Spit in the Ocean

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Hand ranking
3. Betting in short
4. Setup
5. A deal, step by step
6. All-in and side pots
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Spit in the Ocean is a classic home-poker game related to Five-Card Draw. Everyone gets only four cards; the dealer then turns up one card in the middle of the table – the spit card. It counts as the fifth card of every player's hand, and it is wild, together with the three other cards of its rank. After a round of betting, everyone may swap cards once, then there is a second round of betting. The best five-card poker hand wins the pot – all the chips bet in that deal.

• Players: 3–8, 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

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 four cards plus the spit card – always exactly 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 and share the pot.

Wild cards: the spit card and every card of the same rank are wild – each can stand for any card you like. A wild card may not copy a card you already hold (you cannot use it as a second A♥), except to make five of a kind. Because the spit card is wild for everybody, every player holds at least a pair: the spit card simply matches your highest card.

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 and has had a chance to act. Agree limits before you start – a good start: bets and raises of exactly 1 chip before the draw and 2 chips after it, at most three raises per round.

Setup

1. Everyone gets the same number of chips. Pick a first dealer; the deal passes to the left after each hand.
2. Everyone puts their ante into the pot.
3. The dealer shuffles and deals four 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.
4. The dealer turns the next card face up in the middle of the table: the spit card. If it is the 6♦, all four 6s are wild in this deal. The rest of the deck stays face down as the draw pile.

A deal, step by step

1. First betting round: the player to the dealer's left starts; play goes clockwise.

2. The draw: if two or more players are still in, each of them gets one chance to improve their hand. Starting with the first player still in to the dealer's left, you lay aside face down any number of cards – 0 to 4 – and the dealer gives you the same number of new cards from the draw pile, so that you have four cards again. Keeping all four is called standing pat. If the draw pile runs out, the dealer shuffles the cards laid aside so far into a new draw pile.

3. Second betting round: it starts with the first player still in to the dealer's left. Bets and raises are now twice as big.

4. Showdown: everyone still in turns their four cards face up – the player who made the last bet or raise shows first (if everyone checked, the first player to the dealer's left). Each hand is those four cards plus the spit card. The best hand wins the pot; equal hands share it.

If at any time all but one player fold, the remaining player wins the pot at once without showing any cards.

Example: Four players ante 1 chip each. The spit card is the 6♦ – all 6s are wild. Ben opens with 1 chip, Carla raises to 2, Dan folds, Anna and Ben call: pot 10. Ben draws two cards, Carla one, Anna one. After the draw Ben checks, Carla bets 2, Anna raises to 4, Ben folds, Carla calls. Carla holds Q♣ Q♥ 6♣ 4♠: with the 6♣ and the spit card both wild, that is four Queens. Anna holds K♠ J♠ 9♠ 7♠ – with the spit card as A♠ an Ace-high flush. Carla wins the pot of 18 chips.

All-in and side pots

If you want to call but don't have enough chips, you go all-in: you put in all your remaining chips and stay in until the showdown without betting further. You can only win as much from each opponent as you put in yourself; anything the others bet beyond that goes into a side pot that only they can win.

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

• A pair is worth nothing here – everyone has one. Three of a kind is an ordinary hand; bet hard only with a full house or better.
• Holding one of the other three wild cards is a big advantage. A pair plus a wild card is already four of a kind with the spit card.
• Straights and flushes need four matching cards of your own; drawing to them is rarely worth it.
• Watch how many cards the others draw: standing pat or drawing one card often means a strong hand.

Variants

All optional – agree beforehand.

• Limited draw: at some tables you may swap at most two cards, or at most three (four if you keep an Ace).
• Only the spit card is wild: the other cards of its rank are ordinary cards.
• "Spit!": the dealer deals five cards each as in normal draw poker. At any moment during the deal a player may call "Spit!" – the next card is then turned face up in the middle as the spit card, and the deal continues until everyone has five cards.
• No draw: for very large groups, play without the draw – one betting round, then the showdown.
• Wild Widow: a Five-Card Draw game. Before the last round of cards is dealt, the dealer turns one card face up in the middle; it doesn't belong to anybody, but the other three cards of its rank are wild.
• Cincinnati, Round the World: more cards in the middle, turned up one by one – see Home Poker Variants.