Guts rules

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A game with minimal betting and strategy, which is very easy to learn and play.

The Deal Players first all post an ante. Players are then dealt three cards each.

Play or Fold Based on the strength of their 3-card hand, players choose to play the hand or to fold. Folding excludes a player from the hand and they lose their ante. Players who choose to play the hand must then each post another ante.

Drop The dealer counts to three then says ‘drop’. Players who no longer wish to stay in the hand drop their cards and say ‘out’.

Showdown Players now show their hands. Hands are ranked (from best to worst):

1. Three-of-a-kind (e.g. [A♣ A♠ A♥]) 2. Straight flush (e.g. [Q♥ K♥ A♥]) 3. Straight (e.g. [9♣ 10♥ J♦]) 4. Flush (e.g. [3♠ 6♠ K♠]) 5. Pair (e.g. [4♣ 4♥ 8♦]) 6. High card (e.g. [A♠ 5♥ 3♦])

The player with the best hand collects the pot. All players who did not drop their cards and call ‘out’ and who did not have the best hand must pay the amount that was in the pot into the new pot.

Repeat Play repeats with all losers adding money to the new pot at the end of each round. The game repeats like this until only one person enters a showdown. They win the full pot and the game ends, since nobody is putting money into the new pot.

Variations

Caps – Some versions use a cap on the size of the pot or the amount a single player can lose in one hand.

The Kitty – An extra hand is dealt, face-down, to the table. The winning player must not only beat the other players, but must also beat this ‘kitty’ hand. The kitty is only revealed at the end of the hand. A player must therefore beat the kitty to win the pot.

x-card Guts – Guts can be played with any number of cards. In 1-card Guts, the highest card wins. In 5-card Guts, standard poker hand ranks are used to determine the best hand.

pass a card - immediately after they are dealt their hand, players pass one of their cards to the player to their left.