Home Poker

Wild Cards

The dealer also determines which cards (if any) will be "wild" before he or she deals out the game. Wild cards are normally designated as a specific number or numbers. For example, "Twos and Jacks are wild". A wild card can be played as any one of the 52 cards in the deck to fill a hand. The player determines the suit and rank of a wild card in hand.

When "Straight Poker" is called, this means that there are no wild cards. It is normally Draw Poker games (see below) that have wild cards. When wild cards are involved, the term "natural" is often heard. A natural hand is a hand that does not contain any wild cards. If you have a Straight Flush without the use of any wild cards, then you are holding a "natural Straight Flush."

Use of wild cards in games brings attention to the order of hands. For example, if Twos are wild and you have been dealt a full house, nines over twos (9-9-9-2-2), then you're holding five nines (playing the wild twos as nines). You are then holding Five-of-a-Kind, and where does that fit in on the table above?

Since there are no clear-cut rules to cover this, it is essential to determine how wild cards fit into the order of hands before the game begins. Some people say Five-of-a-Kind won't beat a Straight Flush, other say it does, and still other say it beats a Straight Flush but not a Royal Flush. A more common house rule is that a Five-of-a-Kind is better than a Straight Flush but not better than a natural Royal Flush (which is a Royal Flush without the use of any wild cards). Make the house rules known from the start.

One player suggests the house rule that a Bicycle (a Straight Flush, Ace-2-3-4-5) beats a regular Straight Flush, but loses to a Royal Flush. This would add two new ranks to our order of hands.

Adapted from HomePoker.com