How to Play Iron Cross Poker

Sometimes poker variations that use community cards tend to be all the same. The dealer deals out a straight line of community cards and flips them over one at a time. That's not the case with Iron Cross Poker. Iron Cross Poker adds a wild card to the mix. It also allows players to choose between one of two rows of three cards to use as their own community cards. They can add these to their two hole cards to form their best five card poker hand.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

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

1. Gather your friends together for a night of home poker variations. Iron Cross Poker will fit in great to your normal rotation of home poker games, including the popular "Texas Holdem". You can have up to twenty three players in a game of Iron Cross Poker. The ideal number of players ranges between six and nine players.

2. Deal two face down cards to each player. Deal five face down cards in the center of the table in the form of a cross. These cards should include a row of three cards, along with a single card above and below the center card. Once the cards have been dealt, each player may look at their own hole cards. The community cards must remain face down.

3. Flip over the community card on the top row. Conduct a betting round after that card has been flipped, with the player to the left of the dealer starting the betting. Make sure each player knows they will be able to use one of the two rows of cards along with their hole cards to form their hand.

4. Flip the card in the center row on the left hand side. Allow the player two seats to the left of the dealer to begin this second round of wagering.

5. Flip the card at the right end of the middle row over. This allows the third round of wagering to begin with the player sitting three seats to the left to start the round.

6. Reveal the community card on the bottom row. This round of betting begins with the player four seats to the left of the dealer.

7. Reveal the center card of the community cards. This is a card everyone will have to use in their hand, as it is part of both of the three-card rows. This is the card that can make or break a good poker hand. The final wagering round will begin with the player sitting five seats to the left of the dealer.

8. Reveal the cards and declare the poker hand. Each player must reveal his or her cards, declare which row of community cards they are using and state the value of their hand. The player with the best poker hand wins the entire pot.

Tips & Warnings

• Some may play that the middle card is a wild card. If you do that, you need to decide if the middle card is wild for everyone.
• There are more wagering rounds in Iron Cross Poker than in Texas Holdem. Play it safe and wager low early on. Remember that middle card can make or break your hand. You won't see it until the fifth wagering round.