How to Play Mexican Poker?

Table of content:

• Objective of the game
• Some basic rules
• How is it played?
• Into the nitty gritties Mexican Poker
• Some tricks on your fingertips

A unique stud variant, Mexican Poker, is a fun, lucrative form of poker once mastered. The rules of card flipping adds a lot of excitement to the game and makes it stand out from every other poker game there is. The game tests the mental acumen of casino players, precisely their capability to recollect and analyze the cards of their adversaries. Curious to know how it is played? Then go ahead and give this article a close read.

Objective of the game

As most other poker games, the player with the highest-ranking hand wins the pot.

Some basic rules

·         It is played with a deck stripped of the 8’s, 9’s, 10’s. The deck size is 41 cards including the joker.

·         Each player receives 5 cards in toto. One of the cards must be placed face down.

·         Maximum ten players can play this game.

·         The joker is considered as wild in all cases when dealt face down. But in circumstances it is dealt face up, it is considered as wild only with Aces, Straights and Flushes. Also, when the joker is dealt face up, it will be considered as an ace for the opening bet.

·         The betting structure used is that of either fixed limit or no limit.

How is it played?

·         The round of Mexican Poker begins from the player who is seated to the left of the dealer.

·         The dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand is complete. The players may choose to fold, call or raise in each of these rounds.

·         At the outset two cards are dealt with namely, one turned upward and the other downward, and the betting commences with a forced opening of the high card clockwise of the dealer button. The player with the lowest up card must wager a bring-in (forced bet), or maybe a full bet, but cannot check or fold.

·         After the betting is over, the players may choose to expose their down cards if they wish. Once this is over, the third card will be dealt with up or down based on whether the previous cards have been exposed or not. Post this, the next round of betting occurs and the game continues in a similar fashion according to the same format, with the highest hand starting the round.

Into the nitty gritties of Mexican Poker

·         If any down card is revealed by the dealer, that player will get the next card down. He/ she may declare all-in.

·         In cases where the joker is exposed, unintentionally, the players will have to proceed as if the joker had been dealt with face down wild.

·         The hand rankings, from the lowest to the highest, are as follows –

·         If the cards are dealt out of sequence, then the same is considered a misdeal in Mexican Poker. However, a misdeal may be condoned or waived.

·         If the player exposes the card at an uncalled time, then it is not considered an exposed card and will be played thereafter as a down card.

·         All raises must be equal to or greater than the size of the last bet.

·         No string bets or raises are allowed.

·         One short buy is permitted for every full buy-in i.e. the money the player uses to buy into a particular poker game.

·         A player who indicates action towards wagering will not be held to save the case where he/ she caused action behind him/ her. A player calling will be required to complete that action with a least bet. But if a player is ignorant of a raise, then he/ she will not be held to that unless action has been taken behind this act.

Some tricks on your fingertips

·         Hold your hand until you are positive about the cards that the opponent has.

·         The good news is that straights can jump from a 6 to jack, but it also signifies that flushes are hard to get. Because of this, a flush and a full house are considered equally strong. So be mindful of this.

·         Pots have a tendency to grow in Mexican poker, so ensuring that you plan your chip stacks accordingly for big swings are not uncommon.

·         You need to master the art of misdirection for a lot is riding on the opponent’s understanding of the card that is face down. This can be done by betting like you either have a better or a weaker hand, based on the play of each game.

·         This game needs the player to call, fold or raise more often and hence, one must be more mindful of the bets and how to manage the stack. Most experts opine that the Mexican stud must be played defensively and grow the pot over the course of time.

·         The ability to predict the cards of your opponents will drastically increase the probability of the player winning the hand.

·         It is best for beginners to choose the table that has many players because in that way, they will have fewer cards to forecast.

Mexican poker, whose origins are quite a mystery, is rather similar to a regular stud poker and the feel of the game is closer to strategy games than poker. This rummy based game is easy to learn, fun to play and can provide hours of absolute excitement. Complicating factors such as players showing their face down card only one time per hand, the operation of joker as a wild card, dealing with the missing 8,9, 10 cards and an ever-growing pot, only adds to the quirks of this extremely interesting poker variant.

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