You'll love this game ... The rules may sound tricky and complicated but only when you start reading. It will get much easier when you'll get the full shape of the game. It all just fits together perfectly.


C.O.B.R.A. = Counter Order Beyond Royal Authority

Introduction:
C.O.B.R.A. is a real money heads up poker game. It doesn't require poker chips to be used, although it still does contain strategic BLUFFING ELEMENT. Bluffing & reading a bluff strategy is based on the information that the cards played and exposed by your opponent bring. Deck of 52 cards, paper and pen (for scoring) will be all that you need. The math, hand ranking and showdowns are based on 7 cards, just like Texas Hold'em (best 5 cards out of 7 play). So you can be sure that the game is 100 % mathematically correct. Both showdown phases and the cash out phases are based on it.


Poker hands values (in CASH OUT phase which ends the game):

High Card: 0 $
One Pair: +50 $
Two Pair: +60 $
Three of a Kind: +80 $
Straight: +110 $
Flush: +150 $
Full House: +200 $
Four of a Kind: +260 $
Straight Flush: +330 $
Royal Flush: +500 $


Both players are dealt 9 cards face down for each player and 2 face up community cards are dealt onto the table. The player who starts the game has to play 4 cards face up from the 9 he's holding. Then the other player has to decide whether he wants to SURRENDER or CONTINUE. If he surrenders - the player who started will cash out, but only once, from the last 2 cards in his hand (more details later *). If he continues - he must play 4 cards face up also, and the 3rd community card will be dealt onto the table. Now, both players have 7 cards in play for each (4+3) so this counts as the first showdown and it will decide who will be the DEFINED WINNER and who will be the DEFINED LOSER. The defined winner will be about to cash out twice, using 3 cards and then 2 cards (more details later **). Before this happens, all 8 played cards go into the muck and the defined loser has to decide whether he wants to SURRENDER or COUNTER-PLAY. If he surrenders - the defined winner will cash out twice, as mentioned. If he counter-plays - he must play 3 cards face down from the 5 he's holding. After playing them, his opponent (defined winner) has to make a decision whether to FOLD or CALL. If he folds - he will cash out only once from the last 2 cards (more details later ***). If he calls - he must play then 3 cards face down also and after the 4th community card is dealt there's the second showdown, 2x (3+4). If he (defined winner) wins this showdown, he will cash out once from the last 2 cards but he will receive a +200 $ BONUS to his basic winnings (more details later ****). If he loses, it will be his opponent (the defined loser) who will eventually cash out from the last 2 cards (more details later *****). All 6 played cards go into the muck (or deck bottom).

If a showdown brings a tie - the hand is over and nobody makes any profit.


The ending CASH OUT phase variants:

* - 3rd community card is dealt. Player who started the game discards 3 cards and the 4th community card is dealt. He reveals his last 2 cards and then the last 5th community card is dealt. Best 5 out of 7 cards play and cash out according to the payout structure.

** - After the defined loser surrenders, the defined winner reveals 3 cards face up and the 4th community card is dealt. Best 5 out of 7 cards play and 1st cash out is made according to the payout structure. Then he reveals his last 2 cards and the 5th community card is dealt. Best 5 out of 7 cards play and 2nd cash out is made according to the payout structure.

*** - When the defined winner folds after counter-play being made, he discards 3 cards and the 4th community card is dealt. Then he reveals his last 2 cards and the 5th community card is dealt. Best 5 out of 7 cards play and cash out according to the payout structure.

**** - The defined winner after winning 2nd showdown reveals his last 2 cards and the 5th community card is dealt. Best 5 out of 7 cards play and cash out according to the payout structure, plus he gets a +200 $ bonus.

***** - The defined loser after winning 2nd showdown reveals his last 2 cards and the 5th community card is dealt. Best 5 out of 7 cards play and cash out according to the payout structure.


As you can see there are 5 possible ending scenarios.

I know this can all sound complicated after the first reading. The deeper you get into the rules, the more easy it becomes to "see" the game. If you have any questions, I'll answer them. It's really worth to try multiple times ! Good luck

Game author: Grzegorz Jakubowicz (POLAND)
DATE: 29 Dec 2022
STATUS: World premiere of C.O.B.R.A.

I will be totally honest.

It is probably a great game that you've devised and may well appeal to players that like Chinese Poker.

But if your intention was to design a new variant that can gain quickly in popularity, then I don't think this is it.

IMO, it would be something like a variant on PLO, or a new split pot game variation of an existing popular variant, where half of the pot goes to
the high hand and half of the pot goes to the low, or where the game is two variants combined and a split pot game.

I think any of the above type of games would not be a big leap for most players to jump to in terms of understanding the rules and then enjoying the game and getting good at it.

