Remove joker, shuffle and deal hole cards, add joker, shuffle again. Doesn't seem too hard. This would make cheating in a home game soooooo easy though since even novice card-handlers can get decent at card-spotting.

Yeah. It's going to make cheating really easy, and not to mention make live play even slower because the deck will have to be shuffled twice. You would really have to watch out for cards getting marked.

Playing with a wild joker would be pretty cool in stud.

As for holdem i guess it would be played similar to pocket aces. Omaha would be crazy

You could shuffle it in and deal as normal. Anyone with a joker has to give it up and be dealt another card, or their hand is invalid.

This slightly reduces the chance of it coming on the board, but it avoids fiddley shuffling mechanisms.

If you want to make it more likely to come on the board, you can change it so that if someone gets dealt a joker and gives it up, the joker then becomes the first card of the flop.

how about just 1 joker in the deck and you have to say "joker" when u hold it ,but you can also lie and have the right to say "joker" when you don t have it 2 times a round ...If you have used your 2 times as a lie before the round end up ,you can only say and must say "joker" if you hold it .All 3rd times "joker" hands have to be showndown no matter what .
This would add more bluffing to the game and could make a pretty fun home game imo.

It almost seems like most people in this thread have never played a home game of poker. Revolt in disgust? Are you kidding? People love wild cards. The crazier the game, the more people who are buying in for $25 or $50 and drinking beer will enjoy it.

The trick is, of course, if you want to make money, to adjust your play and pretty much stay out of the way if you don't have a joker or a normally very strong hand.

Anyway, I think 2 jokers in the deck would make the game a little wild for people who are serious about winning. Remember, it isn't always going to come up pocket jokers; you are going to also see joker vs. joker face offs.

In Hold'em, there is approximately a 20% chance that the board will come in such a way that a single joker will produce the nuts or near nuts. There is an additional 39% chance that the board will be paired (but none of the above), reducing the probability of a single Joker being outkicked (or overpaired).

I haven't calculated it precisely, but a lone joker (i.e. the second hole card cannot be used) is about a 46:54 underdog to AA.

Or how about if the joker had a different backside so everyone would know who has the joker?

O, the deck could have 54 cards, 52 standard deck, 1 joker with a different backside and one blank card, with the same
backside as the joker. So, everyone would know that you either have a very strong hand, or you only play with one card, but they wouldn't know which one it is (unless both are dealt, and then it's pretty obvious who has the joker).

One idea that comes to mind (with a standard backside joker) is a "Joker always shows first at showdown" rule. The player with the joker must state which card the joker is, if someone else shows down the same card, the player with the joker loses the pot.

Did anyone realize that you'd have to add a new card combination? After trips and quads, there is now the Quint (or Yahtzee if you wish). E.g. if you have a Joker and Q in your hand and the board comes Q-Q-Q-x-x.

Does this beat a Royal Flush? (not sure about probabilities when there's joker in the game).

think one single joker would kill all strategy in the game --> way too much dominating

Never played nlhe with jokers but whenever we played 5CD just for fun or w/e with jokers 5 of a kind always was best hand followed by royal flush and normal poker order.

I set up a Joker Hold-Em Tournament once and it was a blast. We added a single Joker to the deck. The Joker was only playable if it was in a players hand and could be used in any format (ie to make a straight, a flush, 3 of a kind etc). If the Joker was in the Flop, Turn or River it was a dead card (unplayable) and was not replaced, resulting in only 4 community cards instead of 5. It adds a fun little twist to the game.

I have also played home games where this format also contained a progressive side pot. Where each deal a player could put a dollar up for the Joker. If they obtain the Joker they automatically win the progressive pot. If no Joker is in a players hand, the jackpot builds and it cost another dollar for the next deal if the player wants to play the progressive. A player can op in or out of the progressive pot at the beginning of each hand.

Ahh I love these revives.

Adding a joker create an interesting paradox. It is impossible to sort hand rankings by rarity with a wildcard in the deck.

Let's say we assume three of a kind > two pair. In that case, if you have a single pair, then you would always use your joker to make three of a kind making it more common than two pair.

Let's say we assume that two pair > three of a kind, then you'd always turn one pair into two pair, making it more common than three of a kind.

Whatever hand is ranked higher leads to more ways to get that hand, meaning it should not be ranked higher. Thus the paradox.



https://youtu.be/eVnPbA0QUec?si=kQjZ8L3c-KN6idSY

The weaker of the two hands mentioned will never play.

Yeah I agree. What if instead of using a joker you just say deuces on the flop are wild, but only deuces on the flop. It would create these fun flops that open up a bunch of draw and hand possibilities.

When a deuce hits any pocket pair would become trips, and straight draws would have additional outs. Two deuces on the flop and you've got a situation where any suited connector has a straight flush draw and any pair makes quads. It could make for a pretty wild home game. I can imagine people calling for it on the flop. Let's go deuce deuce!