Guts is a comparing card game, or family of card games, related to poker. Guts is a
gambling game involving ♠ a series of deals of 2, 3, or 4 cards. Hand are ranked
similarly to hands in poker. The betting ♠ during each deal is simple : all players
decide whether they are "in" or "out",[1] and announce this at the ♠ same time. Each deal
has its own showdown, after which the losers match or increase the pot, which grows
rapidly. ♠ A round of the game ends when only one person stays in and wins the pot.
Basic
rules [ edit ]
In ♠ "Two-Card Guts", each player is dealt down, two hole-cards, at the
beginning of a new deal. Two Card Poker rankings ♠ apply; Pairs are ranked over high
cards; however there are no 'straights' or 'flushes' in two card guts (or two ♠ card
poker).
One variation of 2-card guts, ranks 23 (of any suits) as the highest ranking
hand, trumping AA (pocket aces). ♠ Even though getting dealt 23 is more probable than AA
(16 possible combinations of 23 compared to only 6 combinations ♠ of AA, or 1.2% vs 0.45%
respectively), rather, it's the role reversal of the worst hand in heads-up, two-card
poker. ♠ The name for the 23 hand, in this variation, is called the "Royal Crumpler",
among other names.
All players have a ♠ chance to say 'in' or 'out' at the same time by
holding out one or two fingers, or holding a ♠ chip or nothing in their hands; those who
are 'in' have a showdown.
Each round starts with an ante. The players ♠ then play a
series of deals; after each one, the winner takes the existing pot and the losers match
it, ♠ so that the pot or some multiple of it carries over to the next deal.
For example,
if the pot isR$5 ♠ and three people stay in, then one player will receive theR$5 pot and
two players will be forced to addR$5 ♠ each to the next pot, escalating the size of the
pot for the next deal. Then the hand is re-dealt, ♠ and all players (even those who were
"out" in the last round) can participate again. The round ends when only ♠ a single
player has the guts to stay "in", and thus the pot is taken without
replenishment.
Declaring "in" or "out" ♠ is similar to declaring high or low in high-low
games. Each player takes a chip, places their hands under the ♠ table, and either places
the chip in one fist or not. Each player then holds their closed fist above the ♠ table,
and the players simultaneously open their hands to reveal their decision (a chip
represents "in", an empty hand represents ♠ "out").
Rapid pot growth [ edit ]
One of the
characteristics of guts is that the pot grows quickly. As it can ♠ double or more each
round, pots of 50 or 100 times the original ante are possible.
There are many
variations. Sometimes ♠ only the single player with the worst hand (who stayed in) must
add to the pot, but they must double ♠ the pot rather than match it. In one variation,
nobody wins the pot unless nobody else stays in.
One solution to ♠ the exponentially
growing pots is to cap them at 50x or 100x the ante. That is, if there are 5 ♠ players
with an ante ofR$1, the pot started atR$5. If there were 3 doublings, the pot is now
atR$40. Suppose ♠ the "cap the pot atR$50" rule were in force. Then, if another doubling
occurred, each loser would payR$40, but the ♠ pot would now be atR$50 and the extraR$30
would be set aside as the ante once there's a hand with ♠ a winner and no loser.
Common
variants [ edit ]
straights and flushes In some variants, straights and flushes count
for two-card ♠ guts (making them higher than other no-pair hands). In others, straights
and flushes do not count for three-card guts.
high three ♠ of a kind Some variations for
three-card guts rank three of a kind above a straight flush, but the latter ♠ occurs less
frequently.
partial hands Each player receives all but one card face down, and if they
are in, they receive ♠ their last card face up.
dummy hands Many variants include a dummy
hand that must be beaten if only one person ♠ stays in. In some variants, rather than a
dummy hand, you must have a pair or better. In others, the ♠ dummy hand always plays
against the other hands, and may be called "Granny", "The Kitty", "Herb", or "The
Pot".
The Batey ♠ one community card is flipped over from the top of the deck after all
hands have been dealt which each ♠ player uses in making their hand. Named after its
inventor, Justin Batey
dealer option In variants where players do not declare ♠ all at
the same time, the dealer declares last; if no other player has stayed in, the other
players sometimes ♠ have another chance to declare and challenge the dealer. With this
variation, there is generally no dummy hand.
chicken fee If ♠ no one stays in for a hand
(more common in variants where there is a dummy hand to beat), everyone ♠ has to pay
another ante on the next deal.
