Premise of the Game
The objective of six-card poker is to get a higher hand than the dealer does.
The deck has 52 cards from Twos to Aces in each suit. The highest cards are Aces, the lowest are Twos. The deck is shuffled before dealing.
How to Play in One Box
The player plays against the dealer in this game. There are six boxes on the table. Each box has two fields for bets. One of them is called ANTE (pre-bet), the other is called BET (the bet itself).
Before dealing the player makes a pre-bet by putting one or more chips on ANTE field. For this the player needs to click on a corresponding chip and a box in which he would like to place the bet or choose a chip and drag it to the box. Antes must be between 1 and 100. After this the player presses Deal.
The dealer draws five cards for himself and the player. The cards are alternately dealt face-down except the dealer’s last card.
The player looks at the cards and evaluates his hand. Eventually the player will have to compare his hand to the dealer’s. A higher hand wins. The dealer’s opened card is the only information available to the player.
Poker Combinations
Every hand is evaluated against one of the eleven combinations. The lowest combination ("No Hand") does not qualify the rest qualifies. The player must have at least Ace-King to qualify. A combination is defined by the value of its cards as well as by their suits. The order in which the cards are received does not matter. The below combinations are listed in descending rank order. For your convenience find here descriptions of the combinations:
- Royal Flush – the highest poker hand: 5 highest cards in one suit (Ace-King-Queen-Jack-10).
- Straight Flush – straight in one suit.
- Four of a Kind – 4 cards of the same rank, for example, 4 Jacks or 4 Fives (plus one extra card).
- Full or Full House – 3 cards of the same rank and 2 of another, for example, 6-6-6-King-King.
- Flush – 5 cards of the same suit.
- Straight – 5 successive cards, for example, 9-8-7-6-5. Suits do not matter. An ace can be both the highest card (Ace-King-Queen-Jack-10) and the lowest card in a combination (5-4-3-2-Ace). Ace within the combination does not make up a Straight (e.g. 3-2-Ace-King-Queen).
- Three of a Kind – 3 cards of the same rank, for example, 9-9-9-Queen-4.
- Two Pairs – two cards of one rank and two of another, for example, Ace-Ace-5-5-10.
- One Pair – two cards of one rank, for example, 8-8-King-4-2.
- Ace-King – an ace and a king in any suits, for example, Ace-King-8-7-3.
- No Hand – cards do not make any of the above combinations, for example, Jack-10-7-5-2.
The higher the combination, the higher the hand. If two hands have the same combinations, they are valued as in the regular poker by the rank of the cards.
A few examples:
- Pair 5-5-4-3-2 is higher than 4-4-Ace-King-Queen (the rank of paired cards is valued);
- Pair 5-5-Queen-3-2 is higher than 5-5-Jack-10-9 (Queen is higher than Jack);
- Two pairs Ace-Ace-2-2-3 is higher than King-King-Queen-Queen-Ace (the values of the higher paired cards are compared);
- Straight King-Queen-Jack-10 is the highest, 5-4-3-2-Ace is the lowest;
- Full 3-3-3-2-2 is higher than 2-2-2-Ace-Ace (the value of Three of a Kind is higher than Pair).
There are no priorities among the suits. That is why two pairs of the same rank have the same value. For example, Hearts Flush Royal counts the same as Clubs Flush Royal.
After looking at his hand, a player decides which of the three possible actions to take:
Decision 1. Fold immediately. The player presses Fold and ANTE is lost. The game is over.
Decision 2. Continue playing with the cards he has.
If this is the case, then the player presses Deal, which automatically makes the bet twice his ANTE. Sometimes the described procedure is called 'Raising the Ante'.
Decision 3. Try to change one or two cards in order to get a better combination. For example, you could discard a Queen out of Queen-9-8-7-6 in hope of getting a ten or a five and have a Straight. In order to change one or two cards you need choose them by clicking on them, then press Change. The change of a card costs one ANTE. A two-card change costs 1.5 ANTE. The dealer draws new cards. After the change, the player evaluates his five cards again and if the change has been successful, he makes Decision 2. If not, then the player can only make Decision 1 that is to stop the game. There are no more alternatives left.
