Widow Jack Rules

Widow Jack is a variation of Stud-Jack contributed by a player named fran, as published on pagat.com. It combines Stud-Jack with the Black Mariah rule for the queen of spades.

The game uses a standard 52-card deck with no wild cards. Up to seven players may take part.

Players compete for two halves of the pot: the best five-card high poker hand from all seven cards, and the best blackjack hand made from the face-down cards. Poker hands rank by the standard hand rankings.

Antes, bring-in and betting follow seven-card stud, or whatever the players agree before the deal.

Each player receives two cards down and one up, then three more up cards one at a time, then a seventh card face down. There is a betting round after each stage.

As in Stud-Jack, a player may pay to have their seventh card dealt face up so that it is not a hit on their blackjack hand. The dealer shall announce the price before the deal.

The queen of spades is the Black Mariah. If it is dealt face up to any player at any point, the deal stops at once.

All cards are thrown in and shuffled, and the hand is dealt again. Every hand in progress is wiped out, including a strong poker hand or a blackjack of 21.

The pot, including all bets made before the reset, stays in the middle and is carried into the new deal. Under the Black Mariah rules on pagat.com, only players who had not folded when the queen appeared take part in the new deal.

A seventh card bought face up can itself be the queen of spades. It then forces a redeal like any other face-up queen of spades.

The source gives the queen of spades no special role when it is dealt face down. Unless the dealer announces otherwise, it is an ordinary queen: a queen in the poker hand and 10 in the blackjack hand.

The source does not say whether players ante again for the redeal. The dealer shall announce this before play begins.

If the hand reaches a showdown without a face-up queen of spades, the best high poker hand wins half the pot and the best blackjack total of 21 or less wins the other half. One player may win both halves.

Blackjack hands are scored as in Stud-Jack: number cards at face value, court cards at 10 and aces at 1 or 11. The two original down cards count, plus the seventh card if it was dealt face down.

Ties, and the case where every blackjack hand is bust, are settled as announced by the dealer before the deal.

The related game Faces of Death widens the trigger to any spade court card. A group wishing to use that trigger in Widow Jack shall announce it before the deal.

The game without the queen-of-spades rule is plain Stud-Jack.