Midnight Baseball Rules

Midnight Baseball is played with a standard 52-card deck without jokers. It follows the rules of No Peek, with the special cards of Baseball.

All threes and nines are wild. A wild card may stand for any card the player does not already hold, or be added to a rank the player holds to make five of a kind. Five of a kind is the highest hand, above a straight flush. See hand rankings.

Because fours bring extra cards, no more than six players should take part.

The object is to hold the best five-card hand among the cards turned face up 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. Players shall not look at their cards. Each player keeps their cards in a face-down pile or row in front of them.

The player to the dealer's left turns up their top card. That card is the hand to beat, and that player begins the first betting round.

The next active player clockwise then turns up cards one at a time until their face-up cards form a hand that beats the best hand showing. When they do, they stop turning and a betting round follows, usually begun by that player.

A player who turns up all their cards without beating the best hand showing is out of the hand.

Play continues clockwise in this way, skipping the player who currently shows the best hand. A player whose hand has been beaten resumes turning cards on their next turn. Play ends when every player other than the one showing the best hand has either folded or turned up all their cards.

Hands are compared using the cards turned up so far. A hand with more cards beats an otherwise equal hand with fewer: a kicker beats a missing card. Straights and flushes need five cards.

A player who turns up a four is immediately dealt an extra card face down from the deck, which they add unseen to their pile and may turn up later.

When no player remains who can still turn up cards to challenge the best hand, the player showing the best hand wins the pot. They need not turn up any cards they have not yet revealed.

If all other players fold during a betting round, the remaining player wins the pot at once.