How to Play Follow the Cowboy Poker

Follow the Cowboy Poker is a really simple poker game, but adds a lot of fun to your home poker night for players that enjoy playing with wild cards. In Follow The Cowboy Poker all Kings are wild. If a King is dealt face up though, the card dealt immediately after that is wild as well. Here is the trick though, if another King is dealt later in the hand, the former wild card is canceled and replaced by the card dealt after the most recent King. Kings can never be canceled as wild cards, so there are always at least four wild cards in Follow The Cowboy Poker and quite often there are a total of eight wild cards.

Things You'll Need

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

Instructions

1. Bring your friends together for a home poker night. Follow The Cowboy Poker is a variation of stud poker with seven cards, so you cannot have any more than seven players in a game. The ideal number of players is between five and seven.

2. Direct each player to ante, and then deal two face down cards to each player and one face up card to each player. Let players know that Kings are always wild, and if a King is dealt face up the next card dealt is wild. The wild card can change if another King is dealt face up though, as the previous wild card is canceled out by the new one. Most players also play that if you receive a face up King, you must pay 50 cents to the pot. If you receive the wild card dealt after the King it costs you 25 cents.

3. Conduct the first wagering round. The player with the best face up card is the first player to bet in the wagering round.

4. Deal another face up card to each player. Once again there is a wagering round, started by the player with the best face up hand.

5. Repeat Step 4 two more times. At this point each player will have two face down card and four face up cards. There also will have been four wagering rounds. After everyone has received six cards, the wild card can not change on the seventh card because it is dealt face down.

6. Deal the seventh card face down to each player. Conduct the fifth and final wagering round. The fifth wagering round is begun by the same player that started the fourth wagering round.

7. Reveal the cards and determine the winner. All players at the table that have not folded now reveal his cards and declare his best five card poker hand. The player with the best poker hand at the table wins the pot.

Tips & Warnings

• If the last face up card dealt is a King, then the only wild card in the game are Kings. If no Kings are dealt face up, once again Kings are the only wild cards in the hand.

• If you receive the card after a King as your third or fourth face up card, consider the strength of your hand carefully before deciding if you want to pay the 25 cent fee. If you do not pay the fee, then the only wild card at that point is the King. This can be used for strategic advantages if you think it out carefully.