Poker Games from the Shed

Car parts Omaha is named after one our players who sells car parts, not the most original name, but a simple name for a simple game.  In its base, one might say plain vanilla form, you could call it a stepping stone game between Texas/Omaha and the Dr whooo and Utah's of this world.   BASIC RULES. All players dealt 5 cards face down. Usual flop (3 cards), turn (1 card), River (1 card). Players MUST play  2  from their hand and  3  from the table.  Simples as a meerkat might say, or in West End shorthand play 2 from 5 no wilds.  Now this game has frequently been taken through the shed, not only mine but others who are less confident about owning up about their shed time.  Obviously car parts can fit in the TARDIS resulting in DR Whooo gets Car Parts from Omaha, or shortened to Dr Car Part Omaha. Confused, well specially for Mr C here is the rules again.  Play 2 from 5, any (only) one heart is wild either in your han...

T wo games in one! Or is that 4 games in 2 I have to confess I have no claim on this game, it pre-dates my Poker life. This is another simple game if you can already play Hold'em. Invented by Matty (that's not to say Matty is simple, far from it), hence the name. Basics For Matty (that's not to say Matty is Basic either) All players dealt 3 cards face down. Usual flop (3 cards), turn (1 card), River (1 card). Players MUST play 2 from their hand and 3 from the table. After playing this you can advance onto "Matty Turbo". Don't panic it doesn't require you to run around quickly or even play quicker. No "Turbo" in “West End Speak” means you can play 2 or 3 from your hand. i.e. Basics for Matty Turbo All players dealt 3 cards face down. Usual flop (3 cards), turn (1 card), River (1 card). Players MUST play 2 or 3 cards from their hand and 3 or 2 cards from the table to make the best 5 card hand. Now it's time for a glimpse in...

Well we have described Dr Wooo, now we describe Utah, one of my favourites and popular "up West" As is common with "West End dealers choice" games this one is based on Omaha. Ie play 2 from four in the hand plus 3 from 5 in the middle.  Usual Omaha rules EXCEPT at any time when it is your bet you can turn 2 of your 4 cards over and half your bet.  Just one change of rules, but you wouldn't believe what it does to the game. In my experience (and I don't know why as there is less unknowns, (not a game for Donald Rumsfeld then,) but may be after several pints of beer) the pots end up higher on Utah compared to Omaha poker. There are little nuances, for example if you are going all in, turning two cards ( could well be the two you are not using) doubles the value of your bet if no one else shows. But on the flip side if you are last to play, Turing two, halves what you need to bet to see. There are numerous "cousins and offspring" to this game ( more l...

As it is only post #3 I though I should start with an easy game to understand, of course that is assuming you already understand Omaha poker .  This is probably my most successful game from "the shed" and will be played several times on a dealers choice night. Why Dr Whoo, Well I like to give all my games interesting name that also describes the game, part of the fun of inventing a game is also conceiving a name. This game should not be confused with the Jodie Whittaker character who has 2 hearts, but more of that later. The " base Game " is Omaha. I.e. each player is dealt 4 cards with 5 more cards face up in the middle, Play 2 from your hand plus 3 from the middle. However what makes this Dr WHOOO is all in the name. ie W ild H eart O nly O ne O maha. Basic Rules Deal 4 cards to each player face down bet as normal Omaha Best hand wins HOWEVER , ONE of the cards you can use to make your winning hand (either from the 2 played out of 4 in you hand or the 3 used fro...

  Only a short post this: If you would like a change from Texas Hold'em, you should next try Omaha poker. Omaha is very similar to Texas Hold'em except: Four cards dealt face down to each player At the end of the game a player HAS to use 2 cards from the four in their hand AND 3 cards from the 5 in the centre.  There you are, easy isn't it. You can even play it in a lot of Casinos.  Now when you have mastered that you can progress onto some truly unique games from the "West End". Games such as "Scoobie Whooo goes for a poo in dusty bin on their way to Utah"! See post 3 onwards Warning start with the easier ones and build up unless you want to fry you mind, especially after a few pints.

Bored of the "main stream" poker games! Then you have come to the right place.  "Pre-lockdown" I played every week in my local pub in the Red Tooth league. Having had 4 players go to Vegas after winning the regional finals the standard was quite good. After the knock out round we would play "cash". This developed into "dealers choice" to give it a bit of variety. Basically when it comes round to your turn to be dealer you can specify the game. After playing the well known games we developed our own "West End Rules" games.  I seem to had a natural ability to come up with a new game each week, leading to someone shouting out each time I entered the pub, "have you got anything from the shed for us this week". Well I thought is was time I shared these games and left them for posterity. Be careful, many have come to the pub and tried to master these games, and many have failed. But first today I'm explaining the rules of the mo...