As this is the final planned article in the Spice Up Your Home Game series it seems like a good idea to highlight a few exotic variants that didn’t fit neatly in past installments.
Around 10 years ago there was a game called Duck Flush that got its 15 minutes of fame in high-limit mixed cash. It’s a one-winner, five-card triple draw variant where the best high hand wins. However, it must qualify with at least a flush. If no one qualifies, then the best deuce-to-seven low holding scoops the pot.
It’s worth repeating that this is not a split-pot variant, a seven low is worthless if at least one other opponent makes a flush, full house, or better.
A flush is often the winner because when you pick up a four-flush, it’s much easier to complete that draw than it is for either two pair or a trips to fill up or make quads. However, a premium low draw has value, particularly against a single opponent. While it may be a small underdog against a dealt four-flush that will get there around half of the time, it would be a clear favorite over two pair, trips, or three to a flush.
As always, position is paramount. Suppose after the second draw you are holding 8♥6♥5♥3♥2♣ and your opponent checks, indicating that he is likely incomplete. When that is the case, your likely best play would be to bet and stand pat. If your opponent is destined to make a flush you are apt to lose even when you make one as well, however, when he bricks you virtually always have the winner.
It’s safe to say this game is quite unlike any other and for that reason alone it might be worth a try.
Then there’s a split-pot Omaha High variant that begins with three boards but whichever one receives the lowest river card disappears leaving only two. While this game has been around for many years, I’ve recently heard it referred to as Squid Game, presumably as a nod to the highly popular Korean dystopian Netflix series where losing contestants are executed.
Which board gets eliminated is pure chance, thus it’s important to have good prospects on at least two of them. It appears that more skill would be involved if the eliminated board was the one that has the lowest card amongst all five board cards. (For instance, if one of the three flops contained the 2♥ then it would be a big favorite to eliminated as only either the 2♣ or 2♦ appearing on one of the other two big boards would cause them to be killed.)
But there could be more interesting scenarios such as when the lowest card among the three boards was instead the 5♣ where the other boards are drawing to many outs to be eliminated. All of this must be accounted for in your decisions.
Omaha X-or-Better is another interesting game. It plays the same as Omaha high-low before and after the flop, but before the turn is dealt two dice are rolled to determine X, the qualifier for the low hand:
12: Queen
11: Jack
10 through 5: Face Value
4, 3, or 2: No low is possible, so it’s played purely as high
Craps players will recognize that seven is the most likely outcome, so you will often be playing Omaha seven-or-better, but a six or the normal eight qualifier are frequent occurrences as well. The qualifier will be a seven or higher 58.3% of the time, so low-oriented holdings, particularly those containing an A-2 combination, are still highly desired. However, there might not be a low possible, or it might be very hard to make, so drawing to non-nut low draws with no other possibilities would likely be a losing play.
In contrast Omaha 10-or-Better played where the superior deuce-to-seven low takes the low half will create a drastic divergence in playable hands when compared with normal Omaha high-low split. The ace loses all of its power with regards to making a low and the new premium hands would contain either 2-3 or 2-4, however there’s more balance in playable holdings as there is no longer one all-powerful card.
Let’s not forget about the stud variants, a friend of mine told me that his private game often includes Caveman, a split-pot game where the best stud high and badugi holdings chop. And they play it as Super, meaning everyone gets four down cards and must discard two before fourth street otherwise their hand is automatically fouled.
A pair of aces with three different suits and a low card (e.g. A♣A♦2♠) would be a great starting hand as are rainbow holdings such as A♠5♥6♣ or 2♣3♠4♥. In this game making a “pair-dugi” on fourth street is quite valuable. For example, 2♣3♠4♥2♦ would now have a pair and an increased number of badugi outs.
Any holding can scoop, and trip kings hold an equity advantage over 2♣3♠4♥. It’s a huge favorite on the stud high side, and with three different suits already in place it will make a king badugi or better around half of the time. And when trip kings don’t make a badugi it’s often because they picked up either quads or a full house which would be a virtual lock for half.
Finally, there’s what may be considered a goofy split-pot stud game that I read about many years ago called Tommy Tutone. This may be a fact that mostly only the pre-Moneymaker crowd knows, but Tommy Tutone was an American 80’s band most famous for its hit single 867-5309 Jenny. The song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and people all over the country with the phone number were forced to get it changed.
In Tommy Tutone, the pot is split between the best stud high holding and whomever can “dial” the furthest into Jenny’s phone number. The tens are what you need for the zero, but it’s quite unlikely anyone would need to get that far. Once you have 8-6-7-5 winning the “Jenny” side is probably all but assured so you either want to make the straight or pair up giving you a chance to scoop.
The eights (and to a slightly lesser extent the sixes) are fundamentally key cards which may create for tighter play.
Although nothing compares to the tight play of Chicago, a well-known split-pot variant where the highest spade in the hole wins half. The game causes most players to be reluctant to put chips into the pot due to a fear of getting freerolled from the start.
Each of these variants is compelling in their own way and there are many good options here to spice up your home game. Duck Flush might be the most appealing of the bunch since it’s another one-winner game to add to a rotation often dominated by split-pot variants. The strategy also appears to be complex and varied, and bluffing may be rampant as any successful shenanigans would be rewarded the entire pot. Let’s bring back Duck Flush!
More From This Series
Introduction
Old School Dramaha
Super Sized Stud Hi-Lo
Badugi Dramahas
Simultaneous Omaha And Hold’em
Point-Based Dramaha Variants
Archie And It’s Variants
Badeucey And Badacey
Passing Pips And Red/Black Split
Stud Lowball Variants
Capped Big Bet Variants
Kevin Haney is a former actuary but left the corporate job to focus on his passions for poker and fitness. The certified personal trainer owned a gym in New Jersey, but has since moved to Las Vegas. He started playing the game back in 2003, and particularly enjoys taking new players interested in mixed games under his wing and quickly making them proficient in all variants. Learn more or just say hello with an email to haneyk612@gmail.com.