How to Play Commissary Poker

Video Transcript

"Another game we'll talk about is called Commissary. Now those have been around the military know that the grocery store is also known as the Commissary hence the name in this game cause you're actually going to go shopping for your cards. In a sense, you're going to buy the cards that you're going to play instead of being given them for free. Let's see how Commissary is dealt out as a variation for Seven Stud. First each player will receive two cards face down from the dealer and instead of receiving their up cards; the cards will come to the middle of the table. Now it's up to the dealer and the host of the game to designate their limits on the game. Usually people are playing nickel, dime, and quarter. So in Commissary, if you want to use this card, it's free. If you want to use this card, it's a nickel. If you want to use this card, it's a dime. If you want to buy from the top of the deck, which I actually keep the card hidden and face down, it will be a quarter. So the first player looks at their card and they have a king and a nine. They're going to pay the pot and pick this one and pay ten cents. Once that card has been chosen, the dealer will then turn the next card. These two cards will stay hidden. This one will stay visible to everyone. Now if they pay a quarter to the pot, they get the card off the top of the deck and that card actually stays down and not visible to the other players. This player decides to take the free card. The dealer then turns up the next card so that this player has a choice and they pay a nickel to the pot and take the four of diamonds. Once every player has chosen the first of their cards, a betting round will start and here the four of diamonds will start the betting round. Again, we'll do the same thing starting with this player here. They will decide which card they want to buy or take one for free. Once each person has done this four times followed by a betting round on each time, the dealer will then deal one card face down to each player giving them seven cards. Each player then will take the best five cards from the seven, make their best five card poker hand, and that is how Commissary is played."