Boise Rules

Boise was contributed to pagat.com by Douglas Wall. It combines Omaha, in which a hand uses two cards from the player's hand, with a game called Seattle, in which a hand uses three.

Up to nine players may take part, using a standard 52-card deck with no jokers and no wild cards.

Boise is a high-low split game. High hands rank according to the standard poker hand rankings. The source does not name a low ranking; with an eight-or-better qualifier the usual practice is ace-to-five ranking, as in Omaha Hi-Lo, where aces are low and straights and flushes do not count against a low hand.

The object is to win the high half of the pot, the low half, or both.

The source does not specify antes or blinds. The dealer shall announce the forced bets and betting limits before the deal; an ante from every player is the usual home-game practice.

The dealer deals five cards face down to each player, and five cards face down to the centre of the table. These five table cards become the board.

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.

If all but one player fold, the remaining player wins the whole pot without showing.

Each hand shall consist of five cards made in one of two ways:

4.1(a) two cards from the player's hand and three from the board; or

4.1(b) three cards from the player's hand and two from the board.

A player may use a different combination of cards, and a different method, for their high hand and their low hand.

Because players have so many combinations available, Boise is usually played with qualifiers: a high hand must be three of a kind or better, and a low hand must be eight or better (five unpaired cards, none higher than an eight).

The best qualifying high hand wins half the pot and the best qualifying low hand wins the other half. One player may win both halves.

The source does not say what happens if no hand qualifies in one direction. The usual practice in qualifier games is that the best qualifying hand in the other direction takes the whole pot. The dealer shall announce this, and what happens if no hand qualifies at all, before the deal.

With five hole cards and two ways to combine them with the board, strong hands are common. That is why the trips-or-better qualifier for high is usual.

A player with three suited cards in hand needs only two more of that suit on the board for a flush, unlike Omaha, where three are needed.

Low cards in hand, especially an ace and a two, are valuable because they can be combined with the board in either two-card or three-card form.