The rules for 357 Poker
Ready to lose a bunch of money?
For: 4 to 7 players. The more people, the more at stake.
Needs: One deck of cards with jokers removed.
Each game is played in three rounds. The first game costs 25¢ to play. Antes are collected and set aside in the pot.
Determine a dealer any way you see fit. Deal everyone at the table three cards. For this round, 3's are wild.
Using some predetermined way, players should indicate, all at the same time, whether they want to play this round or not. The best way is everyone has a coin between their legs. Everyone reaches under the table and either puts the coin in their hand or not. Then, everyone opens their fist at the same time. Everyone who has a coin is in.
Hands are measured on five-card rules. That means there are no three card flushes, no three card straights. The best hand for this round is three aces.
Only those players who are in get to see the other players' hands. Hands can be passed around the table, or walked around the game and shown to those who are in, but people who didn't play the hand should never see other players' cards. Table talk about other players' hands is against the rules.
Those players who chose to be out for the hand are excluded from paying or raking "burns." The more people who are in, the more "burns" will cross the table. A "burn" is an amount paid between players. For this first game, burns are a quarter.
The Rule: You pay a "burn" to every player who beats your hand.
The winner earns a burn from everyone. The worst hand pays a burn to everyone. Those players in between pay to those better hands and rake from all worse hands.
The second round begins when the dealer deals out two more cards to everyone at the table. For this round, wild changes to 5's. Everyone has five cards now to play.
All players, regardless if they played or sat out the first round, may now choose to play or sit out using the same method described above.
Only those who are in get to see the other players' cards. "Burns" are paid out exactly as described above.
The third round begins when the dealer deals out two more cards to everyone at the table. For this round, wild changes to 7's. Everyone now has seven cards to play, but you only play your best five.
Players choose to sit out or play, just like the previous two rounds.
"Burns" are paid exactly as described above.
Deal passes to the left, the cards are reshuffled and a new game begins. For each game, the ante raises by a quarter, and is always paid to the pot. Antes are usually capped at some amount, a dollar is typically enough. For each game, burns raise by a quarter as well. There is no cap on burns. It's not unusual for burns to get to five dollars and higher.
If, at any point during the game, in any round, someone is the only player to stay "in" the round, (that is, they are the only person holding a quarter when players show) they earn a marker. Markers are worth no money. And no "burns" change hands in that round. However, once a player has earned three markers, that player wins the game and wins the pot.
The worst hand you can have in the first round is three 3's. Since 3's are wild, and you need another card to define what your wild cards are, three 3's have no value.
Choosing when to play and when not to play is an important aspect of this game. When you play, you have to show your cards. If you choose to show a pair of sevens in the first hand, you can easily scare off some players in the third round. This can be to your advantage or disadvantage.
If there is a tie between two hands, the "burns" pass around the table naturally. For example, if there are two people in third place in a hand, both players will pay the second and winning hands. Both players will rake from the players below them. No "burns" will exchange between the tied players.
If no one plays in a round, that is, no one is holding a coin when everyone shows, the round ends. No burns exchange, and the game continues. A variation is, if no one stays in a round, a "second chance" is initiated. Without dealing any more cards, all players are given another chance to declare whether they're playing or sitting out. Play continues normally. If one person stays in on the "second chance," they earn a marker. If more than one stay in, they exchange burns just like before. If no one stays in again, the round ends, and the game continues.
A related variation to the one above, if no one stays in, everyone pays a burn to the pot. This can be added to the "second chance" variation as well. In that case, burns would be paid to the pot if no one stays in on the "second chance."
Some games are played so that there are no ties. The suits are ranked, so the ranking suit wins in a tie. Ranks are as follows: Spades high, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds low. This is not a common way to play and should be agreed upon before playing.
Enjoy, and have tons of fun!