How To Play Ten-Card Flip Poker (Original Rules here)

Have you been to a poker game that ended but continued on with a game of FLIP? Usually players would ante up an agreed amount, deal their cards and run it to the river. Whoever gets lucky will scoop the pot. However this game is all luck and no skill, so I have invented a new game called the TEN CARD FLIP. Inspired by the Ten Card Stud flip that is on YouTube between Doug Polk and Jeremy Kaufman for $41k, I modified the rules to simpler and easier to play at home, and between 2-5 players. Trust me, it is super fun and addictive, so if anyone decides to write it into an app, I hope I get the credit as the creator of the game.

OFFICIAL RULES: 

1. Players agree to play for an amount, for example $10, and each player will put $10 into the pot.
2. Button is dealt and cards will be dealt as usual from the small blind position
3. Each player gets 10 cards face DOWN and NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO LOOK AT ANY OF THE CARDS.
4. Starting from the small blind, each player will flip over one card each. 
5. Cards that are showing with the LOWEST hand value will continue to flip cards over one by one until they are NO LONGER the lowest value. For example first player shows K, second player shows 8, third player Ace, fourth player 6. The fourth player will flip over another card. If the two cards showing can beat the second lowest hand which is the 8, then second player will continue. If for example they draw a 4, which means they still have 6 high, they will continue to draw until they are no longer the lowest.
6. Hand ranking follows poker standard hands with lowest being high card, high card with higher kicker, pair, two pairs etc. 

THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART

7. If a player has flipped over FIVE cards, they can decide if they want to continue or SURRENDER. By continuing they risk their entire bet of $10, but has a chance to win the pot. However they can choose to SURRENDER and get back half their bet, which is $5 in this case. However you forfeit the chance of winning the pot and the remaining players will play on. 
8. Each player will be given a chance to surrender as long as they have 5 or less cards showing. 
9. Game continues on until a winner is decided. 

Started at $50 a hand it escalated to $200 with sidebets!

I created this game a few years ago, but have not shared it openly. Today in a fun game I shared with some guys and they seem to love it. Maybe they will continue to share it to their friends, and you searched it to learn about the official rules. Now you know who invented it. Try it at your next home game, it's a great game while waiting for players to come, or when you have too few players left at the end of the session. Drop me a comment if you tried it, or are unsure about the rules, or even better if you want to pay me royalties for using my game. You can email me at happyriverpoker@gmail.com Have fun!

Phnom Penh Poker Adventure

I had three weeks of free time leading up to Chinese New Year so I took a trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodia is one of the few places that did not require a quarantine, had poker, and I had friends to visit. I had left for almost a year and I thought it would be fun to revisit. 

Although I hate to admit it, despite being crude, Cambodia has a simple and effective strategy of tracking and controlling COVID. I've seen so many countries including my own over complicate things, unnecessary steps and forms and yet be much less effective. I applaud the Cambodian government for doing a great job on this. 

Despite only being away for about 10 months, much has changed where I used to hang. New buildings, businesses and even poker games have popped up, some restaurants I used to love did not survive the economic pressures of COVID but in their place new ones taking up the challenge. The poker crowd was different too. I recognize 30% of players but the rest were new faces to me. That's always a sign of a thriving poker community. 

PLO fun at my old haunt

I wanted to sneakily enter the country and surprise my friends but one of them messaged me while he was on the toilet, and I couldn't lie to him. There were people I tried to avoid seeing too, and I was told even after leaving the country for so long, people were still talking about me. Some even claim they've seen me at different locations. I don't know if I should be flattered or concerned but one thing is for sure, I've made my mark in the Phnom Penh poker scene. 

I played everyday except one and racked up a decent profit, most of it coming from the last few days. Most days I would play until the sun comes up as the games get better as the night goes on. It's also fun that many players give me action as I've been labeled a maniac. One uncle even called me a bluffing king. A couple of achievements were unlocked in this trip, one being calling all in with T high and was ahead of 9 high and won. A couple of notable hero calls that won were all in calls with A high and K high respectively. I also won a surprising hand when I gave up on my bluff but won with 8 high vs another bluff. 

No I do not own any share of this private game

One thing I love about Phnom Penh is the food scene. There are so many of my favorite restaurants in town. But I am proud to say I maintained my one meal a day diet and even managed two 48 hour + fasts during the trip. I am pretty sure I lost more weight and am looking forward to weighing myself when I return.  

Chinese New Year dinner with friends

Grinding daily on ICE Poker

One of the resolutions this year was to create income streams. On the 14th of January I was lucky enough to buy one of the NFTs on Decentral Games' Ice Poker. The first few rounds were minted at 0.25 ETH but unfortunately my round was 0.5 and the most recent drop was 0.75 a piece. However on Opensea the floor is at 2.3 ETH. If you have no idea what I was just talking about, well I bought something that allows me to play in the fishiest poker room that I've ever seen!

Welcome to the ICE poker room

The way it works, everyday you're given 3000 chips for free, and three tasks you have to complete to get rewards called ICE tokens. These tasks range from "Seeing the flop 20 times" to "Getting fullhouse 1 time" etc. Each task will award you 25, 100 or 200 ICE depending on difficulty. And the kicker is ICE is worth real world money. If you complete all your tasks for the day, you will earn 330 ICE. But if you are a winning player on the day, you can get up to 660 ICE because of the 1.35, 1.5, 1.75 or 2x multipliers. If you lost for the day you might also get less like 0.75, 0.5, 0.4, 0.35 multipliers. So there is an incentive to play well to win. 

My recent results daily

You must be thinking that's easy, crushing fishes all day. Well my recent results have proven that to be kind of true. HOWEVER most of these guys play without much of any poker logic and it is sometimes frustrating to play against them. Some of them are vomit inducingly bad where they can call 6bb with K2o with 2bb behind, or call all the way with A high and spike it on the river. The game is 10/20 and it allows a maximum buy in of 2000, however a lot of players buy in for the minimum 400 which is unseen in any poker game I know. But in the last week or so I have adjusted my play to be profitable in this game. 

Contrary to normal logic, the goal is not necessarily to win pots. For example if you flop a set on a wet board, in a normal game is to bet for value and protection. However in ICE poker, if your top task is to get a full house, it is more profitable to slow play in hope to see a turn and river for the house to fill up. This task for example will gain you 200 ICE which at the moment is worth about $30. Doesn't seem like much but coupled with the multiplier, and hopefully the value of ICE increasing over time, and doing this consistently everyday, it adds up. 

Ever since owning this NFT on January 14th, I've played 18 sessions, each session taking me between 2-4 hours a day. So far I've earned 6074 ICE worth roughly $880 in today's prices. The floor price for one of these NFTs is now at 2.23 ETH which means for now I am up 1.73 ETH and that's worth $4700 at the moment. Since I have nothing much to do anyways, I will continue to play and hold until I get bored of it. But even if I do, I can still delegate it for someone else to play on my behalf and get 40% of their earnings. 

Joker shirt, kinda suits me don't you think?

If you're interested in getting one of these, there will be a drop tonight. However to qualify for this one is a bit more complicated than usual. I definitely will try to mint one tonight if possible. Metaverse poker, maybe that's the future.