Exotic Poker Games
There are several card games being offered by at least one network of online poker rooms that I can only seem to describe as "exotic". These games involved special decks, an odd amount of cards per hand, or some other twist that makes them unlike most other poker games.
I included these games in the poker site because you can find them being dealt in poker rooms, unlike say, Gin Rummy. And, they are games where players compete against each other, over a pot. That makes them different than house games, like Blackjack, Let It Ride, and Pai Gow.
Still, they aren't based on Draw or Stud poker, so I've decided to put them in their own section.
How different are they? Well, Panguigue is played by using 8 decks. And those decks are doctored. The 8's, 9's and 10's removed, as well as a set of Spades. That's a pack of 310 cards. That's a pretty exotic setup.
Guts uses only three cards, and the betting includes antes, or matching the pot if you lose. There is no raising, no checking. And because the game uses only three cards, the odds of landing a straight are less than landing a flush. So, those two hands are reversed in the hand rankings.
Big 2 and Chinese Poker are equally as exotic. Chinese Poker does have a few high profile fans, with Phil Hellmuth playing chinese poker against Mike Matusow (Thursday's Entry). So, it may be an exotic version of poker, but it's not an unknown game. And, it's interesting enough that top pros play the game for high stakes, it's just that they don't so it on television.
