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Bounce Back is a five-card draw game with a second chance. Players may discard one or two cards and draw replacements, keeping their discards face down in front of them. On the final round, each player may swap the same number of cards back for the ones they threw away.
Also known as Boomerang
Bounce Back, also called Boomerang, is a variant of Five Card Draw contributed to pagat.com by George Weissenberger.
It uses a standard 52-card deck with no wild cards. The best five-card high hand wins, ranked by the standard poker hand rankings.
Every player antes. The dealer deals five cards face down to each player, one at a time.
The deal passes clockwise after each hand.
There are three betting rounds. Unusually, each one begins with the dealer.
| Round | Action | Betting |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Players look at their five cards | Betting round, starting with the dealer |
| 2 | Draw: discard one or two cards and receive replacements | Betting round, starting with the dealer |
| 3 | Bounce back: optionally take back the cards discarded in round 2 | Betting round, starting with the dealer |
First round. After looking at their cards, each player, beginning with the dealer, bets, calls or folds.
The draw. Beginning with the dealer, each player may discard one or two cards and receive the same number of replacements from the deck. A player's discards are placed face down in front of that player, not on a common pile.
The bounce back. Each player may then discard the same number of cards as they discarded in the draw, and pick up their own earlier discards in their place. A player who uses this option does not choose how many cards to swap: it is always the number they discarded before.
3.3(a) The cards given up in the bounce back may be any cards in the hand, including the replacements received in the draw.
3.3(b) A player who did not discard in the draw has nothing to take back.
Each exchange is followed by a betting round, beginning with the dealer.
After the last betting round, the remaining players show their hands. The best five-card hand, under standard rankings, wins the pot.
Recovering a discarded card
Player A is dealt 9♠9♦6♣6♥K♦, two pair. Hoping for a full house, A discards the K♦ and draws the 2♣, leaving 9-9-6-6-2.
In the bounce back, A discards the 2♣ and picks up the K♦ again. A is back to nines and sixes with a king kicker, which beats nines and sixes with a two kicker.
One or two. Players may also keep all five cards.
No. The bounce back is optional. If you use it, you must swap exactly as many cards as you discarded in the draw.
Every betting round begins with the dealer.
Where any doubt remains in the application of this document, Rob is right.
Hand rankings, high to low: royal flush · straight flush · four of a kind · full house · flush · straight · three of a kind · two pair · one pair · high card. Suits never break ties.
Bounce Back Rules · OPR-595 · officialpokerrules.com/bounce-back/