CoolhandThe games · Coolhand Poker
Texas Hold'em
Two cards of your own and five shared in the middle, turned three, one and one. The best five of the seven takes the pool.
18+ · Nothing to win but the hand.
- Players
- 2 to 9
- Family
- Flop Games
- App
- Coolhand Poker · iOS and Android, soon
How it goes
You hold two cards face down that nobody else sees. Five more go face up in the middle of the table, shared by everyone: three at once, then one, then one. There's a round of offers (put tokens in the pool, match what someone else put in, or pass) before each turn of shared cards, and one more after the last. At the reveal you make the best five cards you can from your two and the five in the middle, using both of yours, one of them, or neither. The highest hand takes the pool.
A good hand
Two high cards or a pair is a start worth playing. The real decisions begin once the first three shared cards land. You want a hand that's already made, such as a pair that matches a card in the middle, or one card away from something big: four to a run or four of one suit. Remember that whatever the middle shows, it shows to everyone, so the cards that finish your hand can finish theirs.
The usual mistake
Sticking with your two cards after the middle has shown they're beaten. A pair of kings feels great until an ace turns up among the shared cards and somebody keeps offering. The shared cards belong to the whole table. If they make someone else's hand better than yours, a good start counts for nothing, and every token you put in after that goes to them.
Played differently where you are?
Card games change from table to table, and we researched some of these games instead of playing them. If Texas Hold'em goes differently where you play it, tell us. That's one of the things the closed beta is for.
The closed beta is by invitation. How to ask to join.