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Five cards are
dealt to each player, then five cards are laid out in the center
in a three-by-two cross, face down. These cards are turned up one
by one, with a betting interval following each turn-up. The center
card is turned up last. It and all other cards of the same rank
are wild. Each active player in the showdown may select his five-card
poker hand from his own five cards plus either arm of the cross-eight
cards in all.
How to play: These games (as well as numerous unlisted minor variations)
are best considered by comparing them with other games in the Spit-in-the-Ocean
family. In judging the value of hands, the number of potential wild
cards is paramount; in gauging your betting, make note of the number
of intervals remaining (assuming a limit game, which is usual when
dealer's choice is played and peculiar variations are allowed);
in deciding late-round tactics, be governed by the rank of your
hand in relation to the exposed common cards.
Each of these games is nothing more than a minor variation of one
of the others, and is possibly slightly different from the particular
form called in your own game. In each case you must judge the value
of a hand by experience. This value will depend not only on the
mathematical expectations (which are all I could give here), but
on the style of players. These games are usually played loosely-but
not so loosely that you should violate the fundamental principle
of undervaluing your hand and playing conservatively when a close
situation arises.
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