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Mexican Sweat is a version of No Peek. Each player is dealt seven unseen cards and one card is placed face up in the middle of the table; the first player must turn up cards until beating it, and each player after that turns up cards until beating the best hand showing. Anyone who turns up a card of the same rank as the middle card must fold at once.
Mexican Sweat is played with a standard 52-card deck without jokers. It follows the rules of No Peek except as stated on this page. There are no wild cards.
Hands rank according to the standard poker hand rankings, compared on the cards each player has turned face up.
The object is to show the best hand when play ends, or to be the last player remaining.
Each player places an agreed ante in the pot before the deal.
The dealer deals seven cards face down to each player and then places one card face up in the middle of the table. This is the middle card. Players shall not look at their own cards.
The player to the dealer's left turns up cards one at a time until their face-up cards beat the middle card. Only then does the first betting round take place.
Each following active player, clockwise, turns up cards one at a time until their face-up cards beat the best hand showing. A betting round follows each time a player takes the lead.
A player who turns up a card of the same rank as the middle card must fold immediately, whatever else they are showing. By prior agreement there may be a betting round at that point before the next player continues.
A player who turns up all their cards without beating the best hand showing is out of the hand.
Partial hands are compared as in No Peek: when hands are otherwise equal, an extra card beats a missing card, and straights and flushes need five cards. The middle card does not form part of any player's hand.
Beating the middle card, and a forced fold
The middle card is 8♦.
Player A turns up 5♣, which does not beat the eight, then J♥. A jack-high hand beats a single eight, so A stops and the first betting round begins.
Player B turns up 8♠. It matches the rank of the middle card, so B must fold at once.
Play ends when every player other than the one showing the best hand has either folded or turned up all their cards. The player showing the best hand wins the pot.
If all other players fold during a betting round, the remaining player wins the pot at once.
You must fold immediately, even if your hand was winning. Three cards of that rank remain in play, so every player runs the risk.
No. It is only the first hand to beat and the rank that forces a fold. It is not a community card.
No. As in No Peek, your cards stay face down and unseen until you turn them up.
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.
Mexican Sweat Rules · OPR-690 · officialpokerrules.com/mexican-sweat/