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Chicago Poker Rules

This game is similar to that of 7 Card Stud. Play runs exactly as in 7 Card Stud with the dealer dealing two cards face down and one card face up to all players. There is a round of betting (the player with the lowest card must start the betting with either a bring-in bet or a full bet). All betting rounds are identical, as are the hole cards and board cards dealt.

The main difference is that at showdown, the high hand shares the pot with the highest spade (yes that is no a typo). Should the player with the ace be last man standing, he takes the entire pot.

What makes this game unique, is that a player could have the worst hand possible but have the ace of spades in his/her hand and take down all the money. The game really revolves around who has the highest spade. The reason for this is that the player who has the ace will try to push the person who has the highest hand off the pot.

In this game the person who has the ace of spades will likely move all his/her chips in to push everyone off the hand as the worst they can do is split the pot. There is a great deal of bluffing in this game with people trying to represent the ace and similarly, a lot of people losing money. The tactic here is to play the game like you would a standard Low Limit Holdem game. Wait for the best hand (ace of spades) and then trap your opponents to get them to over commit to the pot.

The difficulty is knowing that you have the best hand (aside from the ace of spades). If the ace is out there, the player who has it will likely move all in before the hand is out. If the ace of spades is the only player in the hand, he takes down the entire pot. Remember that you could have a Royal Flush in any suit other than spades and still lose the hand (against the ace of spades).

The downfall of most players who play this game is that players do not have the patience to wait so generally there is always a high amount of money exchanging hands.

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