Card Game Club

The Gunn High School Card Game Club is, as its name suggests, a club dedicated to playing card games. It was founded in the spring of 2023 and meets every Monday in room M4. Unlike other clubs, this one does not plan activities; it simply provides a space and cards for people to play whatever game they want. The most popular card game played is poker; the club provides chips as well.

Government

The Card Game Club is a representative democracy, with club members not significantly involved in the decision-making process. Elections for all positions are held once a year.

Game Rules

In recognition that the rules of card games may vary from family to family, here are the agreed-upon house rules for the games most commonly played in the Card Game Club.

TEXAS HOLD-EM POKER:

A is the highest card in this game.

Gameplay:

• Everyone puts the minimum bet in the middle. Alternatively, the person clockwise to the dealer puts the “small blind” and the next person puts the “big blind”.
• The dealer first deals two cards to each person and then five cards in the middle. They then flip over three of the five cards.
• Going clockwise starting from the person after the dealer, bets are made.
  • If the bet has not been raised, you can do one of two things:
    • Check, which means “skip”, or
    • Raise, which means increase the bet.
  • If the amount has been raised, there are three options:
    • Call, which means match the raised amount,
    • Raise, which means match the raised amount and raise some more, or
    • Fold, which means forfeit that round -- no more money must be put in and any person that has folded is not eligible to win.
  • If someone runs out of money, all the money on the table goes into a separate pile. The person is eligible to win that money, but not any money subsequently bet.
    • For example, if Alice ran out of money, the money on the table goes to a separate pile while Bob and Cameron continue betting. If Alice has a full house while Bob has a straight and Cameron a two pair, Alice wins the separate pile while Bob wins the rest of the money.
• After everyone has had a chance to bet AND everyone (except the people who folded) has bet the same amount of money, the next card in the middle is flipped.
• Another round of betting happens
• The last card in the middle is flipped
• A last round of betting happens
• The players reveal their hands, which are composed of any combination of their cards and the five cards in the middle.
• The person with the highest hand receives all the chips that were bet unless a separate pile was made.

The hands (in ascending order):

Basically speaking, all hands consist of five cards: the cards that constitute the "main body" of the hand (for example the two identical cards in a pair), and a number "kicker" cards added to bring the total number of cards to five. To determine whose hand is the highest, look first at the value of the "body" of a hand, then the highest kicker, then the second-highest, and so on. In general, the value of the "body" is determined by the rank that composes it (2 is the lowest, A is the highest), though it may also be governed by additional rules as described below.

• High card: a single card.
• Pair: two of the same rank.
• Two pair: two pairs. Value determined first by rank of the higher pair, then lower pair.
• Three of a kind: three of the same rank.
• Straight: five consecutive numbers (The A can be used as a 1 or as the card higher than King, but it cannot loop around. A2345 and TJQKA are possible straights, but QKA23 is not.) The highest top card wins; A2345 is the lowest straight, TJQKA is the highest.
• Flush: five of the same suit. Value determined by highest rank, the next highest, etc. (SJSTS6S4S2 > STS9S6S4S2).
• Full house: a three of a kind and a pair. Determined by rank of three of a kind, then rank of pair (JJJTT > 777AA > 77755).
• 4 of a kind: 4 of the same rank.
• Straight flush: a straight and a flush. Straight scoring rules.
• Royal flush: a straight flush with the numbers 10, J, Q, K, A. They are all the same.

If, after using the above scoring rules, multiple players have identical winning hands, then the pot is divided between them.

ZHENG SHANGYOU (“FIGHT UPSTREAM” or “FIGHT OVER OIL”):

2 is the highest card in this game. Jokers may be kept or removed.

Gameplay:

• A deck of cards is split evenly between three to six people. The remainder "out" cards are shown face-up
• The person with the H3 plays a hand containing that card.
• People can do two things:
  • Play a hand of the same type with each higher than the last, or
  • Pass. A player may pass even if they have a hand to play.
• If a person plays a hand that everyone else passes on, they can now play whatever hand they want.
• The game continues as before, with players playing hands of the same type or passing. As usual, when everyone else has passed, a player can play whatever hand they want.
• The person who plays all their cards first is the 1st place winner. The next person is second place, etc.
• If everyone passes on the winner’s last hand, the privilege of playing any hand “rolls over” to the person immediately after the player.

