Non-standard poker hand

Last updated October 05, 2024

Non-standard poker hands are hands which are not recognized by official poker rules but are made by house rules. Non-standard hands usually appear in games using wild cards or bugs. Other terms for nonstandard hands are special hands or freak hands.^[1] Because the hands are defined by house rules, the composition and ranking of these hands is subject to variation. Any player participating in a game with non-standard hands should be sure to determine the exact rules of the game before play begins.^[2]

Types

The usual hierarchy of poker hands from highest to lowest runs as follows (standard poker hands are in italics):^[3]

Flush five: also called five card flush, a five of a kind with any 5 cards of the same suit.
Royal Flush: The highest straight flush, A-K-Q-J-10 suited.
Skeet flush: The same cards as a skeet (see below) but all in the same suit.^[4]
Straight flush : When wild cards are used, a wild card becomes whichever card is necessary to complete the straight flush, or the higher of the two cards that can complete an open-ended straight flush. For example, in the hand 10♠ 9♠ (Wild) 7♠ 6♠, it becomes the 8♠, and in the hand (Wild) Q♦ J♦ 10♦ 9♦, it plays as the K♦ (even though the 8♦ would also make a straight flush).
Four of a kind : Between two equal sets of four of a kind (possible in wild card and community card poker games or with multiple or extended decks), the kicker determines the winner.
Big bobtail: A four card straight flush (four cards of the same suit in consecutive order).^[3]^[5]
Full house
Flush : When wild cards are used, a wild card contained in a flush is considered to be of the highest rank not already present in the hand. For example, in the hand (Wild) 10♥ 8♥ 5♥ 4♥, the wild card plays as the A♥, but in the hand A♣ K♣ (Wild) 9♣ 6♣, it plays as the Q♣. (As noted above, if a wild card would complete a straight flush, it will play as the card that would make the highest possible hand.) A variation is the double-ace flush rule, in which a wild card in a flush always plays as an ace, even if one is already present (unless the wild card would complete a straight flush). In such a game, the hand A♠ (Wild) 9♠ 5♠ 2♠ would defeat A♦ K♦ Q♦ 10♦ 8♦ (the wild card playing as an imaginary second A♠), whereas by the standard rules it would lose (because even with the wild card playing as a K♠, the latter hand's Q♦ outranks the former's 9♠).

Five card flush

Five and Dime

Skeet

Bobtail Flush

Flush House

Straight Flush House: Same as Flush House (see below), but all cards are in consecutive order.^[5]^{[ better source needed ]}
Big cat: See cats and dogs below.
Little cat: See cats and dogs below.
Big dog: See cats and dogs below.
Little dog: See cats and dogs below.
Straight : When wild cards are used, the wild card becomes whichever rank is necessary to complete the straight. If two different ranks would complete a straight, it becomes the higher. For example, in the hand J♦ 10♠ 9♣ (Wild) 7♠, the wild card plays as an 8 (of any suit; it doesn't matter). In the hand (Wild) 6♥ 5♦ 4♥ 3♦, it plays as a 7 (even though a 2 would also make a straight).
Wrap-around straight: Also called a round-the-corner straight, consecutive cards including an ace which counts as both the high and low card. (Example Q-K-A-2-3).^[2]^[5]
Skip straight: Also called alternate straight, Dutch straight, skipper, or kangaroo straight, Cards are in consecutive order, skipping every second rank (example 3-5-7-9-J).^[2]^[5]
Five and dime: 5-low, 10-high, with no pair (example 5-6-7-8-10).^[4]^[5]
Skeet: Also called pelter or bracket, a hand with a deuce (2), a 5, and a 9, plus two other un-paired cards lower than 9 (example 2-4-5-6-9).^[2]^[5]
Three of a kind
Little bobtail: A three card straight flush (three cards of the same suit in consecutive order).^[3]^[5]
Flash: One card of each suit plus a joker.
Blaze: Also called blazer, all cards are jacks, queens, and/or kings.^[2]^[5]
Two pair : any two pair of the same cards regardless of suit.
Bobtail flush: Also called four flush, Four cards of the same suit.^[2]^[4]
Flush house: A full house with all 5 cards of the same suit.
Bobtail straight: Also called four straight, four cards in consecutive order.^[4]
One pair : any pair of the same cards regardless of suit.
High card : any five cards of sequential rank or non sequential rank regardless of suit such as ace king queen 10 9, or 10 9 7 6 4.

Some poker games are played with a deck that has been stripped of certain cards, usually low-ranking ones. For example, the Australian game of Manila uses a 32-card deck in which all cards below the rank of 7 are removed, and Mexican Stud removes the 8s, 9s, and 10s. In both of these games, a flush ranks above a full house, because having fewer cards of each suit available makes full houses more common.

