Poker Squared

In this Death Match, play hands of poker while filling out a grid of poker hands.

Designer(s): ISamEI	Match Type: DM (for 2 players)
Featured in: Genius Invitational

Poker Squared

In Poker Squared, both players will draw 4 cards from a standard 52-card deck of playing cards, beginning with 40 chips.

0) ANTE

In rounds 1-9 players will "ante" 1 chip each (be forced to each bet 1 chip prior to cards being dealt). In rounds 10-18 players will "ante" 2 chips each. In rounds 19-27 players will "ante" 3 chips each.

1) PLACING ON GRID

Each player will place one of their four cards in hand face up on your 3x3 grid. Your grid is arranged as follows:

A  B  C

D  E  F

G  H I

What card is where will always be public to both players.

Then, the betting phase will begin. The player who put down the lower card on their grid will bet first.

2) BETTING

Players will then bet as in conventional poker. The reward for winning a hand is referred to as "the pot". On your turn you may do the following -

RAISE - You put more chips in the pot. If your opponent is unwilling to match or raise the number of chips you've put in the pot, they fold and you win the hand and the chips.

MATCH - You put the same number of chips as your opponent did in the pot. If a player matches, the betting round ends and we go to the showdown.

FOLD - If your opponent raises, you may fold instead of contributing more chips. This means all chips you've contributed will be forfeited to your opponent, however. The hand you folded is not revealed.

3) SHOWDOWN

If both players match, we will move on to showdown where both players reveal their cards.

You and your opponent will have 3 cards in hand. The hands are ranked as follows:

Straight Flush (3 consecutive cards of the same suit)

Three of A Kind (3 cards of same rank)

Straight (3 consecutive cards)

Flush (3 cards of same suit)

One Pair (2 cards of same rank)

High Card (none of the above)

Ties are broken within each category based on who has the highest ranking card(s).

The player with the best hand wins the pot.

If players have the same value hand containing all identical ranks, the showdown is a tie and both players take back their chips.

The deck will only be shuffled when there are no cards left in it (remaining cards will be distributed first).

4) THE GRID

After both players fill their grid completely, then the hands that comprise each row, column, and diagonal will be evaluated and compared against one another. If your hand in a position is better than your opponent's hand, you take the same number of chips from your opponent as the current ante.

You win this dm one of the four following ways:

1) Your opponent runs out of chips 2) You have more chips total than your opponent after hand 27 3) You have the same number of chips as your opponent after hand 27, and have more garnets 4) Your opponent concedes after being behind a decisive number of chips

Notes: You may not use notes for this DM

Rule change: You do not need to show a card to your opponent

Time controls: Up to 2 minutes to decide what card to place where on grid. 1 minute for every raise/bet/match decision.

Added -> tie rule (if after end of hand 27 there is a tie, most garnets win)

Clarified shuffling

Ace can serve as the highest rank or the lowest rank but not both at the same time

Note that this means a straight of A23 is lower than a straight of 234 (the second one will win)

You can get specs to deal cards/host for you but not be your opponent for this specific dm

Poker Squared

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