Original Pilatch

4-card hands. Small deck. Big odds.

Great for friendly games.

Players

2 to 9 players per deck

Deck Build

36 cards. Ranks 2-10, Jack, Queen, King in each of the three suits. No wild cards. Remove the Aces and 1s.

Valued Hand Size

4-card hands are valued.

Combine your hand with a set of community cards, but use only 4 of those cards.

Beginning a Hand

Each player begins with her bet card up. Shuffle the deck. Deal each player a hand of 3 cards. Have a round of betting. Then deal community cards.

Community Cards

Deal 1 face-down community card, 1 face-up, then have a round of betting. Do so 3 times.

If the dealer accidentally deals a card face-up first, or reveals what should have been a face-down card, make that the face-up community card instead, and deal the next one face-down. It's not a big deal because the deck is random.

Winning

After the last community cards are dealt and the final round of betting, the best 4-card hand wins. See winning.