Train Wreck Rules

Train Wreck is a variation of seven-card stud contributed by Kevin Borror, as published on pagat.com.

It is played with a standard 52-card deck and no wild cards. The best five-card high hand at the showdown wins the pot, under the standard hand rankings.

A player's four face-up cards dealt on third to sixth street are their table cards. The two first face-down cards and the last face-down card are their hole cards. Extra cards received through the special actions are neither.

Rejected cards go out of play and special actions can deal extra cards, so seven players can run a single deck short. Six or fewer players is safer.

Antes, bring-in, betting order and limits are those of seven-card stud, or as agreed before the deal.

Each player is dealt two hole cards and a first table card, then three more table cards and a final hole card. There are five betting rounds: one after each table card and one after the last hole card.

For the second, third and fourth table cards, the dealer turns the top card of the deck face up and offers it to the first active player to the dealer's left.

That player shall either:

3.2(a) accept the offered card free, as their table card; or

3.2(b) pay the fee for that street into the pot and be dealt the next card from the deck, face up, instead.

If the player accepted the offered card, the dealer turns up a new card and offers it to the next active player. If the player paid for a card from the deck, the same rejected card is offered to the next active player.

This continues clockwise until every active player has received a table card for that street.

If the last player to act rejects the offered card, that card is placed at the bottom of the deck and is not used in that deal.

Only the four table cards count toward a special pair. Hole cards, the extra card dealt for a pair of 2s, and a card taken with a pair of 5s cannot make or complete a special pair.

A player whose table cards hold two different special pairs, for example 3-3-5-5, carries out both actions.

Three of a kind among the table cards has the same effect as a pair and no more.

Extra face-up cards count toward the player's poker hand at the showdown. The player makes the best five-card hand from all the cards they hold.

After the final betting round, the remaining players show their hands. The best five-card high hand from all the cards a player holds wins the pot.

If all other players fold, the last player wins without showing.

Rejecting a good offered card also passes it to the next player, so weigh what it would do for them.

The fees rise each street, so late decisions to buy an unseen card cost the most.

A low pair showing can be more valuable for its action than for its poker value, especially a pair of 5s, which lets you take an opponent's best table card.