After a sixth card buy-in, the player can again either make Decision 1 or 2 or change one of the six cards for a better combination. For example, with Ace-Queen-9-8-7-6 you could discard the Queen in hope of getting a 10 or a 5 and have a Straight. In order to change a card you need to choose one card by clicking it, then press Change. The change of a card costs two ANTES.
After changing cards the player estimates his hand and if the change has been successful, he makes Decision 2. If not, the player can only make Decision 1 that is to stop the game.
There is also one restriction for buy-ins in and change of cards: the exchange will be impossible if there is not enough money in the player’s account to make a bet after paying.
Once the player has made his final decision, the dealer opens his cards. If there is a poker combination in the dealer’s hand, then his cards are compared to those of the player’s. If the player’s hand is lower, he loses his wager. When equal hands occur, the player keeps his bets. The most interesting things happen when the dealer loses.
ANTE is paid at 1 to 1. Bets pay according to the poker combination. Here is the Payoff table:
| Combination | Pays |
| Royal Flush | 100:1 |
| Straight Flush | 50:1 |
| Four of a Kind | 20:1 |
| Full House | 7:1 |
| Flush | 5:1 |
| Straight | 4:1 |
| Three of a Kind | 3:1 |
| Two Pairs | 2:1 |
| One Pair | 1:1 |
If ANTE is 10 (which means the BET is 20), the player’s total winnings with Full House are 150. For Royal Flush the player gets 2010.
The above is a situation when the dealer has a poker combination. If this is not the case, then the player's cards interest nobody and it is said that 'The dealer does not qualify'. In any way, the player wins even if he does not quaify. His winnings will equal his ANTE. However, these winnings will seem like a mild consolation if the player has Four of a Kind or Straight Flush. In six-card poker the player may try to change the situation by buying qualification for the dealer. If the dealer does not qualify, he offers the player to pay for the change of one of the dealer's cards. The dealer chooses and shows the player the card which will be changed. The dealer tries to get a maximum hand and gets rid of the selected card. If the dealer gets one of the poker combinations as a result of the exchange, then the hands are compared and winnings are paid. When the dealer still does not qualify after the exchange, the player gets back his bet only. In this case the ante is not paid.
If the dealer does not qualify, he offers the player to pay for the change of one of the dealer’s cards. The dealer chooses and shows the player the card which will be changed. The dealer tries to get a maximum hand and gets rid of the selected card. If the dealer gets one of the poker combinations as a result of the exchange, then the hands are compared and winnings are paid. When the dealer still does not qualify after the exchange, the player gets back his bet only. In this case the ante is not paid.
Game in Multiple Boxes
All the above rules are for one-box game. Now let us see what is different in a multiple boxes game:
The player can buy up to 3 boxes. With this the player can choose any 6 boxes on the poker table. The third box always plays closed, that is the player puts on it ANTE and his/her main BET. Bets in boxes do not correlate. You can put 1 in the first box and a 100 in the second one.
Once bets are made, the dealer draws 5 cards for himself and for each bought box, face down. Then the dealer opens his last card.
The player analyses the cards in the first box and takes one of the three decisions. Only after that he can view cards in the second box.
In the first and second boxes the player can make one buy in and one change. In the third box he can neither buy nor change nor fold. The third box plays anyway. Just like in the one-box game, a sixth card costs an ante. The change of a card costs two antes.
The player can neither buy nor change a card if he does not have enough money to make a bet in the current box. If after playing in the first box he is unable to make a bet in the second box, he can take only one action, that is to fold.
When the player makes a decision about the current box whether to play or fold, the cards of the next box are revealed and game moves on. If the next box is the third one or if the current box is the last one bought by the player, then it is the dealer’s turn to play. The dealer opens his cards and compares them with those of the player’s.
If the dealer does not qualify, the player can buy the dealer's qualification. This decision is made for each box separately. The purchase of the game costs one ANTE per box. In this case the dealer changes one of his cards. The bought boxes pay according to the exchange results. ANTE is paid in the rest of the boxes.
Each box pays independently of the rest.
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