Elimination Rules

Elimination was contributed by Arthur Buderick as part of his dealer's choice poker game. It uses poker betting, but hands are not judged as poker hands. It works best for about five to eight players.

A standard 52-card deck is used. Cards count as follows:

1.2(a) Cards from 2 to 10 count their face value.

1.2(b) Aces count 1 or 11, at the player's choice.

1.2(c) Kings, queens and jacks count 10 or ½, at the player's choice.

The object is to finish with the highest or the lowest total. Because aces and picture cards have two values, the same hand can compete for both.

Each player places the agreed ante in the pot.

The dealer deals five cards face down to each player and a row of five cards face down on the table.

The first betting round follows. Every betting round in this game is begun by the player to the dealer's left.

The dealer turns up the first table card. Every player holding any card of that rank must discard all such cards. For example, if a queen is turned up, every queen in every hand is thrown away. A betting round follows.

The dealer then turns up the next table card. If it is the same rank as a table card already showing, the dealer turns up cards from the top of the undealt deck until a new rank appears. Players discard all cards of the new rank, and a betting round follows.

This continues until one of the following happens:

3.3(a) Five different ranks are showing on the table and the sixth betting round is over. This is the usual ending.

3.3(b) Only one player has not folded. That player wins the pot.

3.3(c) A player has had all five cards eliminated. That player wins the whole pot at once. This is rare.

The surviving players, who will each hold between one and five cards, declare at the same moment by holding coins in a closed hand:

4.1(a) One coin: low.

4.1(b) Two coins: high.

4.1(c) Three coins: both, sometimes called pig.

A player who declares both must win both high and low to take the whole pot. If they lose or tie either one, they win nothing.

Otherwise, the players who declared high compete for half the pot, and the players who declared low compete for the other half. Totals are counted using whichever values of aces and picture cards suit the player's declaration.

If players tie in either contest, they share that half of the pot.

If no one declares high, the winner of low takes the whole pot, and the reverse.