This was the primary poker game played in California during the heyday of Gardena in the 1970s. It is still played today, though its popularity has somewhat lessened since the introduction of stud poker and community card poker to the state.
Played as above, using ace-to-five low hand values, with a single joker in the deck. Always played with blinds rather than antes, so players may not check on the first betting round (but may on the second round). A player with a 7-high hand or better who checks after the draw forfeits his right to win any money placed in the pot after the draw. (In other words, you may not check a “seven” unless you intend to fold when someone else bets). Another common rule in low-limit games is that a player who checks on the second betting round may not subsequently raise on that round. This latter rule is never used in games with a pot limit or no limit betting structure.
Popular legend holds that the composition of a deck of cards has religious, metaphysical or astronomical significance: typical numerological elements of the explanation are that the four suits represent the four seasons, the 13 cards per suit are the 13 phases of the lunar cycle, black and red are for day and night, and finally, if the value of each card is added up – and 1 is added, which is generally explained away as being for a single joker – the result is 365, the number of days in a year. The context for these stories is sometimes given to suggest that the interpretation is a joke, generally being the purported explanation given by someone caught with a deck of cards in order to suggest that their intended purpose was not gambling (Urban Legends Reference Pages article).
In a game played with a fixed limit betting structure, a player chooses only whether to bet or not – the amount is fixed by rule. To enable the possibility of bluffing, the fixed amount generally doubles at some point in the game. This double wager amount is referred to as a big bet.
For example, a four-round game called “20 and 40 limit” (usually written as $20/$40) may specify that each bet in the first two rounds is $20, and that each big bet used in the third and fourth rounds is $40. This amount applies to each raise, not the total amount bet in a round, so a player may bet $20, be raised $20, and then re-raise another $20, for a total bet of $60, in such a game.
The poker term high hand means simply the best poker hand, using traditional poker hand rankings. It is a retronym coined in response to lowball. The term is used most commonly in High-low split games.
The mental poker problem concerns how to play a fair game of poker without the need for a trusted dealer.
Today this is an important problem due to the sharp rise in interest in online poker. The problem arises because of the need for a way to ensure the players a fair game without needing to trust the dealer (usually an internet gambling site). For instance the dealer might give some players an advantage in the cards dealt, giving them an upper hand. This problem can be compared to the problem of flipping a coin over distance.
Several protocols for doing this have been suggested, the first by Adi Shamir, Ron Rivest and Len Adleman (the creators of the RSA-encyption protocol).