Henry Rule Similar to the chicken fee. If no one stays
in, ♠ the player with the hand that would have won must match the pot.
One low "in" and
wild In this three ♠ card game, everyone is dealt one card face up. The player with the
lowest card face up is automatically in, ♠ but that number is wild.
Two low "in" and wild
In this three card game, everyone at one point is dealt ♠ a card face up. The people with
the two lowest cards are automatically in but these card numbers are also ♠ wild.(If more
than one person has the same number card, then more than two people can be in.)
Hi-Lo
When deciding ♠ to stay in, each player also indicates high or low, usually by having a
high-valued chip in hand for high, ♠ low-valued for low, or none for folding. If multiple
players stay in, the best hand among those indicating high gets ♠ half the pot and the
others have to match the pot. Similarly for low. Usually played with a dummy hand ♠ which
has to be beaten in the appropriate direction to take the pot. If no dummy hand is
played, a ♠ single player choosing high can take half of the pot uncontested even if
other (low) players are in the game. ♠ Some games also allow "Hi-Lo" option, usually
indicated by both a high-valued chip and a low-valued chip in hand at ♠ the reveal. The
player going "Hi-Lo" competes amongst both the high players and the low-players, and is
usually only a ♠ good idea with hands such as ace-deuce.
No Peek A pure gambling game,
each player gets two (or three) cards, but ♠ cannot look at them before deciding to stay
in.
Winner Takes All The winner of a round gets the pot and ♠ all the money matched by
losers. This variant is usually played with a dummy hand and a chicken fee. The ♠ pot
will only grow if there is a chicken fee and no players stay in, or if there is a ♠ dummy
hand and the sole remaining player loses to it.
School Bus In this variant, the highest
possible combination of the ♠ two-card hand is the 6 and 9, for obvious reasons. Any
player who loses against this hand must then double ♠ the pot in the next round.
Nuts [
edit ]
There is a variant of Guts called Nuts. Each player is required ♠ to place a
certain amount of money in the pot. For example, the bet starts with one dollar. With
five ♠ players, there would be five dollars in the pot. Each player is dealt two cards,
and the lowest cards win ♠ (Pairs are strong). If a player is "in" and no other players
are, the player gets a "nut." If two ♠ players go in, then neither gets a nut. These two
players have to compete their cards against each other. The ♠ lower cards win, and the
loser has to pay the winner money equivalent to the pot, in this case five
♠ dollars.
When the third card is dealt, the best cards are the highest cards. Here the
process of in and out ♠ is repeated. With the fourth card, the low cards are the best.
Then with the fifth and last card, the ♠ higher the better. When a player gets three
nuts, he or she will get the pot. If three nuts are ♠ not awarded within the first round,
a second round is needed. With the second round, each player adds a dollar ♠ to the pot,
so the pot doubles. This continues until someone gets three nuts, and thus the
pot.
Similar games [ ♠ edit ]
There are a few other games which share the geometric pot
growth and in/out betting of guts.
Toh [ edit ♠ ]
Toh is a high-card game in which
players act in order to decide whether they are in or out, as ♠ in guts. There is a
balance between the number of players and the number of points/cards needed to win;
this ♠ number of points is announced before the game begins. The game is designed for 4
to 10 people. 4 players ♠ might play to 5 points, 8 or more players to only 3 points.
The
rules of the game are as follows: ♠ the pot is seeded with a penny. Each hand, every
player is dealt one card face down. The deal rotates. ♠ After each deal, discards are
kept in a separate discard pile; as long as there are enough cards in the ♠ remaining
deck to deal the next hand, there is no reshuffling. (In a friendly game, the last hand
before a ♠ reshuffle may be announced as such.) Each player in turn announces whether
they are in or out. If only the ♠ dealer stays in, players have a second chance to stay
in as well.
At the showdown, the losers match the pot, ♠ and the winner keeps the high
card face up next to her. High card wins; card value increases by suit,
♠ club-diamond-heart-spade. The first player to reach the declared number of points wins
the game, and takes the pot.