Cats and dogs

"Cats" (or "tigers") and "dogs" are types of no-pair hands defined by their highest and lowest cards. The remaining three cards are kickers. Dogs and cats rank above straights and below Straight Flush houses. Usually, when cats and dogs are played, they are the only unconventional hands allowed.

Little dog: Seven high, two low (for example, 7-6-4-3-2). It ranks just above a straight, and below a Straight Flush House or any other cat or dog. In standard poker seven high is the lowest hand possible.^[6]^[2]
Big dog: Ace high, nine low (for example, A-K-J-10-9). Ranks above a straight or little dog, and below a Straight Flush House or cat.^[6]^[2]
Little cat (or little tiger): Eight high, three low. Ranks above a straight or any dog, but below a Straight Flush House or big cat.^[6]^[2]
Big cat (or big tiger): King high, eight low. It ranks just below a Straight Flush House, and above a straight or any other cat or dog.^[6]^[2]

Some play that dog or cat flushes beat a straight flush, under the reasoning that a plain dog or cat beats a plain straight. This makes the big cat flush the highest hand in the game.^[5]

Kilters

A Kilter, also called Kelter, is a generic term for a number of different non-standard hands. Depending on house rules, a Kilter may be a Skeet, a Little Cat, a Skip Straight, or some variation of one of these hands.^[5] According to Paul Anthony Jones, it can simply mean a hand of little value.^[6] According to Penn Jillette and Mickey D. Lynn, a Kelter is "a nonstandard hand given value in home games."^[3]

Related Research Articles

A wild card in card games is one that may be used to represent any other playing card, sometimes with certain restrictions. Jokers are often used as wild cards, but other cards may be designated as wild by the rules or by agreement. In addition to their use in card games played with a standard pack, wild cards may also exist in dedicated deck card games, such as the 'Master' card in Lexicon.

In poker, the nut hand is the strongest possible hand in a given situation. The second-nut hand or third-nut hand may refer to the second and third best possible hands. The term applies mostly to community card poker games where the individual holding the strongest possible hand, with the given board of community cards, is capable of knowing that they have the nut hand.

In a poker game with more than one betting round, an out is any unseen card that, if drawn, will improve a player's hand to one that is likely to win. Knowing the number of outs a player has is an important part of poker strategy. For example, in draw poker, a hand with four diamonds has nine outs to make a flush: there are 13 diamonds in the deck, and four of them have been seen. If a player has two small pairs, and he believes that it will be necessary for him to make a full house to win, then he has four outs: the two remaining cards of each rank that he holds.

Omaha hold 'em is a community card poker game similar to Texas hold 'em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make their best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five community cards. The exact origin of the game is unknown, but casino executive Robert Turner first brought Omaha into a casino setting when he introduced the game to Bill Boyd, who offered it as a game at the Las Vegas Golden Nugget Casino. Omaha uses a 52-card French deck. Omaha hold 'em 8-or-better is the "O" game featured in H.O.R.S.E.

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. Before the 2000s surge of popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was one of the most widely played poker variants in home games across the United States and in casinos in the eastern part of the country. Although seven-card stud is not as common in casinos today, it is still played online. The game is commonly played with two to eight players; however, eight may require special rules for the last cards dealt if no players fold. Playing with nine players is possible.

In poker, the probability of each type of 5-card hand can be computed by calculating the proportion of hands of that type among all possible hands.

Skat, historically Scat, is a three-player trick-taking card game of the ace–ten family, devised around 1810 in Altenburg in the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. It is the national game of Germany and, along with Doppelkopf, it is the most popular card game in Germany and Silesia and one of the most popular in the rest of Poland. A variant of 19th-century Skat was once popular in the US. John McLeod considers it one of the best and most interesting card games for three players, and Kelbet described it as "the king of German card games." The German Skat Association assess that it is played by around 25 million Germans – more than play football.

High card by suit and low card by suit refer to assigning relative values to playing cards of equal rank based on their suit. When suit ranking is applied, the most common conventions from lowest to highest are:

Rummy is a group of games related by the feature of matching cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit. The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build melds which can be either sets or runs and either be first to go out or to amass more points than the opposition.

Desmoche is a popular rummy card game usually played for small stakes which closely resembles other games in the rummy family, like Conquian and gin rummy, more than poker. It was probably devised in Nicaragua in the first half of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiến lên</span> Vietnamese shedding-type card game

Tiến lên is a shedding-type card game originating in Vietnam. It may be considered Vietnam's national card game, and is common in communities where Vietnamese migration has occoured. It is also played in the United States, sometimes under the names Viet Cong, VC, Thirteen, Killer, or 2’s.