I think what you may have done is overthought things, to the point where for the game you have invented to grow in popularity, you are asking players
to learn a new poker language, and because of this many players will not be attracted to it.

I could be totally wrong of course. Also, I don't know your motives for building the game, whether they are to challenge yourself, or for commercial reasons, or for something else.

Fwiw, I designed a cricket dice simulator game that is quite sophisticated, using multiple 12 sided dice, about 35 years ago. I tried to get it manufactured by games manufacturers
under a licensing or royalties agreement and got absolutely nowhere.

The game is definitely very good, as I am sure yours is too, but there just wasn't a market for it, or if there was/is a market for it, it was/is very small.

@ PokerPlayingDunces

Thanks, honesty is the key

I know this game will get nowhere near NLHE and its success worldwide and its strategical depth. A new classic poker variant is in my opinion impossible to create. So it's kind of funny that I was setting the bar too high for my work during all this time. But I'm happy with this game mostly because:

- It contains a strategic bluffing factor which is great.
- Games like Chinese Poker or Open Face Chinese Poker got quite popular worldwide.
- I didn't end up with nothing after 15 years of work.
- It's a great game if you want to try something new when making a break from NLHE or PLO.

So even if it builds only a small community, I'm fine with that. And most important thing - it satisfies me as a game designer and also as a player. I don't know what I want to achieve with the game in the future, I'm just happy that I got it. I can theoretically play it anytime with anyone - of course for super micro stakes . 52 cards is all you need, no chips necessary. Thanks for the post.

Again, being honest, 15 years seems like an incredibly long time to devise a new poker game.

The cricket dice simulator game I mentioned took me about 100 hours of work in total to devise, and it is quite complex mathematically, and from memory I worked
on it over the course of about 2 months. Also 50 of the 100 hours was building and designing the board and other props for the game and writing out the game rules etc.

In terms of designing a new poker variant, I'd imagine that I could do this in less than 25 hours of actual work as it is way simpler than simulating a game of cricket.

I can see that your new variant is a completely new concept, so I get that it could be a few hundred hours of work, and maybe another 100 hours of testing, and let's say
another 50 hours writing all of the rules and editing them and rejigging them. I'm being very liberal with all of these estimates.

So let's say you've spent 750 hours on the whole thing, that would be about 1 hour per week for 15 years.

Is that what you've done, spent about an hour a week for 15 years, or have there been some very long gaps.

That's a lot of numbers - it put me on tilt, I must admit

Well, first of all, it's just an illusion that designing a new poker game is simple. It's the same thing with NLHE - the game looks super simple: 2 cards + 311 board, but when you start to analyze its strategy it becomes endlessly complicated. It's easy to make a poker game, but it's hard to stay sure that it's the one you want to promote, because you'll always find some flaws in the end in your concept.

I've designed dozens of poker games during that long period of time and literally thousands of new rule concepts. I was working almost every day. All of those concepts were mostly trash (90%), weak (8%) or average (2%) at best. But this was the only way to gain the necessary knowledge which is almost nowhere to be found on the internet. I'm not a math wizard and I had to learn how to be one, all by myself. Of course this forum helped me a lot, too.

It was all because I took the wrong path - I was aiming at a game as good as NLHE or PLO. The better path would be just to aim at a good, decent poker card game. I mean, I feel happy now with what I got, but it costed me way too much time and strength.

As far as long gaps of not working during this time - the only one I remember was 5 months in 2013 (2 months at psychiatric hospital + 3 months of group therapy). Let's just call it "a long coffee break".

Thank you for the answer, and it explains the 15 years.

I wish you well with the game.

Thanks a lot, I appreciate it.

Rules update:

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THE BONUS IS FULLY ADJUSTABLE NOW !!!!!! YOU CAN SET THE BONUS VALUE [from 200 $ to 500 $]

Things got a little bit more interesting now ... Now the game will include a serious bluffing factor which will be based on the combined information from the cards and from the bonus value. The player who makes a COUNTER-PLAY has to decide now what will be the amount of $ given to his opponent if he wins the 2nd showdown. The value must be at least 200 $ and the maximum is 500 $.

This is real poker now.

