Telesina

Telesina is a Poker Game that is played by 2 to 6 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 Telesina each player gets 1 face down hole card and 4 face up hole cards in four deals. In the fifth deal, a single community cards is dealt.

Each deal ends with a betting round.

The goal of Telesina is to get the highest five card hand possible combined from the five cards in your hand and single community card.

The game is a combination of stud and community-card poker that differs in several aspects from your average poker game.

Game overview

Posting Ante
The Ante is a predefined amount posted by every player before any cards have been dealt.
The purpose of Ante is to encourage players to stay in the hand, and to increase pot size. Prior to the game every participating player posts the Ante.

First Round

Telesina starts with all players receive two initial hole cards, one face-down and one face-up.

Betting round 1
The rules of Telesina use standard poker betting practices. See the section “Betting in poker” for details. The player with the highest exposed hand starts betting. Other players follow clockwise around the table.

In this first round of betting the highest exposed hand is simply the highest exposed card. If two players have exposed cards of the same rank, the suite determines who starts according to the rules specified in section “Suite Ranking”.

Second Round

All players receive a third hole card, face-up.

Betting round 2
The player with the highest exposed hand starts betting. Other players follow clockwise around the table.

Third Round

All players receive a fourth hole card, face-up.

Betting round 3
The player with the highest exposed hand starts betting. Other players follow clockwise around the table.

Fourth Round

All players receive a fifth hole card, face-up.

Betting round 4
The player with the highest exposed hand starts betting. Other players follow clockwise around the table.

Vela

A community card, called “Vela” is dealt face up on the table for all players to use.

Betting round 5
The player with the highest exposed hand starts betting. Other players follow clockwise around the table.

Showdown
Once the fifth 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:
It might be worth noting and easier to remember that the hand ranking for Telesina is identical to the hand ranking for 32 Card Poker with the single exception that the lowest possible Straight Flush beats the highest possible Royal Flush ONLY WHEN EXACTLY TWO PLAYERS ARE LEFT IN THE SHOWDOWN! This also removes the rare but possible situation in 32 Card Poker where no winner can be determined because three or more players with straights form a circle of one beating the other.