Cucamonga Rules

Cucamonga was contributed to pagat.com by Douglas Wall. It uses a standard 52-card deck with no jokers and no wild cards.

It 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, as in Omaha Hi-Lo, where aces are low and straights and flushes do not count against a low hand.

Up to eleven players may take part. The number of cards dealt to each player depends on the number of players (2.2).

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

The dealer deals each player:

2.2(a) five cards face down, with up to eight players;

2.2(b) four cards face down, with nine to eleven players.

The dealer then deals eight cards face down to the table in two rows of four: the top row and the bottom row.

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 exactly five cards:

4.1(a) one or two cards from the player's own hand;

4.1(b) one or two cards from the top row; and

4.1(c) one or two cards from the bottom row.

So a hand is always two cards from two of those sources and one card from the third. A player may use a different combination for high and for low.

Qualifiers. With up to eight players, Douglas Wall recommends trips and eight: a high hand must be three of a kind or better, and a low hand must be eight or better. With nine to eleven players, when only four cards are dealt each, any high or low hand may win.

The best qualifying high hand wins half the pot and the best qualifying low hand wins the other half. The source does not say what happens when no hand qualifies in one direction; the usual practice is that the best qualifying hand in the other direction takes the whole pot. The dealer shall announce the rule before the deal.

Because no more than two cards may come from any one source, a player cannot make a flush or straight from three suited or connected cards in hand alone; the table must supply at least three of the five cards.

The trips-and-eight qualifiers apply only with up to eight players. With nine or more, any hand may win either half, so the hands needed to win are usually weaker.