Open-ended refers to a situation in poker where the player has four of five cards needed for a straight that can be completed at either end. For example, a player with 3♥ 4♥ 5♣ 6♠ is open-ended, because a deuce or a seven would give the player a straight. This situation is also called an outside straight draw or double-ended straight draw as the cards needed to complete the straight are cards which are on the outside of the current hand, as opposed to an inside draw such as 2♦3♠ 4♠6♥ or A♣ 2♣ 3♣ 4♦, which can only be completed by a five. The term originated with draw poker but is also used in games like Texas hold'em.

Badugi is a draw poker variant similar to triple draw, with hand-values similar to lowball. The betting structure and overall play of the game is identical to a standard poker game using blinds, but, unlike traditional poker which involves a minimum of five cards, players' hands contain only four cards at any one time. During each of three drawing rounds, players can trade zero to four cards from their hands for new ones from the deck, in an attempt to form the best badugi hand and win the pot. Badugi is often a gambling game, with the object being to win money in the form of pots. The winner of the pot is the person with the best badugi hand at the conclusion of play. Badugi is played in cardrooms around the world, as well as online, in rooms such as PokerStars. Although it hasn’t had its own tournament per se at the WSOP, it is featured in the Dealers Choice events as well as in the Triple Draw Mix. The 2023 WSOP event does have a Badugi tournament scheduled.

Poker hand A is said to dominate poker hand B if poker hand B has three or fewer outs that would improve it enough to win. Informally, domination is sometimes used to refer to any situation where one hand is highly likely to beat another. The term drawing dead is used to denote a domination situation with zero outs.

Baduci is a combination of Badugi poker and deuce to seven triple draw, and uses hand values similar to lowball. The pot in this game is split much like high-low split between the best Badugi hand and the best 2-7 triple draw hand. The betting structure and overall play of the game is nearly identical to a standard poker game using blinds. A players' hand contains five cards, where only four cards are used to determine the best Badugi hand and five cards are used to determine the triple draw hand. During each of three drawing rounds, players can trade zero to five cards from their hands for new ones from the deck.

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.

Machiavelli is an Italian card game derived from Rummy and is usually played by 2 up to 5 players, but can be played by even a higher number. Because of its characteristics, it is not generally associated with gambling, but is instead a party game.

References

↑ Moorehead, Albert H. (1996-08-27). Official Rules of Card Games. Random House Publishing Group. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-0-449-91158-7.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Morehead, Albert Hodges; Hoyle, Edmond; Frey, Richard L.; Mott-Smith, Geoffrey (1991) [1956]. The New Complete Hoyle: The Authoritative Guide to the Official Rules of All Popular Games of Skill and Chance. Doubleday. p. 26-27.
1 2 3 4 Jillette, Penn; Lynn, Mickey D. (2006) [2005]. How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard. St. Martin's Press. p. 143, 202-221. ISBN 9780312360689.
1 2 3 4 Gibson, Walter B. (2013-10-23). Hoyle's modern encyclopedia of card games : rules of all the basic games and popular variations. Crown. ISBN 978-0307486097. OCLC 860901380.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Stevens, Michael (November 3, 2018). "15 Poker Hand Names That Will Make You Smile (And Where Those Names Came From)". gamblingsites.org. Archived from the original on February 19, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
1 2 3 4 5 Jones, Paul Anthony (2019). The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities: A Yearbook of Forgotten Words. University of Chicago Press. p. 215. ISBN 9780226646701.

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[1] Moorehead, Albert H. (1996-08-27). Official Rules of Card Games. Random House Publishing Group. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-0-449-91158-7.

[NewHoyle-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Morehead, Albert Hodges; Hoyle, Edmond; Frey, Richard L.; Mott-Smith, Geoffrey (1991) [1956]. The New Complete Hoyle: The Authoritative Guide to the Official Rules of All Popular Games of Skill and Chance. Doubleday. p. 26-27.

[Jillette-3] 1 2 3 4 Jillette, Penn; Lynn, Mickey D. (2006) [2005]. How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard. St. Martin's Press. p. 143, 202-221. ISBN 9780312360689.

[:0-4] 1 2 3 4 Gibson, Walter B. (2013-10-23). Hoyle's modern encyclopedia of card games : rules of all the basic games and popular variations. Crown. ISBN 978-0307486097. OCLC 860901380.

[:1-5] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Stevens, Michael (November 3, 2018). "15 Poker Hand Names That Will Make You Smile (And Where Those Names Came From)". gamblingsites.org. Archived from the original on February 19, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[Jones-6] 1 2 3 4 5 Jones, Paul Anthony (2019). The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities: A Yearbook of Forgotten Words. University of Chicago Press. p. 215. ISBN 9780226646701.

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