Indian Poker

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card ranking
3. Betting in short
4. Setup and deal
5. Betting round
6. Showdown
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Indian Poker turns poker upside down: everyone gets one card and holds it against their forehead, face outwards. You can see everybody else's card – but not your own. Then there is one round of betting. The highest card among the players still in wins the pot (all the chips bet). You have to guess from the others' cards and behaviour how good your own card is.

• Players: 2–8, each for themselves.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and chips (or counters, matches) – the same amount for everyone, e.g. 50 each. You play for chips, not money.

Card ranking

Only single cards are compared. From highest to lowest:

Suits don't count: two cards of the same rank are equal.

Betting in short

• Ante: a fixed stake that everyone puts into the pot before the deal, e.g. 1 chip.
• Check: bet nothing – only if nobody has bet yet.
• Bet: put chips into the pot, up to an agreed maximum (e.g. 5 chips).
• Call: put in just enough to match the highest bet so far.
• Raise: match the highest bet and add more (again up to the agreed maximum per raise).
• Fold: give up – you lose what you have put in and can't win this pot.

Agree on the ante and the maximum bet or raise before you start.

Setup and deal

1. Everyone puts the ante into the pot.
2. The dealer shuffles and deals one card face down to each player. The deal passes to the left after each hand.
3. Don't look at your card! Pick it up with its back towards you and hold it against your forehead, so that everybody else can see its face.

Betting round

1. The player to the dealer's left starts, then play goes clockwise. Each player checks or bets.
2. Once someone has bet, each following player must call, raise or fold.
3. The round ends when everyone still in has put in the same amount and nobody wants to raise. If everyone checks, the round ends too.
4. If all but one player fold, that player wins the pot at once.

If you can't afford a call, you may put in all your remaining chips (all-in); you can then win from each other player only as much as you put in yourself. The others play for the rest of the pot among themselves.

Showdown

The players still in look at their own cards. The highest card wins the pot. If several players tie for the highest card, they share the pot equally.

Example: Anna sees Ben's Q and Carla's 4. She bets 2 chips, hoping her card beats a Queen. Ben sees Anna's K and Carla's 4 – he doesn't know his own Queen, but a King is high, so he folds. Carla sees a King and a Queen and folds too. Anna wins the pot without ever knowing that she held a King.

Winning the game

Play until one player has all the chips, or until an agreed time – then whoever has the most chips wins.

Tips for beginners

• Use what you see: every high card on the others' foreheads is one fewer that could be on yours. With only low cards around you, your chances are good.
• Watch how others react to your card: someone who eagerly bets or raises may be looking at a low card on your forehead.
• Keep a poker face – your reactions tell the others about their cards.
• Don't give away others' cards by talking about them.

Variants

• Low wins: the lowest card wins instead of the highest.
• High-low: the highest and the lowest card share the pot.
• Match pot: instead of betting, everyone declares at the same time (e.g. with a chip in a closed fist, as in Guts) whether they are in or out. The best card among those who are in takes the pot; every other player who was in must pay the amount of the pot into it for the next deal.
• Several cards: everyone holds two or more cards to their forehead, and the hands are compared as in poker. With two cards only a pair and the high card count (a pair beats any two odd cards). With three, use the three-card ranking from Three-Card Brag: three of a kind › straight flush › straight › flush › pair › high card. With five, the usual poker ranking applies (see the table below).
• Indian Hold'em: Texas Hold'em in which players hold their two hole cards to their foreheads without looking at them.

Five-card ranking for the Several cards variant (best first):