Get into Pokino

In recent years there has been proliferation of different kinds of poker games. The most famous of course is the Texas Hold'em. There is Omaha, stud, razz and many more.

There are other variants that are very different from the publics idea of poker. Who has ever heard of Leg poker, Wild window or even of Pig in the Poke? These are other kinds of poker that many may not be even aware of. Not knowing those other variants, it comes as no surprise that Pokino is an unknown game to many.

In this variant of poker, the object of the game is to scare as many points as possible. Think of pokino as a combination of bridge and poker. The game has two stages. First stage is played by dealing cards and to add a twist there are certain penalties. The second round utilizes tricks seen in bridge card games.

The dealer is chosen depending on the value of the card one has cut. Whoever, has the highest value card does the dealing.

On the first stage, five cards are dealt to each player. When dealing the hand it starts from the nondealer player ending with the dealer. The game is not specific if the dealing is clockwise or counterclockwise fashion.

Players may stand pat or discard a card to draw one to three cards to make one's hand. On drawing additional cards, the player is penalized twice on the upcoming second stage if one's trick is beaten.

If after drawing a card and one's hand is still unfavorable, drawing another card is still possible but one must be aware that drawing cards twice would mean that the penalty is quadrupled, thus each lost trick is penalized four times.

Upon the commencement of the second stage, it is the player not dealing the cards that makes the opening lead. High card takes the trick regardless of suit and other players do not need to follow the suit presented. In cases of two with the same valued cards being present, who ever made the first lead wins. The winner will carry on the next trick. All tricks whether lost or won are placed face up on the table.

The scoring in Pokino is the same as in bridge. The scores are kept in columns divided in the middle by a dark line. Above this is where trick scores are recorded while honor and bonuses are noted below the line.

When all tricks are played it is then that the players show their poker hand. The poker hand will receive an honor score, which is added to the tricks score. The player with the highest score when tricks, honor and bonuses are added is declared the winner.