Pokerface

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Poker hands
4. Setup
5. A deal, step by step
6. A token round
7. Showdown
8. Talking
9. Winning the game
10. Tips for beginners
11. Variants

Overview

Pokerface is a cooperative card game: all players form one team and win or lose together. It uses the cards and hands of the poker game Texas Hold'em, but nobody bets and nobody plays against anyone else. Instead, each player estimates how strong their hand is compared to the others and shows it by taking a numbered token. At the end all hands are revealed – and they must turn out to be in exactly the order the tokens say. You may not talk about your cards: the tokens are your only way to communicate.

• Players: 3–6.
• You need: two standard 52-card decks (ideally with different backs), and paper and pencil.

Pokerface is an original game written for this site, inspired by the cooperative poker game The Gang. It uses its own rules.

The cards

Play cards (deck 1). The whole first deck without jokers – 52 cards.

Tokens (deck 2). From the second deck take, in each suit, the Ace up to the number of players – for 4 players A, 2, 3, 4 of ♣, ♦, ♥ and ♠, 16 cards in all. Put the rest of deck 2 aside. Each suit is used in one of the four token rounds: ♣ first, then ♦, ♥ and ♠.

A token's number shows how strong you think your hand is: the Ace (1) means "my hand is the weakest", the highest token means "my hand is the strongest", the numbers in between mean the places in between.

Poker hands

A hand is the best combination of exactly five cards you can make from your own two cards and the five shared cards in the middle – seven cards in all. 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. From best to worst:

Any hand of a higher kind beats any hand of a lower kind. Between hands of the same kind, compare the most important cards first (the four, the three, the higher pair …), then the remaining cards one after another from the top. A straight is ranked by its top card. If all five cards are equal in rank, the hands are equally strong – suits never count.

Setup

1. Choose a dealer; after every deal the next player to the left becomes dealer.
2. Sort the tokens into four small groups by suit and keep them ready.
3. Draw two columns on the paper: Success and Failure.

A deal, step by step

1. Hole cards: the dealer shuffles deck 1 and deals everyone two cards face down, one at a time. These are your hole cards – look at them, but show them to no one. Token round ♣.
2. Flop: the dealer lays three cards face up in the middle. These shared cards belong to everyone's hand. Token round ♦.
3. Turn: a fourth shared card. Token round ♥.
4. River: the fifth and last shared card. Token round ♠.
5. Showdown – see below.

Tokens you have taken stay face up in front of you for the rest of the deal, in a row. So everyone can see how the others rated their hands in earlier rounds. Only the ♠ tokens count at the showdown.

A token round

Lay the tokens of this round's suit face up in the middle. Starting with the player left of the dealer and going clockwise, each player on their turn does exactly one of these:

• Take from the middle: take any token from the middle. If you already hold a token of this suit, put it back into the middle first.
• Take from a player: take the token of this suit from in front of another player. If you already held one, yours goes back into the middle. The other player now has none.
• Pass: do nothing. You may only pass if you hold a token of this suit.

The round ends as soon as all players have passed one after the other. Since nobody can pass without a token, everyone then holds exactly one.

Emergency brake: if the round has not ended after three full laps (everyone has had three turns), it ends then: everyone without a token takes one from the middle, clockwise, and the round is over.

Example: Anna deals to Ben, Carla and Dan; the ♦ tokens A, 2, 3, 4 lie in the middle. Ben likes the flop and takes the 4♦. Carla takes the 2♦. Dan has three Queens and takes the 4♦ from Ben – Ben now has nothing. Anna takes the A♦. Ben must act: he takes the 3♦, the only one left. Then Carla, Dan, Anna and Ben all pass one after another: the round is over.

Showdown

After token round ♠, the players reveal their hole cards in the order of their ♠ tokens: first the A♠, then the 2♠, and so on. Each player names their best five-card hand. Every hand must be at least as strong as the hand revealed just before it.

• If the order is right all the way to the highest token, the deal is a success.
• If any hand is weaker than the one before, the deal is a failure.
• Equally strong hands may be in either order.

Mark the result on the paper, collect all cards and tokens, and the next dealer begins a new deal.

Example: The shared cards are Q♣ 8♥ 8♠ 5♦ 3♣. Anna (A♠) shows 7♦ 6♥: a pair of 8s with Q 7 6. Ben (2♠) shows A♠ J♦: also a pair of 8s, but with A Q J – the Ace beats Anna's Queen, so Ben is stronger. Carla (3♠) shows Q♦ 10♠: two pair, Queens and 8s. Dan (4♠) shows 5♠ 5♥: 5 5 5 8 8, a full house. Every hand is stronger than the one before: success!

Had Ben held 4♥ 2♦ instead, his hand would be 8 8 Q 5 4. Against Anna's 8 8 Q 7 6, the pair of 8s and the Queen are equal, but her 7 beats his 5. Ben's hand is weaker although his token is higher: the deal fails.

Talking

During a deal you may not give any information about your cards: no "I've got nothing", no sighs, no grins, no looks. You may say what you are doing ("I take the 3"), ask about the rules and point out whose turn it is. Between deals, talk as much as you like – that's the time to learn how your teammates think.

Winning the game

The team wins as soon as it has three successes. It loses as soon as it has three failures. A game therefore lasts three to five deals.

Tips for beginners

• Look at the shared cards first. If the middle already shows a pair or four cards of one suit, many players may hold a strong hand.
• Your hole cards matter most in relation to the board. A pair of 9s is great with a board of low cards and weak when three cards higher than 9 are showing.
• Read the old tokens. A player who took a high ♣ token and then a low ♦ token probably missed the flop.
• Take from a player when you are sure you are stronger – it forces them to think again.
• Middle places are the hardest. The weakest and strongest hands are often obvious; spend your thinking on the ones in between.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Free-for-all: no turns in the token rounds – everyone takes, swaps and takes from others at the same time, until all agree they are done. Faster and louder (but still no talking about cards).
• Rising stakes: after each success, the next deal is harder – after the first success, skip token round ♣; after the second, skip token round ♥ as well.
• Soft landing: the team loses only after four failures. Good for a first game or for 5–6 players.