Lamarckian Poker Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Rules
• The Poker Hands

Rules

Players: 2-6

Playing Time: 10 minutes

Equipment: A deck of playing cards without Jokers.

To Begin: Shuffle the deck, and deal each player a starting hand of four cards.

Deal four cards face up in the center of the table. These cards are called the "pool." Each player plays one card from his hand face down on the table. This card is called the "mark." When all the marks are down, reveal them. They will then be played one at a time, in descending order. Suit determines the order between cards of the same rank, with clubs at the bottom, then diamonds, hearts, and spades.

When played, each mark can capture cards from the pool. When you play a mark, you pick up all the cards which match it, either by suit or by rank. The mark itself falls into the pool. For example, if a Queen of spades is your play, you will pick up all the spades, and all the Queens, and then put the Queen of spades into the pool.

Another Example: On the first round of a three-player game, the following cards are dealt into the pool: Ah, Qc, 9s, 5h. Each player plays a mark face down, and then the cards are revealed to be the As, 10c, and 9h. The marks are now played from highest to lowest, so the As goes first, capturing the Ah and the 9s, and then falling in. The new pool contains the As, Qc, and 5h. Then, the 10c takes the Qc, and falls into the pool. Last, the 9h takes the 5h, and falls in.

After the last mark is played, discard whatever is left in the pool, and deal four new cards into the pool, starting a new round.

Play continues until the deck is empty. After the last round, there is a showdown, and the player with the best poker hand wins.

It's possible, especially with a large number of players, for people's hands to empty. This is just a result of natural selection. If your hand is ever empty at the end of a turn, you go extinct and are out of the game.

Strategy: You don't want to run out of cards, so in the early stages of the game you must try to pick up more cards than you play, regardless of how well they build your poker hand. At some point you will have to start tuning your hand with more precise plays, but only when you no longer run the risk of running out of cards. Just to be clear, straights and flushes require five cards.

The Poker Hands

You probably don't need a reminder, but in case you do, here is the list of poker hands from best to worst.

Five of a Kind: Five cards of the same rank, such as AAAAA. This hand is impossible without wild cards.

Royal Flush: This is merely an Ace-high straight flush. It has its own name because it is so awesome.

Straight Flush: Five cards in sequence that are also all the same suit, such as 3d-4d-5d-6d-7d.

Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank, such as four Jacks.

Full House: Three of one kind and two of another, such as QQQ-33 (Queens full of threes). The rank of the set of three determines the rank of the hand in comparison other full houses.

Flush: Five cards of the same suit. The highest card in the set determines the value of the hand, when comparing with other flushes.

Straight: Five cards in sequence, such as 8-9-T-J-Q. Straights are compared by their highest card. Aces can be used as high or low in a straight. A-2-3-4-5 is a 5-high straight.

Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same rank, such as three Kings.

Two Pair: Two pairs, such as KK-66.

One Pair: Two cards of the same rank, such as QQ.

High Card: If you have nothing else on this list, you have "high card." Ranked by its highest card.