Dealer's Choice Rules

Dealer's choice works best with five to seven players, and six is often considered ideal. With more players, fewer variants can be dealt from one deck; with fewer, many variants lose their interest.

A standard 52-card deck without jokers is used. Two decks with different coloured backs are recommended, so that one can be shuffled while the other is in use.

The ante and betting limits shall be agreed by all the players before play begins, and apply to every game called. See betting structures.

Each player should bring at least an agreed minimum amount to the table, for example fifty times the minimum bet.

The first dealer is chosen at random, for example by dealing cards face up around the table until a jack appears.

The deal then passes one seat clockwise after each hand, except as set out in article 5 for games that last more than one deal.

Some groups let the dealer choose the game for a whole orbit (one full turn of the deal around the table) rather than for a single hand. The group shall agree which method applies before play begins.

Before dealing, the dealer shall name the variant to be played and explain it clearly, including every special rule: wild cards, any draw or card passing, whether the pot is high only or split, and how splits are decided.

The dealer may call any variant the group accepts. Most regular groups keep a list of known games, and these, or small changes to them, may be called without discussion.

A dealer who calls an unfamiliar or newly invented game should have checked in advance that it works, and must explain it fully before the deal.

Players should decide what they will call before their turn to deal, so that the game is not delayed.

Groups may also allow games that are not strictly poker, such as Guts (which uses match-pot betting), Badugi (which uses different hands), or 7-27, Bourré and Acey Deucey. Whether these are allowed is for the group to decide.

If a problem arises, such as an ambiguity in the rules or a mistake in the deal or order of play, the dealer is responsible for resolving it in a way that is fair to all players.

Once two or more players have had a turn to bet, the hand shall not be thrown in and redealt. The dealer must find a solution that allows the hand to be played to its end.

Some variants continue over several deals, for example until a pot is won or emptied. Examples include Guts and Three Five Seven.

Because the dealer often has a positional advantage, the deal passes to the left on each deal of such a game, and the players keep the same game until it ends.

When the game ends, the right to call the next game passes to the player to the left of the one who called the multi-deal game.