Hand analysis example:

BOARD:
2 3

PLAYER #1:
cards in hand:
9 T K 8 Q, plays face up: T K 5 J
He gave information to his opponent that he probably:
- doesn't have TT, KK, 55, JJ or any three of a kind
- doesn't have three spades
- doesn't have A45 or 456

PLAYER #2:
cards in hand:
K T 9 J Q, plays face up: 4 4 9 7
He gave information to his opponent that he probably:
- doesn't have three spades
- doesn't have A45 or 456
- doesn't have 22, 33 or 23
- doesn't have A
- doesn't have any three of a kind

NEXT COMMUNITY CARD:
2 3 8
Which means PLAYER #2 wins the 1st showdown with pair of fours

PLAYER #1:
He decides to make a (bluff) COUNTER-PLAY and plays face down: 9 T 8 and sets BONUS VALUE to 420 $

PLAYER #2:
He decides to CALL and plays face down: T 9 J

NEXT COMMUNITY CARD:
2 3 8 3
Which means PLAYER #1 wins the 2nd showdown with two pair - eights and threes

PLAYER #1:
He will be the one cashing out and he reveals his last two cards: Q K

LAST COMMUNITY CARD:
2 3 8 3 7
Which means PLAYER #1 wins 150 $ with a flush

It's a situation where a bluff goes wrong and is called, but the lucky community card saves the bluffer. So despite the 1st showdown was won by Player 2, it was eventually Player 1 who cashed out and won 150 $. Player 1 decided to bluff with just pair of eights because he wanted to stay with a flush draw for the cash out phase, if he wins. It played out well, although it was very risky. Player 2 would have won 470 $ (50 $ + 420 $) if he had won the 2nd showdown. It's just 1 of 5 possible ending scenarios for this hand.

one thing it took me a while to understand:

4th street only pays out if the loser folds on 3rd street (or there's a bonus).

there is no showdown at the river, but there is always a payout.

that's really confusing but i'm willing to try it.

Good to hear you want to try it.

Yes, I think you got that right. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to explain it further since it seems somewhat confusing to you.

The rules in general might seem complicated, but they are very compact logically. Once you get a full view, they're really easy to remember. Even the payout structure has a pattern to it.

Ya I'm not going to read all that.

First issue is that if you can't explain your game in 30 seconds or less, it's not going to work. Two examples:

Blackjack: You want a hand value greater than the dealer's without exceeding 21. You're given two cards and can ask for more and in certain scenarios you're permitted to add money to your bet. The dealer acts after you and has to stop on 17 or higher.

Poker: Players are given 2 cards face down with the intention of making the best 5-card hand. There are 4 betting rounds and after each round, community cards are introduced to allow players to make their hand. The best hand wins unless everyone surrenders, then the last remaining hand wins.

Can you explain your game in a few sentences or less?

Second issue is that people want to play with cards and they want to play with chips (and they like throwing dice). If you take the chips out of the equation, no one is going to want to play it.

agreed. i think it has potential as an app though. nobody wants to memorize the payout tables.

play a sample game and post it to youtube for the tldr crowd.

OK, I'll try :

C.O.B.R.A. - Real $$$ heads up poker card game. The board has a [2-1-1-1] structure. Both players get 9 cards and they play their cards in such order: 4(face up), 3(face down), 2(face up) which is always followed by a new community card. There are 3 key points in the game where a player has to make a decision and two possible showdowns. These 3 key points can generate 5 possible ending scenarios. There is also a fully adjustable bonus which combined with 3 face down cards played allows a player to bluff his opponent. Every hand ends with a cash out phase which is made according to the payout table.

here you go buddy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4YFNEx8L-w

it took about 3 hours to make this thing but i want your game to succeed. i realize it's not exciting to show a losing hand, but i didn't feel like switching it after i got started!

Wow, and bravo.

This is one of the nicest things I've seen a twoplustwo forum poster do for a fellow poster.

thanks, he did the hard work of inventing the game but it's all for nothing if no one supports it.

How many community cards can he see before he discards?

3

OK I see it now

wheelflush, good job with the movie ! The more I watch it, the more I want to play my game

The app thing would be problematic since it's a real money game. Maybe it would be playable if the AI script was super smart, it would be fun then even with play money. Online poker room is the only place where it could be played with real $$, plus also a live/home game is possible. These are the only two options for this game.

My latest analysis shows that the game is indeed very strategic, not only because you choose from 9 cards and make action decisions, but also when you try to guess what your opponent is holding/playing. Strong cards played face up give information, but also trash cards played give a lot of information about your cards. I'm currently trying to get a deeper understanding of the game strategy and I'm glad of what I've noticed and learned so far.

Give me any top pro poker player and I will outplay him in my game haha

I really recommend the video clip made by wheelflush for those who want to see the brief version of the game rules based on example hand.

Unfortunately it's impossible to write down all the rules with all necessary details in a shorter version. I tried to do that, but I couldn't. This is probably the only disadvantage of this game. It's easy to explain to a person who sits at the table though, when you hold the deck in your hand.

If you want to have the knowledge of full rules, you should:

1. Read post #14
2. Watch video in post #17
3. Read post #1 + post #8
4. Ask questions here if you have any

The game seems really simple and mathematically compact once you learn all the rules.