Inversion Poker Rules

Inversion Poker turns draw poker inside out. Every player's five cards are dealt face up, so all starting hands are known. Players then discard in turn and receive their replacements face down, and a single betting round follows before the showdown.

Type: Draw
Deal: Five cards face up
Draw: 0 to 5 cards, replacements face down
Betting rounds: 1
Pot: High only

Article 1Players, deck and objective

1.1

Inversion Poker was devised by Jim Warshauer, as published on pagat.com. It is a variant of Five Card Draw in which the starting hands are known to everyone.

1.2

It uses a standard 52-card deck with no wild cards. The best five-card high hand wins, ranked by the standard poker hand rankings.

1.3

The source sets no player limit. Each player can use at most ten cards (five dealt and five replacements), so with five players or fewer the deck can never run out. With more players, the group shall agree beforehand what happens if the deck runs short.

Article 2Antes and the deal

2.1

Players post antes or blinds as usual.

2.2

The dealer deals five cards face up to each player.

Article 3The draw and betting

3.1

Starting with the player to the dealer's left, each player in turn decides how many cards to discard, from none to all five.

3.2

Discards stay face up. The dealer gives the player the same number of replacement cards face down.

3.3

Each player looks privately at their replacement cards.

3.4

When everyone has drawn, there is one betting round.

Article 4Showdown

4.1

The players who have not folded turn up their face-down cards. The best five-card hand wins the pot.

Example

Known cards, hidden draws

Player A is dealt K♠K♥7♦4♣2♠ face up and discards the 7♦4♣2♠. Player B is dealt 9♣9♦9♥J♠3♣ face up and discards the J♠3♣.

Everyone knows B holds three nines and A a pair of kings. At the showdown A reveals K♦8♠8♣, making kings full of eights. B reveals 5♥6♦ and still has three nines. A wins.

Article 5Strategy notes

Everyone sees every starting hand, so each player knows exactly what they need to beat before choosing how many cards to draw.
The number of cards an opponent draws shows how much their hand could have improved, but not whether it did.
A player who starts behind may draw aggressively, since standing pat on a hand known to be worse cannot win at showdown.

Article 6Frequently asked questions

Are the cards dealt face up in Inversion Poker?

Yes. All five starting cards are dealt face up. Only the replacement cards from the draw are dealt face down.

How many betting rounds are there in Inversion Poker?

One, after everyone has drawn.

Final authority

Where any doubt remains in the application of this document, Rob is right.

Hand rankings, high to low: royal flush · straight flush · four of a kind · full house · flush · straight · three of a kind · two pair · one pair · high card. Suits never break ties.

Inversion Poker Rules · OPR-606 · officialpokerrules.com/inversion-poker/

OPR-606Uncontrolled when printed