1) we play 7-2. Win with 7-2 and everyone on the table gives you 3x big blind.
2) every hour (9PM, 10PM etc) one hand is dealt that we call Bloody River. If the river card is red, a sixth card is dealt. Betting continues. If successive cards are red dealer keeps on dealing and stops only on black

It is low stakes home games with beer. Very loose. Mostly among close friends so we like to add fun variations. We also do dealers choice where dealer button chooses type of game (omaha badugi etc) but that is still standard poker. I was looking for more off the wall ideas. other suggestions or ideas?

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A personal favorite of mine is Chicago (high spade in the hole splits the pot), if any of your players call stud on their deal. It's not quite as complex as hi/lo, obviously, but there can be some strategy to it, especially short-handed.

Home Game?
Try posting in the Home Game Forum

Or have a mod move it.

We have a best hand of the nite. Players put $1 in a jar and whoever has the best hand scoops (we have actually had one or two splits). If your hand holds up after you leave, you can collect from me later or next session you attend. We have a BBJ too, but it is much easier to hit than casinos. Any pot over $5 and we rake .25 cents. Any KKKJJ beaten qualifies. No BS casino extra rules. We do 7-2 and Blood on the River like you do. We play NLH almost exclusively, but have added a max of 2 hands of Omaha H per orbit, so far so good on that. We play every Friday. Some variety adds to a session. Too much gets goofy. Good luck to you!

If you're starting with hold em, sometimes me and my buds will play game where if any ace hits the community board, all players still in the pot will now get dealt get two more cards and the game becomes Omaha or O8.

If someone wins two pots in a row I splash the next pot with a dollar scratch-off. Players go nuts in those hands. Costs me $5-10, but totally worth it.

The bloody river game sounds pretty cool. I might incorporate that into our Santa Gone Wild tournament. I will likely give it a different name, though.

Love the bloody river idea. Gonna try that out on Saturday! Also love the idea of BBJ and best hand.
One thing we've done over the years is when one player wins three hands in a row there's a round of mandatory straddles. Makes someone who just won two in a row play for that third one and also gets the people who don't like to straddle often do it for the round. Always been a hit at our table.

On nights when it's less serious we've ended the session with a hand of Blind man's bluff, NLH style.

You know the drill. We deal out the cards and everyone places them on their foreheads so everyone else can see. We play the hand out standard from there.

Bloody Virgin Mary?

Red card is a "gift from Santa" thus am extra river?

I was thinking Red River, it is a Texas thing.

What's the big idea, trying to inject religion into the holidays?

Santa's Gift Game might work.

Stockings are usually red.

The extra cards are stocking stuffers.

A black card is a lump of coal. No more gifts.

One of our staples when we have a "friendly" micro stakes (we call it nickle, dime, quarter night) is "in between".

First round everyone antes .25 and max bet is usually a quarter. Min bet is .05.

You put a card face up and then one next too it. The person left of the dealer bets on whether or not the next card is in between those two.

If the first card is an Ace the player chooses if it's high or low. second Ace os always high.

If you get two cards like a 7 and 6 no bet is required.

Two of the same cards can be split for a quarter.


After the first round or two has built a decent pot the game becomes NL....


We once played this about 10-15 years ago and I got an Ace, made it low. Next card was an Ace.

The pot was ~$100 at the time. I had $60 but talked a friend into covering the rest (no concept of table stakes back then).... needless to say the final card was the last Ace in the deck and we were stuck watching the next guy scoop over $200 in a NDQ pot of in between with a 2 and K.....


Still the worst beat I've ever taken at a card game.

^^Sick game. We call it Acey Deucey.

I do challenge the premise in the thread title. Nothing is needed to make poker fun except poker.

"Home Game Variations to Make Poker Ridiculous Fun"

I saw the post of the new Hold em variant and remembered another home game we used to play.

We called it The good, the bad and the ugly.

Ante game, deal out standard 5 card draw.

Then you place two 5 card community hands face down in the middle.

One community board is the good, the other is the bad.

Each player starting left of the dealer then takes turns exposing one community card from either pile.

If it's in the good pile you can use it along with your hand to improve.

If it's from the bad pile then each person with that card immediately discards it to the bad pile (I.e. I exposed the K of diamonds then anyone with a king also discards)

If a card is in both piles it is bad and goes there as well.

After each exposure there is a betting round starting with the player that exposed the card.

Hilarity and chaos typically ensue as straights and full houses turn to pairs and high card hands and vice versa hence the ugly.