32 Card Poker

32 Card Poker is a Poker Game that is played by 2 to 5 players using a reduced deck where all cards of the value 2 until 6 inclusive have been removed, resulting in a deck of only 32 cards. In 32 Card Poker each player gets 5 face down hole cards and gets to discard once.

Each deal ends with a betting round.

The goal is to get the highest five card hand possible.

The game differs in several aspects from your average poker game, including blinds, hand ranking and the addition of parole.

Game overview

Dealer button
The dealer button determines who starts to act. At the start of the round, the dealer button is moved one step clockwise around the table, effectively changing the players positions in the game. The first player to act is the player immediately after the player with the dealer button and the player with the dealer button will therefore be the last to act.

Posting blinds
A blind is a bet that is posted before any cards have been dealt and serves the purpose of seeding the pot. In 32 Card Poker two (or three) blinds are posted.

Small blind
The first blind is called the “small blind” and is usually half the size of the minimum bet of the game.

Big Blind
The second blind is called the “big blind” and is always the same size as the games minimum bet.

Over Blind
The third blind is only used if there are more than 3 players in the game. It's called “over blind” and is exactly twice the size of big blind.

The first player to act posts the small blind, the next player after him posts the big blind and( if there are more than 3 players) the next player posts the over blind.

Dealing Cards
After the blinds have been posted each player receives 5 cards, face down

Betting round 1
32 Card Poker uses standard poker betting practices. See the section “Betting in poker” for details.

The first round of betting differs from the following ones in that two or three blinds already have been posted. Consequently, the first player to act is the player after the last posted blind and he won't have the choice to check, since he at least will need to call the highest blind to remain in the game.

Also consequently, the player who posted the small blind will need to at least call the highest blind to remain in the game even if no raise has been placed.

If "over blind" is used (more than 3 players at the table), the player who posted the big blind need to at least call the over blind, otherwise he can check if no raise has been placed, or call.

 Discarding cards
Following the first betting round, each player gets the chance to discard up to four cards. The first player after the dealer button starts discarding.

The player selects the cards to discard by clicking his cards in the player tag. The cards to be discarded turn gray and can be unselected by a second click. Once the player is satisfied with his choice, he presses the DISCARD button to discard the selected cards are new ones are drawn.

A player may choose not to discard any cards by pressing the STAND PAT button that is active when no cards are selected. Standing pat means that no cards will be discarded.

If the deck runs out of cards the discarded cards from previous players are collected and shuffled, forming a new deck to draw from. This is done to avoid that player get back own discarded cards.

Betting round 2
When all players have discarded and drawn new cards, a new betting round starts. No blinds on the table this time, so the first player to act will be the first player after the dealer button.

In addition to his normal bet round choices the FIRST player to act in the second betting round can choose PAROLE. If all players choose PAROLE, the pot is split among the players and the game ends.

The smallest bet allowed in round 2 equals the highest blind placed at the start of the game.

Showdown
Once the second betting round is completed, it's time for showdown.

Showdown works as in all other poker games but the hand ranking is different.

Hand Ranking
Due to the reduced number of cards the flush ranks higher than the full house. The ranking is therefore as follows, starting with the highest:

Royal Flush

Straight Flush

Four Of a Kind

Flush

Full House

Straight

Three of a Kind

Two pairs

Pair

High Card

Suite Ranking
In case of a draw, the suit value of the highest single card determines the winner. Hearts are ranked the highest, followed by Diamonds, Clubs and Spades at the bottom. Please note that one somewhat unexpected consequence of this is that the suite of the kicker determines the winner in a draw between hands consisting of One Pair or 2 Pairs of the same values.

Hearts

Diamonds

Clubs

Spades

Special Rules
32 Card Poker also has two special rules regarding Straights:

An ace can count as 6 when forming a straight, making the hand [ace 7, 8, 9, 10] the lowest possible straight.

The lowest possible Straight Flush [ace, 7, 8, 9, 10, all in spades] beats The highest possible Royal Flush [10, jack, queen, king, ace, All in hearts]. Therefore there is no single, unbeatable hand In 32 Card Poker.

Special note:
Since the lowest possible Straight Flush beats the highest possible Royal Flush, but is beaten by a hand of value there between its fully possible that three or more players can form a circle where one beats the other and no winner can be determined. This is extremely rare, but in that case the pot is split between the three of them.