Football Poker Rules (Buy Variant)

This version of Football was contributed to pagat.com by John Noriega. It is a Seven Card Stud game with a standard 52-card deck. It is different from the Football game listed separately, and from the Baseball variant in which threes and sixes are wild.

All fours are wild, for the four quarters of a game. Five of a kind is possible and ranks above a straight flush. See hand rankings.

The cards are dealt and bet as in Seven Card Stud: two down, four up and one down, with a betting round after each card from the first up card on. The best five-card hand at the showdown wins the pot.

Extra point. When a player is dealt an ace face up, every other player pays that player a fixed amount. The amount is agreed before the game, usually in proportion to the ante.

Field goal. When a player is dealt a three face up, that player cuts the deck. The rank of the card cut to becomes a personal wild card for that player only. The card itself stays in the deck. For example, if a player cuts to a five, all fives in that player's hand are wild for them.

The source does not say what happens when a player receives a second three face up. The dealer shall announce before the deal whether it adds a further personal wild rank, replaces the first, or has no effect.

A player's four up cards are their four downs. To stay in the hand, the point values of the four up cards must total at least ten: the ten yards needed for a first down.

Aces count one point and number cards count their face value. Before the deal, the dealer shall announce whether kings, queens and jacks count zero points or one point each.

A player whose four up cards total less than ten is out of the hand and loses what they have already bet.

The punt. A player who is unlikely to make ten yards may punt instead of risking elimination. To punt, the player puts ten times the ante into the pot and does not receive a fourth up card. A player who punts is not put out for failing to make ten yards.

Before dealing the fourth up card, the dealer shall ask each player at risk whether they wish to punt, or at least make a clear 'punt now' announcement.

Each remaining player makes the best five-card hand from their cards, using fours and their own personal wild rank, if any, as wild. The highest hand wins the pot.

A player who punted has one card fewer than the others, and makes the best hand they can from their remaining cards.