Hands:

• Single card: One card, Jokers can also be played as single cards if applicable. The Color Joker is bigger than the Black-and-White Joker.
• Pair: 2 of the same number
• Straight: For four or fewer people: 5 consecutive cards. For 5+ players, 3 consecutive cards. If a straight is played, all straights in that cycle must be of the same length. As 2 is the highest card, JQKA2 is a possible straight, but not 23456. Also, since Jokers are special cards, they cannot be included in straights.
• Pair straight: 3 or more consecutive pairs, with rules are similar to those of straights.
• Bomb: 3 or 4 of the same number, or 2 Jokers. Can be played after hands of a different type, and only bombs can be played after bombs. For example, if Alice plays the straight 9TJQKA2, Bob may play 999 and all subsequent players in the cycle will need to play bombs or pass. Any 4-card bomb beats any 3-card bomb, and 2 Jokers is the highest possible bomb.

Variations:

• For 2 people: Deal 18 cards per person and have 18 "out" cards which are hidden. Since somebody does not necessarily have the H3, the players communicate to determine who has the closest alternative (typically another 3), who starts the game.
• "Horse Game" (For 2 or 3 people): Deal 6 decks face down, assign alternating decks to each player, and pick a player to start. Any player who picks up their deck to look at their cards must play, or else that deck gets last place (or, if last place is taken, second-to-last place). Once a player has played, they can continue to view their cards until the next person has played. The winner is determined by adding up their places (ex. add 1 for 1st place), and seeing who has the lowest sum.
• Trading: There is free trading (i.e. shout out what you want and what you have to offer) but players must retain the number of cards. There are two ways the trading period can end: the person with the H3 plays it and unilaterally ends trading immediately, or a majority vote ends trading and forces the person with H3 to play.
• Higher-Bid Auction: All the "out" cards are auctioned off and may only be bought with a card higher than their rank. If two people offer the same price, then the person who offered first gets priority. When a card is bought, the payment card is in turn auctioned off, and the cycle continues until nobody will pay for the auctioned card.
• Free-Bid Auction: The "out" cards may be bought at any price, and then the payment cards are again auctioned off. The cycle continues for a fixed number of rounds, typically 3.
• Pass-around: Each player selects three cards to pass to the player immediately after them. AFTER they have passed off their cards, they can view the cards they received.

CHOR DAI DI (“BIG TWO”):

2 is the highest card in this game. The suit order ascending is D, C, H, S.

Gameplay:

• A deck of cards is split evenly between three or four people.
• The person with the D3 plays a hand containing that card.
• People can do two things:
  • Play a hand of the same number of cards with each higher than the last (for example you can play full house over a straight), or
  • Pass. A player may pass even if they have a hand to play.
• If a person plays a hand that everyone else passes on, they can now play whatever hand they want.
• The game continues as before, with players playing hands of the same type or passing. As usual, when everyone else has passed, a player can play whatever hand they want.
• The person who plays all their cards first is the 1st place winner. The next person is second place, etc.
• If everyone passes on the winner’s last hand, the privilege of playing any hand “rolls over” to the person immediately after the player.

Hands (A card’s value is determined first by number, then by suit. D6 > S4 > H4 > C4 > D4):

• One card hands:
  • Single card.
• Two card hands:
  • Pair, determined by highest card.
• Three card hands:
  • Three of a kind, determined by highest card.
• Five card hands, in ascending order. All instances of a higher hand are higher all instances of a lower hand (ex. All flushes are higher than all straights):
  • Two pair + any card; this hand is sometimes not allowed. Value determined by higher pair
  • Straight, determined by highest card.
  • Flush, determined by highest card
  • Full House, determined by the rank that there are 3 of.
  • 4 of a kind + any card, determined by rank that there are 4 of.
  • Straight Flush, determined by highest card.
  • Royal Flush, determined by highest card.