Super Eight Rules

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In Super Eight, players form a hand from ‘community’ cards that all players have access to and their own ‘pocket’ cards. What makes Super Eight different from regular Texas Hold’em is that players receive 3 pocket cards, and can use either, none, or all of them in their hand.

Betting Limits

A Super Eight game will be identified by its bet sizes. There are two bet sizes: the small bet and the big bet. The small bet is half of the big bet (or in some cases rounded down). During the early betting rounds, the bets are all small. For example, a $1/$2 game has bets of $1 during the first rounds – a player can bet or raise by $1. In the later rounds, the bets and raises are $2. The number of raises is often limited to 4 per round of betting. This ensures that the game adheres to a reasonable limit (people cannot be forced into betting too much on a $1 game by players raising continually to $5 game levels, for example).

Pot-limit games restrict betting to the amount already in the pot or less (bets must still be at least the standard small or large bet, depending on the betting round). No-limit games have no bet limits. A player can bet as much as they like at any time (though bets must still at least match the small/big bet). A player can go ‘all in’ and bet everything they have, if they want to, at any time.

The Blinds and the Deal

Before cards are dealt, the player to the left of the dealer puts up a small blind, and the person to the left of that player posts a big blind. These blinds ensure there is something to win in every hand. The amount of the blinds is determined by the betting limit for the game. The small blind is usually half of the small bet and the big blind is the same as the small bet.

Each player is dealt three cards, face down. These are their ‘pocket’ cards. Each player discards any one of their pocket cards before betting commences. Players enter a round of betting. Players can choose to fold their hand and not play, depending on the strength or potential of their hand, keeping in mind that more cards will be available after the first betting round. Players bet in the standard bet-check-call-raise-fold way, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind player. The round of betting ends with the big blind player, who can call, raise, check, or fold. If they choose to raise, betting continues.

The Flop Three cards are dealt face up in the center of the table. These cards are to be used in conjunction with your pocket cards to form a 5-card poker hand. Since everyone can use these cards in their hand, they are known as ‘community cards’ or ‘the board’.

After the flop, 6 cards are available to each player (their 3 pocket cards and the 3 in the board). More cards will be added to the board later, so the hand you have here is not necessarily your final hand. Those who still wish to stay in the game bet one standard betting round, raising, checking, calling or folding as they see fit based on their hand, and also considering the potential for improving their hand (or the other players’ hands). The player to the left of the dealer (the player who posted the small blind if they have not folded) bets first. The dealer acts last (or the player to the right of the dealer if the dealer has folded). This pattern is followed for all upcoming betting rounds.

If, for example, there are two aces in the board and you do not have an ace, someone else might have an ace in their pocket cards, forming a 3 of a kind hand, so you might choose to bet conservatively or even fold if another player bets high.

The Turn A fourth card community card, the ‘turn’, is added. Now players make their 5-card hand from their two remaining pocket cards and the 4 community cards. Another round of betting takes place.

The RiverA fifth community card, the ‘river’ is dealt. Players now have 5 community cards to use in conjunction with their pocket cards to form their hand. (Players may use all 5 community cards and none of their pocket cards, but the only chance of winning would be if the community cards formed a hand that beats all other players. In this case, the pot would be shared by all unfolded players.)