Poker, but with nine cards in total instead of seven.

Another variant is "Rainy Day Baseball." In this variant, if the Queen of Spades is dealt face-up to any player, then the game is "rained out." All cards are collected and the hand is re-dealt. The pot from the "rained out" game carries forward to the winner of the first hand that is not rained out.

Related Research Articles

Five-card draw is a poker variant that is considered the simplest variant of poker, and is the basis for video poker. As a result, it is often the first variant learned by new players. It is commonly played in home games but rarely played in casino and tournament play. The variant is also offered by some online venues, although it is not as popular as other variants such as seven-card stud and Texas hold 'em.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poker</span> Card game

Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game was played with just 20 cards, today it is usually played with a standard deck, although in countries where short packs are common, it may be played with 32, 40 or 48 cards. Thus poker games vary in deck configuration, the number of cards in play, the number dealt face up or face down, and the number shared by all players, but all have rules that involve one or more rounds of betting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betting in poker</span> Procedures of betting in poker

In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing. Different games are played using different types of bets, and small variations in etiquette exist between cardrooms, but for the most part the following rules and protocol are observed by the majority of poker players.

Five-card stud is the earliest form of the card game stud poker, originating during the American Civil War, but is less commonly played today than many other more popular poker games. It is still a popular game in parts of the world, especially in Finland where a specific variant of five-card stud called Sökö is played. The word sökö is also used for checking in Finland.

Seven-card stud, also known as Seven-Toed Pete or Down-The-River is a variant of stud poker. Until the recent increase in popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most widely played poker variant in home games across the United States, and in casinos in the eastern part of the country. Although seven-card stud isn't as common in casinos today, plenty of people still play it online. The game is commonly played with two to eight players, though eight may require special rules for the last cards dealt if no players fold. With experienced players who fold often, even playing with nine players is possible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas hold 'em</span> Variation of the card game of poker

Texas hold 'em is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt face up in three stages. The stages consist of a series of three cards, later an additional single card, and a final card. Each player seeks the best five card poker hand from any combination of the seven cards; the five community cards and their two hole cards. Players have betting options to check, call, raise, or fold. Rounds of betting take place before the flop is dealt and after each subsequent deal. The player who has the best hand and has not folded by the end of all betting rounds wins all of the money bet for the hand, known as the pot. In certain situations, a "split-pot" or "tie" can occur when two players have hands of equivalent value. This is also called a "chop-pot". Texas hold 'em is also the H game featured in HORSE and in HOSE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brag (card game)</span>

Brag is an 18th century British card game, and the British national representative of the vying or "bluffing" family of gambling games. It is a descendant of the Elizabethan game of Primero and one of the several ancestors to poker, the modern version just varying in betting style and hand rankings. It has been described as the "longest-standing British representative of the Poker family."

Razz is a form of stud poker that is normally played for ace-to-five low. It is one of the oldest forms of poker, and has been played since the start of the 20th century. It emerged around the time people started using the 52-card deck instead of 20 for poker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Napoleon at St Helena</span>

Napoleon at St Helena is a 2-deck patience or solitaire card game for one player. It is quite difficult to win, and luck-of-the-draw is a significant factor. The Emperor Napoleon often played patience during his final exile to the island of St Helena, and this is said to be the version he probably played. Along with its variants, it is one of the most popular two-deck patiences or solitaires. The winning chances have been estimated as 1 in 10 games, with success typically dependent on the player's ability to clear one or more columns. The game is the progenitor of a large family of similar games, mostly with variations designed to make it easier to get out.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poker squares</span>

Poker Squares is a patience game with the objective of building the best poker hands using just 25 cards from the deck. It rewards both lucky guessing and accurate calculation of odds.

Teen patti is a gambling card game that originated in the Indian subcontinent and is popular throughout South Asia. It originated in the English game of three-card brag, with influences from poker. It is also called flush or flash in some areas.

The following is a glossary of poker terms used in the card game of poker. It supplements the glossary of card game terms. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon poker slang terms. This is not intended to be a formal dictionary; precise usage details and multiple closely related senses are omitted here in favor of concise treatment of the basics.

Stud poker is any of a number of poker variants in which each player receives a mix of face-down and face-up cards dealt in multiple betting rounds. Stud games are also typically non-positional games, meaning that the player who bets first on each round may change from round to round. The cards dealt face down to each individual player are called hole cards, which gave rise to the common English expression ace in the hole for any hidden advantage.

Draw poker is any poker variant in which each player is dealt a complete hand before the first betting round, and then develops the hand for later rounds by replacing, or "drawing", cards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community card poker</span> Any game of poker that uses community cards

Community card poker refers to any game of poker that uses community cards, which are cards dealt face up in the center of the table and shared by all players. In these games, each player is dealt an incomplete hand face down, which are then combined with the community cards to make a complete hand. The set of community cards is called the "board", and may be dealt in a simple line or arranged in a special pattern. Rules of each game determine how they may be combined with each player's private hand. The most popular community card game today is Texas hold 'em, originating sometime in the 1920s.

The game of poker was developed some time during the early 19th century in the United States. Since those early beginnings, poker has grown to become an extremely popular pastime throughout the world.

Dirty Schultz is a stud poker variant similar to Follow the Queen. The core difference between this and normal stud is that players dealt a visible pair acquire an additional wild card.

Wall Street Poker is a form of stud poker which also features community cards. It is named after the financial district of New York and the movie of the same name, because of a strategy of aggressive bidding involved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comet (card game)</span>

Comet is a very old, French card game of the Stops family for 2 to 5 players that is still played today. It was originally called Manille, but acquired a new name on the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1682. It is not related to the modern trick-taking game also called Manille. The American game of Commit is an evolution of Comet.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Steig, Common Sense in Poker, p. 137.
  2. ↑ Steig, Common Sense in Poker, pp. 140, 145–146.
  3. ↑ Steig, Common Sense in Poker, p, 141.
  4. 1 2 Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith, Hoyle's Rules of Games, p. 89.
  5. ↑ Morehead and Mott-Smith, Hoyle's Rules of Games, p. 90.
  6. ↑ Steig, Common Sense in Poker, p. 188.

Sources

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