Variety, so they say, is the spice of life. And so on that note we decided to put on our thinking caps and come up with five great casino card games that you might not have heard of – including Tequila Poker, Casino Solitaire & Texas Hold’em Shootout. All of which can be played from the comfort of your own home.
Tequila Poker
We’ll start with Tequila Poker, which is like no card game I’ve ever come across before. The game sounds confusing at first but it’s actually very simple, so stick with me!
After placing your wager you are dealt 4 cards. Based on the hand you receive you can make one of three choices – you can fold, ending the hand, or you can place an additional wager and declare either “High Tequila” or “Tequila Poker”.
Unless you chose to fold, you are now dealt 2 more cards. The next part of the game depends on which way you decided to go:
- If you declared “High Tequila” then your aim is to make the highest hand (numerically) you can using 5 of the 6 cards you have been dealt. Payout is dependent on value of the hand, starting at 1-to-1 for 42 all the way up to 200-to-1 for 54 (the highest “High Tequila” hand, made up of 4 aces and a face card)
- Alternatively if you declared “Tequila Poker” then your aim is to make the best poker style hand using 5 of your 6 cards. Payout is again dependent on the value of the hand, starting at 1-to-1 for a pair of Aces all the way up to 200-to-1 for a royal flush.
But remember, the decision of whether to go for a “High Tequila” or “Tequila Poker” hand must be made before you are dealt the final 2 cards.
Casino Solitaire
One of the favourite procrastination tools of bored office workers can now be played for cash. The concept is actually quite simple – you choose your stake (anything from $1 up to $550) and for every card you move to the foundation stack you earn a payout (approximately 10% of your initial wager). As well as “regular” (Klondike) solitaire, which is available in both 1- card and 3- card versions, you can also play exotic variations and jackpot games.
Texas Hold’em Shootout
This game is very similar to the multi player poker game with the same name. In this casino version you are playing against two virtual opponents, both of which are loose/passive players.
To start you must place an initial “Blind” bet, after which you are dealt two cards. One bot will always raise the blind and the other bot will either call or fold. You now have 4 choices:
- Fold – you forfeit your blind and play ends
- Call – call the bots raise
- Raise – raise the bot, who will always call
- Go all in – if you’re confident in your hand you can choose to make a wager of 8x your original blind. The bot will call and all 5 communal cards will be dealt.
If you choose to call or raise, then three cards (known as the “Flop”) are dealt. After which there is an additional round of betting when you can choose to Check (no raise) or Raise. The bot will always call, but never raise.
The fourth (“River”) card is turned over and there is another round of betting. Again you can check or raise.
The fifth card is then dealt and whoever can make the best 5 card poker hand from the 7 cards wins. In the case of a tie the pot is split.
Let It Ride
Quite possibly one of my favourite table games, Let It Ride is a poker style game that lets you take back part of your bet if you don’t like the hand you’ve been dealt.
To play you must place three wagers of equal value, after which you are dealt three cards. Based on how good a hand you’ve been dealt you can either take back one of your three bets or “Let It Ride”. The dealer will then deal a communal card for use by yourself and anybody else at the table and again you can choose to take back a bet or Let It Ride. A final card is dealt and players are paid out at fixed rates, depending on the value of the hand they have made.
Pai Gow Poker
Pai Gow Poker is huge in Asia, but not so well known in the west. This game is played with either a standard 52 card deck or a 53 card deck (including one joker).
You are dealt 7 cards which you must split into two hands – a 5 card “High Hand” and a 2 card “Low Hand”. The high hand must be of a higher value than the low hand. The dealer is also dealt 7 cards and they will do the same.
To win the hand you must have a higher “High Hand” and a higher “Low Hand” than the dealer. Payout is based on the amount you wagered at a rate of 1 to 1, minus a 5% commission. If you only beat one of the dealers hands, then it is a tie and your stake is returned. If both of the dealers hands are higher than yours, then you lose the game.