Pacific Online Poker Tour

Playing the Lame-brain Pete Poker

The name of this particular poker variant is a romanticized description of the special rule of the game. That is, the lowest ranked card from among the community cards, play the special role of being a wild card. To play this particular poker game, here are the basic rules.

First, each poker player receives three personal cards. Unlike Pineapple, none of these personal cards dealt initially will be removed or discarded. All three personal cards can be used to form the final best hand at showdown. When all the poker players have their three personal cards, the first betting round commences.

After the first betting round, one single community card is revealed by the dealer. This is immediately followed by a second betting round, in which a poker player may call, bet, raise or fold. Since the Lame-brain Pete poker is a home game with low-stakes, most players stay in the game and rarely fold.

After the second betting round, a second community card is placed on the board. Then there is a third betting round that will obviously build the pot size. After the third betting round, a third community card is shown. Like all community cards, the value or rank of this card may or may not improve a hand.

With three community cards, another betting round is conducted. This is now the fourth betting round. And after the fourth betting round, the fourth (and last) community card is revealed, followed by the fifth (and last) betting round. The Lame-brain poker home game has a total of four community cards and five betting rounds. After the fifth betting round, a showdown happens.

So far, the Lame-brain Pete poker sounds like any other kind of community card poker. However, there is a special rule that transforms the lowest-ranked community card into a wild card. And when a low-value card becomes a wild card, all other cards of the same value (even when these are held by a poker player) also become wild cards.

Sometimes, the wild card is immediately known even when the fourth community card is not yet revealed. This happens when one of the community cards is a deuce. Such is obviously the lowest-ranked card. But if there is no deuce, then the wild card could be the last community card that will be opened. When such an instance happens, there may be radical changes in the hand that a poker player is forming.

At showdown, a poker player may utilize all or some of his personal cards together with any of the four community cards. That is, he may use only two personal cards and three of the community cards.