Anaconda

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Hand ranking
3. Betting in short
4. Setup
5. Passing the trash
6. Rolling the cards
7. Declaring and showdown
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Anaconda – also called Pass the Trash – is a home-poker game in which you improve your hand with your neighbours' unwanted cards. Everyone gets seven cards face down and passes three, then two, then one card to the left. Then you keep your best five cards, stack them face down and turn them up one at a time, with a round of betting after each. At the end every player declares whether they play for the high hand, the low hand or both, and the best high hand and the best low hand split the pot – all the chips bet in that deal.

• Players: 3–7, each for themselves; 5–7 is ideal.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and chips (or counters, matches, buttons) – the same amount for everyone at the start, e.g. 100 each. You play for chips, not money.

Hand ranking

High hands. Cards rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2; the Ace can also be low in the straight 5-4-3-2-A. Suits are all equal. Your hand is your five cards. From best to worst:

Any hand of a higher kind beats any hand of a lower kind. Between hands of the same kind, the higher cards win: first compare the most important cards (the four, the three, the higher pair …), then the remaining cards from the top. If all five are equal in rank, the hands tie.

Low hands. Usually counted the "ace-to-five" way: the Ace is always low, and straights and flushes don't count. The best low hand is 5-4-3-2-A. Compare the highest card first – the lower one wins – then the next, and so on: 7-5-4-3-2 beats 8-4-3-2-A. Any hand without a pair beats any hand with a pair, and one pair beats two pair.

Betting in short

All chips bet go into the pot in the middle. Before each deal everyone pays a small ante (e.g. 1 chip) into the pot. When it is your turn in a betting round, you can:

• Check – bet nothing, if nobody has bet yet in this round.
• Bet – put in chips.
• Call – put in just enough to match the highest bet so far.
• Raise – match the highest bet and add more.
• Fold – give up: put your cards away face down. You lose what you have already put in.

A betting round ends when everyone still in has put in the same amount. Agree limits before you start, for example: bets and raises of 1–5 chips, at most three raises per round.

Setup

1. Everyone gets the same number of chips. Choose a dealer; the deal passes to the left after every hand.
2. Everyone pays the ante. The dealer shuffles and deals seven cards face down to each player, one at a time clockwise, starting on the left. Look at your cards, but show them to no one.

Passing the trash

1. Everyone chooses three cards and lays them face down next to the player on their left. Only when everyone has passed do you pick up the three cards you were given.
2. In the same way, everyone passes two cards to the left.
3. Finally, everyone passes one card to the left.

Pass cards you don't want – but remember they help your neighbour.

Rolling the cards

1. Everyone discards two cards face down, keeping the five cards for their hand.
2. Put your five cards in a face-down stack in any order you like. You can't change the order later.
3. Everyone turns up the top card of their stack at the same time. Then there is a betting round, started by the player with the best high hand showing (if tied, the one nearest the dealer's left); play goes clockwise.
4. Repeat until four cards of each stack are face up – four betting rounds in all.

If at any time all but one player fold, that player wins the pot at once.

Declaring and showdown

1. Declare: everyone still in secretly takes no chip (low), one chip (high) or two chips (both ways) in a closed fist. All open their fists at the same time.
2. Showdown: everyone turns up their last card. The best hand among the high players wins half the pot, the best hand among the low players the other half. If everyone declared the same way, the best hand of that kind takes the whole pot.
3. Both ways: if you declared both, you must win or tie both ways – the best (or an equally good) high hand and the best (or an equally good) low hand; otherwise you win nothing and the halves go to the others. If that leaves nobody for one of the halves, the winner of the other half takes the whole pot.
4. Equal hands share their half.

Example: The pot holds 30 chips. Anna shows 9 9 9 5 and has another 5 underneath – a full house. Ben shows 6 4 3 A and hides a 2: 6-4-3-2-A, a very good low. Carla shows K K Q J with a 7 underneath (K K Q J 7) and declares high – she has nothing for low. Anna declares high, Ben low. Anna's full house beats Carla's pair of Kings: Anna and Ben take 15 chips each.

Winning the game

Play as many deals as you like, or until an agreed time. Whoever has the most chips at the end wins; anyone who runs out of chips drops out.

Tips for beginners

• Decide early whether you go high or low, and pass the cards that don't fit.
• Watch what your right-hand neighbour seems to be collecting – and don't pass the player on your left what they need.
• The order of your stack is a weapon: showing your strong cards first can scare others out; hiding them makes a surprise.
• Declaring both ways is risky: one better hand in either direction and you get nothing.

Variants

All optional – agree beforehand.

• More betting: a betting round before the first pass and after each pass, as described on Wikipedia. Anyone who folds is skipped when passing.
• High only: no declaring; the best high hand takes the whole pot.
• One pass only: after a first betting round everyone passes three cards to the left, bets again, then discards two and rolls (as described on pagat.com).
• Other passing patterns: e.g. three to the left, two to the right, one to the left; or three to the left, two to the player two seats left, one to the player three seats left.
• Six cards: everyone gets only six cards and discards one.
• Howdy Doody: high-low with wild cards – 3s are wild for high hands, Kings for low hands.