How to Play Put and Take Poker

Put and Take Poker is a unique home poker variation. In Put and Take Poker, each player gets a chance to be the dealer. All the other players at the table are playing against the dealer. Unlike other games that use a dealer, in Put and Take Poker, the dealer can actually win or lose money. The other players can each win or lose money as well on each hand, even if they are not the dealer.

Things You'll Need

• Playing cards
• Poker table, poker tabletop or standard table
• Chairs
• Opponents
• Poker chips

Instructions

The Put Round

1. Gather your friends for a home poker night. You can play with up to 10 players, including the dealer, in a game of Put and Take Poker. The ideal number of players is five to seven.

2. Deal five face-up cards to each player. It does not matter that everyone else can see your cards, because you are playing against the dealer. The dealer does not gain any advantage by being able to see your cards.

3. Deal one face-up card to the dealer. Any player that has a face-up card that matches the first face-up card dealt to the dealer must pay a penalty of one ante to the pot.

4. Deal a second face-up card to the dealer. Any player that has a face-up card that matches the second face-up card dealt to the dealer must pay a penalty of two antes to the pot.

5. Deal a third face-up card to the dealer. Players that have a face-up card that matches the third face-up card the dealer receives must pay four antes to the pot.

6. Deal the fourth and fifth card to the dealer. These cards get expensive for the players. Any player with a face-up card matching the fourth face-up card of the dealer must pay eight antes to the pot. Any player with a face-up card matching the dealer's fifth face-up card must pay 16 antes to the pot.

7. Collect the dealer's face-up cards and reshuffle the deck. The players keep their face-up cards in front of them.

The Take Round

1. Collecting money is the key in the take round, now that the players have helped to build the pot.

2. The dealer deals himself five face-up cards.

3. Collect money from the pot based on any cards you have that match the dealer's face-up cards. Each player now collects money from the pot. If they have any cards that match the first face-up card of the dealer, they collect one ante from the pot. Matching the second face-up card from the dealer gets them two antes from the pot, and matching the third face-up dealer's card gets them four antes from the pot. If a player matches the fourth or fifth face-up card from the dealer, they collect large amounts from the pot. Matching the fourth face-up card gets a player eight antes from the pot, and matching the last face-up card in the dealer's hand gets a player 16 antes from the pot.

4. Calculate how much the dealer wins or loses. If the pot runs out of money, the dealer must pay the winners from his personal stack of chips. If it turns out that after everyone collects their chips from the pot, there are still some chips remaining in the pot, these go to the dealer as the dealer's winnings.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have two cards of the same value face up in your hand and they match one of the dealer's face-up cards, you either pay double to the pot or receive double antes from the pot depending on if it is the Put or the Take round.

• To make this game fair you should continue playing it around the table until each player has the opportunity to be the dealer once, before a player can declare a different variation of home poker.