Blue Beacon Rules

Blue Beacon was contributed to pagat.com by Daniel J. Brooker, who devised it while working at Blue Beacon, from which the game takes its name.

The game uses a standard 52-card deck with no jokers and no wild cards. Hands rank according to the standard poker hand rankings.

The object is to win the pot, either by holding the best five-card hand at the showdown or by making a bet no one calls. Only the high hand wins.

The source does not fix the number of players. Each player needs five cards, the board needs four and the draw needs replacement cards, so the table should be small enough for the deck to supply every draw. The dealer shall announce, before the deal, the maximum number of cards a player may draw.

The source does not specify antes or blinds. The usual home-game practice is for every player to ante an agreed amount before the deal; the dealer shall announce the stakes and betting limits beforehand.

The dealer deals five cards face down to each player, one at a time, clockwise. Players may look at their own cards.

The four community cards are dealt face up to the centre of the table one at a time, at the stages set out in article 3. They are shared by every player.

The draw. Beginning with the first active player to the dealer's left, each player in turn may discard any unwanted cards face down and receive the same number of replacements from the deck, as in five-card draw. A player may also stand pat and draw no cards.

The limit on how many cards may be drawn is not set by the source. The dealer shall announce it before the deal.

Betting on each round follows the usual order: players act in turn clockwise and may check, bet, call, raise or fold as the round allows. A player who folds loses any claim to the pot.

If all but one player fold at any stage, the remaining player wins the pot without showing their cards.

Each player still in after the sixth betting round makes the best five-card hand from nine cards: their own five and the four community cards. Any combination of hand and board cards may be used.

The best hand takes the pot. If two or more players tie, they share the pot equally.

The dealer may announce a limit on the draw, such as a maximum of three cards, as is common in five-card draw.

Because the draw comes halfway through, players must choose their discards knowing only two of the four community cards. A hand that looks weak may improve with the last two cards, and one that looks strong may be overtaken.

With nine cards available at the showdown, winning hands tend to be much stronger than in five-card draw. Straights and flushes are common.