Vegas Poker Blog

Weve all played œguts�, right? Well, heres a nifty little variation called Lou. Maybe it was named after some guy named Lou �or maybe a girl friend. Who knows? But its an interesting one to add to your list of weird poker variations.

It starts with three cards to each player. The dealer flips a trump card afterwards. This is all guts style. Those players who declare œin� can draw as many cards as they want. When the play starts, each player must follow suit. Every trick is worth 1/3 of the pot, and every player who declares œin� and doesnt get at least a trick, must match the pot!

Basics:

Since the goal of this game is to collect tricks, it almost isnt a poker game although it relates strongly to guts and there are bets �so it can be classified as poker! The dealer decides on the ante amount, and that must be at least 15 cents. Theres a reason for this: because the pot must be divisible by three, so even nickel-ante table would have a 15-cent ante for this variation. The pot is divided into 3 equal piles So each player gets three cards and the dealer flips the trump You play by each player tossing out one of their cards at a time in sequence, and always trying to follow suit. Anyone unfamiliar with trump, it automatically takes the trick, unless a higher trump card is thrown on the same round. If youve played bridge, this is easy stuff. So if spades is trump, hearts were led, and everybody has a heart but you, you can throw down any spade and it gets you the trick. However, another player who might not have had hearts could play a higher spade than yours to take the trick.

Just like œguts�, players must call “in” or “out”. Do this is with the chip declare, where players lower one chip or coin under the table with both hands, raising only one hand over the table. Getting a little weird now, huh? Players who choose to go “in” have the chip in their hand; those who do not want to go “in” leave the chip in the hand that is not raised over the table. Once each player has one hand raised over the table, all players open that hand at the same time. This sort of puts the whole thing in to a party realm, doesnt it? Especially depending on how many drinks youve had and how good your coordination is holding up. Those that drop a chip are declaring “in”. These players are allowed a draw of as many cards as they want.

Play starts with the first player who called “in” to the left of the dealer leading. Everyone must follow suit if they can. Otherwise, you can throw down a trump card if you have one to try to take the trick. Once all players who went “in” have played their three cards, players take a third of the pot for each trick that they collected. Those players that went “in” and did not collect at least one trick of the three must match the pot. If two players went “in” and collected no tricks, then the pot doubles, but is still divided into three piles for the next round. The game is over when each player who went “in” collects at least one trick. Otherwise, somebody will be throwing money into the pot and the player to the left of the dealer re-deals the same game.

I made some friends try this the other night after wed popped a few. If nothing else, its great for laughs! I loved bridge before I loved poker so trumps are fun for me!