Circle Jerk Rules

Circle Jerk was contributed to pagat.com by Tim Bates. It uses a standard 52-card deck with no jokers.

The last community card turned up, the centre card, is wild, and so is every other card of the same rank, whether in the layout or in a player's hand. A wild card may stand for any card its holder chooses.

Hands rank according to the standard poker hand rankings. Because of the wild cards, five of a kind is possible. The source does not rank it; the usual practice is that five of a kind beats a straight flush. The dealer shall announce the ranking before the deal.

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

The dealer shall announce any ante or blinds and the betting limits before the deal.

The dealer deals two cards face down to each player.

The dealer lays out seven community cards face down: six in a ring, at the top, upper right, lower right, bottom, lower left and upper left, and one in the centre.

The ring cards are in two alternating sets of three:

2.4(a) the first set: upper right, bottom and upper left;

2.4(b) the second set: top, lower right and lower left.

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 pot without showing. Otherwise, the final betting round is followed by the showdown.

Each hand shall consist of the player's two hole cards and any three adjacent cards from the layout.

Three cards are adjacent when they form a connected chain. Each ring card touches the two ring cards beside it and also the centre card. The source illustrates the rule with three examples:

4.2(a) three ring cards in a row, such as the top, upper left and lower left;

4.2(b) a ring card, the centre, and a neighbouring ring card, such as the top, centre and upper right;

4.2(c) two ring cards linked through the centre, such as the lower left, centre and lower right.

Because the rule is given by example, the dealer should confirm before the deal which groups of three count as adjacent.

The best hand takes the pot. Tied hands share it equally.

The centre card is adjacent to every ring card, so it can appear in many different three-card groups. Once it is turned up, every player can use it as a wild card.

The wild rank is not known until the last card, so a strong hand before the final round can be overtaken by a player who holds a card of the centre card's rank.