Asian Stud

The new kid on the poker block is Asian poker - a stud variant from the Washington state city of Seattle. The game uses one deck of 52 playing cards plus one joker. Number cards have regular point count, with face cards valued at 10. Aces and the joker count as one point.

Players ante up and the dealer deals five cards to himself and the player, all facing down. The player looks at his own cards and then raises or folds, as in regular poker. Raising requires an extra bet equal to his ante amount. Folding loses the player's ante bet.

In similar fashion to the other poker variant pai gow, players then sort their five cards into two hands - a three-card hand and a two-card hand. The three-card hand must total 30 points or more. If this is not possible, the player's only chance of winning is if the dealer is forced to fold.

If the player's three-card hand exceeds the 30-point threshold, then we move on and value the player's two-card hand based on the total point count of the two cards. The highest possible total is two face cards, or 20 points.

After the players have arranged their hands, it is then the dealer's turn. If he cannot reach a 10, 20, or 30 point total, then the player wins. If he does reach the threshold levels, then his two-card pair is valued by the same rules as the player's. If the dealer's pair beats the player's pair, then the player loses his ante and any raises. If the two-card pairs tie, then both ante and raise push.