Rules of Sequence Poker

Sequence poker is a fun game and a variation of 7 Card Stud - with a few added wild factors to spice it up. The game uses wild cards which are used to represent any card. How it works is like this. When the game starts, if a 2 comes, all 2's become wild cards. The sequence always starts at 2. Once the 2 is wild, it remains wild until a 3 comes, at which point the 3's become wild, and so on. This goes on all the way up through the card values. The game is interesting as your hand continually is changing. You may have a number of two's in hand when they're wild and have a monster hand, but this may change when the focus of attention shifts to the next sequential wild card. Wild cards are only represented through the up cards.

With the exception of the wild cards, it's basically 7 Card Stud. As a recap, here is the order of play. All players are dealt 2 cards face down and one card face up.

The Bring in bet

After the first three cards have been dealt, the player showing the lowest up card must make what is called a "bring-in" bet. As with the ante, the size of the bring-in varies, depending on the size of the stakes. There is now a round of betting. As with any other game, players can choose to call, raise or fold.

Fourth Street (The Second Round of Betting)

After the action has been completed on the opening round, the dealer gives a face-up card to each player who is still in the game. Unlike the first round, where the lowest hand was forced to start the action, in this second betting round, the highest hand has the option to start the betting- that is, the player showing the highest hand is called upon first to make their play.

It's also worth noting at this point that if a player raises the bet to $6, all further calls or raises are in $6 increments.

Fifth and Six Streets (round of betting)

On fifth street, you receive your third up card, and then there is a round of betting, again started by the highest hand visible. There are no more $3 bets: all bets and raises are at the higher $6 increments. Sixth street is virtually identical: an up card is dealt, the highest hand acts first, and all bets and raises are at the higher $6 increments.

Seventh Street (round of betting)

In Sequence, the betting on seventh street is identical to sixth street, but the card dealt is the last card you will receive, and it is dealt face down. This means that like your initial two hole cards, only you know what you've received. After you examine this final card, you assemble your best possible five card poker hand out of the seven in front of you. The best 5 card hand wins the pot.

Remember, if your hand is (4-4) 5-6-5-7 (7), you don't have "three pair." Your best hand here is two pair, sevens and fives, with a six kicker. As you wind up with four cards showing and three cards in the hole, it's possible to have an extraordinarily well-disguised hand. Your board (visible cards) can look like you have a collection of garbage hands when in reality you have a beast.

The only clues your opponents might have to the hidden strength of such a hand are the levels of aggression when betting. This is especially the case if you started with trips (rolled up), and the fact that they never saw another open card that matched your first open card.

Unsurprisingly, this game isn't available to play online. It would be very difficult to base much skill on the game due to the addition of the wild cards. We do have listings of the games that are currently available online.