Mayhem Poker Rules

Mayhem Poker is a new and original two player game designed to produce longer play times, bigger pots and more excitement than any other one on one Poker game in history.

 Let’s Get Ready to Play

A chosen dealer lays out the cards within a specified grid. The cards can be placed in any order chosen by the dealer as long as the card to beat is the final card dealt. The card to beat is dealt face up and rests upon the stack of 16 cards not in play. The grid mainly consists of three rows of five. On each side of the center row, one free card is dealt per square while the center row is made up of five separate stacks of five cards per square. Including the card to beat there are 36 cards in play with 16 dead cards lying dormant under the card to beat in the small square off to the side. The larger area on the opposite side is reserved to collect the pot.

Once the grid is laid out, game play begins once both players offer an ante to the pot. This amount is to be predetermined by the players. The dealer then allows his or her opponent to start drawing cards. Normally players will start by drawing from their row of personal free cards. These free cards require no payment and can be drawn in any order, but players are not obligated to turn all of them up before pulling from the center stacks. However, the five stacks of five cards on the center line must be paid for one at a time. The price per card is predetermined by the players. Also, these cards can only be used on either side of the stack and once a card is placed face up over another card, that card and anything beneath it is to be considered out of play. Players are not allowed to show or see these dead cards again until the game is over. Should a player fail to hide their dead cards or decide to look them over, a predetermined fine is paid to the opposing player before game play can resume.

The first player to draw a card must continue drawing until the card to beat has been beaten. At this point the player can decide to make no bet by checking, or they can make a bet to be matched or matched and raised by their opponent. A maximum bet must be predetermined by both players before the betting starts.

Once the pot has been satisfied the opponent must keep drawing cards until a higher poker hand is achieved. Once this happens the player must stop and check or bet on the new high hand.

A Common Mistake

From time to time a player will not realize they have achieved the high hand and continue drawing cards. When somebody notices this, the game comes to a stop and a predetermined fine is paid to the opposing player. After this the game starts again and allows the player to bet on their high hand or continue drawing cards should the high hand have been compromised by the mistake.

Should either player run out of free cards or decide to draw from the centerline, each of the cards in these five stacks must be purchased through the pot with an amount predetermined by the players. Also, these cards can be purchased at any time during game play, but can only be placed over cards they sit directly in front of. Once a stack of center line cards has been used up, both players are locked into the cards they have showing opposite that empty space on the centerline.

During the course of an average game, multiple hands are created and bet upon by both players. Game play continues until one player decides to fold or all the cards in play have been turned up to determine a winner.

Once this happens the pot is collected by the winner and the next game is started. The next dealer can be decided by turn, by winner or by any method decided by both players.

Don’t Get Fined

Because cheating or mistakes can compromise a players chances of winning, fines are paid directly to opposing players and not to the pot.

Checking Discarded Cards

Remember that when a player’s unwanted cards are covered by new cards, the new cards must cover the discarded cards completely. Players are not allowed to check discarded cards to see what’s been played until after the game is finished. Should a player check discarded cards at any time during game play it’s up to that player’s opponent to stop them and collect a predetermined fine.

Drawing Cards Out of Turn

Remember that once a player has beaten his opponent’s hand they must stop drawing cards. Should this accident be observed during game play then once again, a predetermined fine is paid.

Exposing Two or More Centerline Cards at Once

When a player is drawing from the center stacks and accidently exposes two or more cards at once, that player must play the bottom card and bury the rest in their stack. And once again a predetermined fine is paid before the game continues.

 Happy Gaming With Good Strategy

 Regular players of Mayhem Poker will generally find that the large number of cards in play allows for each opponent to create a variety of hands within each game. The best strategy used to create standard poker hands should be based mostly upon the cards available and cards already drawn. Those who try to remember each and every discarded card will naturally increase their chances of success by factoring the odds of making winning hands according to what has not been drawn. And please bear in mind that while the card to beat stays visible throughout the game it is considered dead once it’s beaten. The 16 dead cards beneath it are never shown during game play and will remain a mystery until the game is finished.

In closing. While special additions such as wild cards, follow the queen and black Mariah are not generally used in Mayhem, its a little known fact that within the game of poker the suits themselves have an established order of dominance. This order is easy to remember by alphabetically moving backwards. This places Spades as number one, Hearts as number two, Dimond’s as number three and Clubs as number four. Bearing this in mind there should never be a tie in traditional poker as two opposing players with duplicate hands will always be able to determine a winner by assessing the suits of the highest card appearing in each hand. An easy example would be if the card to beat was an ace of clubs and the first person to draw pulled an ace of diamonds. The ace of diamonds beats the ace of clubs so no additional cards need to be drawn. Once the betting or checking has occurred, player 2 draws and pulls an ace of hearts, thus establishing the new high hand.

For further tips and instructions see our How to Play video on YouTube.