How To Play Chicago Poker
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Chicago poker is a poker game that’s played throughout the United States although it isn’t that popular and you’re not going to be able to play the game unless you play with some of your friends. The game is the exact same as seven card stud except for one rule change, which is that half the pot is won by the player with the highest spade card. The spade card can only come from player’s hole cards, which are the cards dealt face down. The cards that have been dealt face up don’t help them win half of the pot by having the highest spade. All of the players that want to play need to ante to begin the hand of Chicago poker. Once the antes are posted the dealer can deal out two face down cards and one face up card. Players can start the 1st round of betting after the cards have all been dealt out. To determine who should bet first you simply look to see which player has been dealt the highest face up card. When the betting is completed players are dealt their 4th card face up.
When everyone has received their 4th card the players begin betting again. The player with the highest 4th card starts the betting this time around and continues clockwise around the table until everyone has acted. At this stage in Chicago poker players receive a 5th card face up. Again, the player with the highest card starts the betting this round and then the dealer deals out the final face up card. There is one more round of betting and then the players left in the hand are dealt one last card, but this time the card is dealt face down rather then face up.
Players finish up the last round of betting and then go down to the showdown. Rather then only needing the highest ranked hand to win the pot, you also need to have the highest spade in your hole cards. The fact that a player can win half the pot by having the highest spade is a feature that you either love or hate. If you don’t like the feature then you simply play regular seven card stud, but if you don’t mind having the ability to win half the pot with a single card then you should definitely try out Chicago poker.
There is a ton of betting during every single hand of Chicago poker, which means there is ample time to try and bluff your opponent off of his or her hand. You can also try and playing hands strong when you have nothing since other players might assume you have the highest spade. If you’re quickly called you can be sure that your opponent has a really high spade and probably won’t fold to any bets, which means it’s time to slow down the betting. One good thing that the spade feature brings into the game is the ability for every pot to be massive.
When you have two players in the hand with the ace of spades and king of spades it’s very difficult for the player with the king of spades to fold. This means that the pot is going to be huge and it could be easy money. When two players are in a pot with spades it usually means they don’t have a very high ranking hand, which means you might be able to win the hand with a big pair or two pairs. You’ll only get half the pot, but if 3 people are in the pot you’re still making money by splitting the pot with the player with the ace of spades.
Chicago poker can also be played using lowball rules, which means one thing is changed. Rather then the highest spade winning half of the pot, the lowest spade will now win half of the pot. This changes it up a bit and might help keep the game fresh while you’re playing with your buddies. Basically all you need to do in Chicago poker is look out for spades being exposed and that’s about it.
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