Today, most poker players start off playing no limit texas hold em, and then eventually make the gateway to other games. Yes, Texas hold em is the marijuana of poker nowadays. There was a time when that game was 5-card draw or 5/7-card stud. Me, I strayed first onto PL0, then FL08, then Razz, then learned the other stud variances via HORSE. I constantly get bored and am looking for something new, and that may be why I enjoy HORSE, because I always have a new game to look forward to.
Regardless, now i still get bored, or drunk, with my buds, and we come out with new games on the fly. I've heard of stud games with qualifiers(2 pair for the high) or modified lows. Got bored once and played 6-card PL010(thats pot limit omaha 10s or better for the low). Talk about some craziness....
Lately, I've rekindled my enjoyment of draw games(who doesn't like UNO!) with 2-7 triple draw and badugi, and was recently introduced to a split- spot variety of the 2, badeucy.
The other night we tried something- played a mixed game tournament which involved capped pot varieties of PL0, PL08, 2-7 triple draw, and razz.
Adding capped pot-limit to the stud game definitely made it interesting and it was quite enjoyable. We played it with a straight cap, but I think maybe having a double cap would be cool... like only allowing a certain amount of money to get in by 4th, and then allowing the rest from 5th-showdown...

So I ask you fellow 2+2ers...

What is your favorite specialty game? What variances of the games that we know have you seen spread and wish to tell about?

When I was a kid, I used to play 5 card draw with 3 wilds.

i.e. 2's, 3's and 7's are wild and can any card you damn well want

Drew a lot of royal flushes....

good stuff

I like ad hoc games because I'm good at calculating quickly and figuring out the strategic implications. I'm a theoretic poker player. Oddly, the people who call these games are usually just the opposite. Once in a while you get someone who figured out (or more likely read) a game with traps in it for average players. Also some of these variants are favored by low-skill cheaters, because they make it easy to cheat using only one card, and because people are distracted by the unfamiliar rules.

But all that's just to make money. It's not a lot of fun outcalculating people who aren't trying.

come on now...chinese poker,by far. you will never get sick of playing chinese believe me!

Chinese poker is great, which also reminds me of Big Deuce, another great 13-card game. Anyone ever play that one?

Crazy Pineapple is the best game around when played no-limit, and seems to me an obvious alternative to NLHE and PLO. It's slightly slower due to the discard, but otherwise plays great and is the main game in my regular get-togethers.

Then there's that 3-hole-card NLHE game (where you don't discard), but I can't recall what that's called. Something like that might appeal to the NLHE/PLO online crowd looking for a change of scenery, but still want to have a game that lends itself well to multitabling and moves quickly.

online hchinese poker would be really cool... i like that

I've been playing a lot of Stud, Hi/Lo and Razz where I can get games as a way to even out some of the variance in nlhe. I began playing Stud and Razz because I got interested in HORSE, and because I'd never played them seriously. I find playing in HORSE SnGs a fun distraction, as long as you keep up with the game changes if you're playing multiple tables.

I think as a result of playing more limit games, I've learned quite a bit about bluffing, as I tended to be a bit tighter when playing HE.

One problem though, I'm still rubbish at Omaha anything. ZzZz. I need more play time though.

Ok here's an idea: play texas hold 'em as you usually would, but deal everyone 4 hole cards, and deal 2 cards each for the turn and the river.

The catch is, in each "round" of the game, you may use each possible hand once, but you must use each possible hand EXACTLY once.

Therefore, each round has 9 hands, and after each hand you cross off the poker hand you used from your list. If you don't have any hand at all and have already used up your "high card" hand, you lose the hand, but you MUST scratch something off you list (probably a good idea to pick straight flush to scratch off)

after 9 hands, start over. betting and raising proceed as normal, and the normal rules of poker are used to decide which 5 card hand wins. The only difference is each player must declare which hand they want to use, and can do things like play 3 of a kind rather than a full house if they wish.

hand #9 will be interesting, with 1 player trying to draw a straight flush, another player trying to draw 2 pair, another player just looking for a high card...

sounds confusing, but I bet it would be a lot of fun once you work out the kinks!

panik, sounds fun, but a bit too much chaos for me! but ill save that for a rainy day and try it out...

i like badugi a lot, give that a try also.

baducy(badugi and triple draw rolled into one)

My faves are strip poker, that game where you stick your cards to your head, and any game with community cards.

you can play around with the structure of the game to reduce the chaos, but there's basically 2 ideas at work here:

1. You only get to play each hand once.

2. Therefore, deal more cards so you might actually get a chance to USE your straight flush or quads hand

***BUMP***

Anaconda and Spit in the Ocean are pretty fun draw games to play imo.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is an interesting (but very tilting at times) stud game.

Variations of Hold 'Em where you get your own river card, or you are dealt your second card face up, or some such.

1. Swedish - three card hold'em where hole cards are dealt like 7stud, i.e. two down one up. This is playable, much unlike 3-card hold'em, since you have some info on other players hands.

2. Stockholm (Sviten Special) Omaha - Split game, half pot to five card omaha hand, half pot to five card draw hand. (Players get one draw after flop).

Brilliant games both of them.

chicago is a fun variant.

also two handed holdem. each player is dealt two hands instead of one. in order to play both hands simultaneously you must make the same action with each. ie; call both, raise both. or you may fold one and call one, fold one and raise one.

oh yeah and guts. sick progressive pot action and great fun for the degens among us.

guts is like abbreviated razz with PL action.. yes a crazy game

Chinese poker is classic!!! Badugi and LTD are also great poker games imo...

Anyone ever play Golf? Boss game...I believe it is also called 31.

You might like to try mississippi 7cs, as well as omaastud/mississippi-8, for high, hilo and razz. They are good for mixed games because they have the same four-round structure as HE/OM. You can also put together a mixed PL/NL format, and you don't need a cap for these games. Rulles are here:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/24...xed-pl-621638/

A new variation on draw which incorporates low hands into the high poker rankings can be seen here:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/24...o-draw-637679/