How many people here play Guts? And what variants do you typically play?
Most of our Guts games and Variations
2 card high
3 card high, no Straights or Flushes
3 card low (A23 best hand but paired Aces are the highest pair)
3 card high with a draw, no S or F
3 card low with a draw
“Rat” – 3 card high with a draw, 2’s and 3’s are wild – best hand is all wilds (“Rat”), 2nd best hand is 3 natural non-wilds, 3rd best is 3 Aces with one or more wild, no straights or flushes, more natural wins (e.g. 3 Kings with 1 wild beats 3 Kings with 2 wilds – however, any “Rat” ties with any other “Rat”)
“Tony’s game” – 5 card low (A-5 best) with a draw, highest card after the draw is wild (Aces are low except when paired), more natural beats less natural (number of wilds first, then position of wilds if same number)
“Tony’s revenge” – 4 card low (A-4 best) with a Mandatory draw (if IN, must draw at least 1 card), 7’s are wild
“Choose Your Game, Larry* Wilbur**” – 5 card high (5 Aces best) with a draw – Dealer starts dealing one card to each player, after one completed round of cards (after each player has 1 card, including the dealer) anyone playing can call out “Larry”. As soon as “Larry” is called, the dealer flips the card being dealt (or the very next card if a card has just left his/her hand) face up into center of the area where a flop would normally go. The completed deal will give everyone 4 hole cards and the up card in the middle is everyone’s 5th card. If Larry isn’t called during the deal, then the card at the end of the deal is flipped up (after everyone has 4). The card that gets flipped up will determine the game being played.
Flipped card:
Ace or 2 – Acey Deucey – Aces and Deuces are wild
Three or Nine – Baseball – 3’s and 9’s are wild
Four – 4’s only
Five or Ten – Five and Dime – 5’s and 10’s are wild but ONLY if you have at least one of each in your hand (so if the center card is a 5, you would need at least one 10 in your hand for both to be wild)
Six – Sixty Nine “Excellent” – 6’s and 9’s are wild
Seven – 7’s only
Eight – 8’s only (or Crazy 8’s – every card of the same suit as the flipped up 8 is wild)
Jack – Jacks & Low – Jacks are wild Plus lowest card in your hand After the draw round is wild (but you have to declare your wild Before drawing – AND, if you draw under your designated wild, you lose all wilds except Jacks, Aces are high)
Queen – Queens and Follow – Queens are wild Plus any card each player designates to be their individual follow, declare before the draw (you can’t lose your wild(s))
King – Kingsey Low – Kings are wild as well as lowest card in your hand after the draw, no need to declare before drawing
Draws are optional, all draws are after deciding whether to be IN or Out.
- If “Larry” is called after any guts game name, there is a ghost hand that plays only when 1 person says they’re IN. Larry gets dealt (and draws if player gets to draw) after the player finishes all his/her actions. If Larry beats the player, the player has to double the pot (which can be capped depending on house rules/stakes).
** If “Wilbur” is called after any guts game name, there is an additional ghost hand that always plays, no matter how many people are IN. Like Larry, Wilbur goes after all the other players go. If Wilbur beats everyone IN, then everyone matches the pot (if Wilbur isn’t the highest hand, then the highest hand takes the pot and everyone else puts in/matches like normal).
If Larry and Wilbur are both active (1 player IN), then Wilbur acts before Larry (so, for a Larry/Wilbur game, you always have to beat 2 extra hands). If Larry beats the player but doesn’t beat Wilbur, the player still has to double the pot. If both Larry and Wilbur beat the player, it’s just double for the Larry.
Finally, in a Larry or Wilbur or Larry/Wilbur game, if only 1 person is in and there is a draw, we put the discards for that one player separate from the muck. When deciding what Larry and/or Wilbur would like to draw, the rest of the table is allowed to go through/expose all the muck (not the deck/undealt cards) except for the one player’s discards, to help maximize Larry/Wilbur’s chances. The player with the most money in the pot at the time gets final say on how to play Larry and/or Wilbur.
For our group, Larry/Wilbur are added every time we play Guts Choose Your Game. They are usually added for the other guts games but not every time.
