Straight Poker
“Take it up straight.”
Winter’s Tale. Act II, Scene 3d.
The fifty-two cards are used, and the rule of the game the same as in ordinary poker, with these exceptions. Deal passes to the person winning. Before playing everybody puts up a chip. You can pass and come in again at your pleasure. The original cards are what you play with, and you do not draw. When nobody enters, the player to the left of the dealer makes a new round of cards. Bucks are often used for convenience, the elder hand putting in as many chips as there are players.
Stud Poker
“ Shall’s have a play of this?”
Cymbeline. Act V., Scene 5th.
In dealing, five cards are given, as in poker. The first card is placed face down, the others with their faces up. Then a card or cards are drawn, which are not exposed. The raising and all else is as in usual poker.
Whisky Poker
“I cannot do’t without counters.”
Winter’s Tale. Act IV., Scene 3d.
This game begins by each player putting a chip in the pool. Hands as in poker are dealt, with one extra hand, placed face downward on the table. This hand is called the widow. The elder hand has the choice of passing, or taking the five cards of the widow. If he passes, the hand after him has the privilege. If the widow is taken, the player puts face up on the table the hand he has originally held, and from this, in rotation, the other hands take a card or the cards they want, replacing in the widow the cards they have taken from their own hands. When one player is satisfied with his hand, he intimates that he will close the game. Those after him and up to him are still entitled to take or exchange cards, until his place is reached. Then there is a show of hands, but no betting. The best hand wins. If, the first player has a good hand, and decides to close the game, the widow may still be used or exchanged with the widow made as before described.
Mistigris
“There lies a cooling card.”
Henry VI., Part I. Act V. Scene 3d.
The joker is used. The joker makes fifty-three cards in the pack. The mistigris, in a player’s hand, entitles him to increase the value of his hand. If he has a pair, holding the mistigris makes them threes. With threes the mistigris makes them fours. With two pairs, it converts the hand into a full. It has all latitude, makes straights, flushes, etc., etc. Sometimes its power is diminished of course by agreement, as in a full, increasing only the lower pair. All else is as in regular poker.
Tiger
“The Hyrcan tiger.”
Macbeth. Act III., Scene 4th.
This is a dreadful innovation, but as it is occasionally played we give it a place in this volume. The tiger in a hand of poker is the very lowest combination of cards which can be held. Five cards beginning with a seven and ending with a deuce is a tiger. Thus seven, six, five, four, and deuce, and nothing else, is a tiger. There must be no pair in it. It can be drawn for. It is supposed to be better than a straight, and not as good as a flush. A tiger then beats threes.
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