The home-game rulebook · 108 variants

House Rules

Wild-Card Poker Games
For Friends, Fun and Good Times

By “PokerPhil” Gawron

Every house has its own poker rules. This is the book that writes them down — 108 wild-card games, the house rules that keep them fair, and the odds so nobody gets Lollapalooza’d.

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108games

73pages

6×9paperback

2014–26revised edition

House Rules by PokerPhil Gawron — book cover

What’s inside

A complete kit for the Thursday-night table

Written for friendly, low-stakes games where the money keeps score and the stories matter more. Everything is in here except the cards.

108 games, A to Z

Pile games, pass-and-show, stud variants, guts, baseball, and the wild-card chaos in between — each with players, setup, play and betting.

House rules that end arguments

Betting limits, misdeals, calling hands, deck integrity, last-call splits. The Poker Police chapter settles it before the first ante.

Odds, patterns and parlour tricks

Wild-card probability tables, dealing-pattern crib sheets, and two self-working card tricks for the player who busts early.

Sample entry

Every game, the same way

Type, objective, table size, chaos rating, setup, play and betting — so you can learn a game in a minute and teach it in two.

Browse all 108 games

Sample entry · from the Game Descriptions chapter

3 Toad Pete

Pile / Exchange Game · Objective: Avoid lowest card

Players: 3–10 · Chaos ●●○○○
Setup: Three piles per player
Play: Deal 1 card face down. Kings cannot be exchanged (flip if dealt). Each player keeps card or exchanges with player on left. Dealer can exchange with deck. Lowest card(s) pay 1 pile to pot. Aces are always low. Dealer rotates left each round.
Betting: Varies — continue until only one player has piles remaining · Wild Cards: None

Take it to the table

The paperback is 6×9, 73 pages, with the full 108-game reference, odds tables and room for your own notes. The complete PDF is free here.

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