Equal Hands Poker

Imagine a regular ol’, bog-standard, according to Hoyle deck of cards and a game of 5 card poker. But all the cards are of equal value as to rank and suit and each hand of the same type is of equal value.

Each pair is equal to each other pair. A 2-2 has the same value as K-K, for example. Each three of a kind is equal to each other three of a kind. There is no such thing as high card or high kicker. All straights are equal, all full houses are equal and all four of a kinds are all equal, no matter the high card. The only exceptions are straight flushes and royal straight flushes.

Winning hands ranked as normal: pair<two pair<three of a kind<straight<flush<full house<four of a kind<straight flush<royal straight flush

So while winning a hand requires holding a better hand, ranked on probability, holding hands of equal rank/probability results in a push. I’d imagine there would be more ties.

Thoughts?

Quote: GenoDRPh

Imagine a regular ol’, bog-standard, according to Hoyle deck of cards and a game of 5 card poker. But all the cards are of equal value as to rank and suit and each hand of the same type is of equal value.

Each pair is equal to each other pair. A 2-2 has the same value as K-K, for example. Each three of a kind is equal to each other three of a kind. There is no such thing as high card or high kicker. All straights are equal, all full houses are equal and all four of a kinds are all equal, no matter the high card. The only exceptions are straight flushes and royal straight flushes.

Winning hands ranked as normal: pair<two pair<three of a kind<straight<flush<full house<four of a kind<straight flush<royal straight flush

So while winning a hand requires holding a better hand, ranked on probability, holding hands of equal rank/probability results in a push. I’d imagine there would be more ties.

Thoughts?
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You did not specify whether this is 5-card draw or five-card stud. I assume there are no community cards in your game.

What you are describing is a game very similar to JOB video poker where the dealer is assumed to always have a pair of Jacks/Aces. You lose with any unpaired X-high hand and a pair of deuces to a pair of tens. You push the dealer with JJ, QQ, KK, AA, and you win with all higher hands. In JOB, the ranks of a hand do not matter except for the Royal Flush.

If it is a stud game, you will have a very simple chart to tell you how likely you are to be ahead of one or more opponents. If you hold nothing in your hand, you can still tie if all your opponents have nothing. This probability can be easily approximated if you ignore EOR. The ranks of the cards in your hand don't really enter into the discussion.

This would be a simpler poker game to play. I don't know who the target audience would be for a simpler poker game. There are plenty of simpler forms of poker already.

a poker game hand has the pot go to one winner or is split between [usually] high hand and low hand. Even within the split hands, there is one winner based on the best hand. One of the worst sessions you can have is to find yourself coming in second place all session, which gets no prize. This can grate if you had a good hand, and if players hate that, they could play your game

In games I'm in there is quite a bit of joking about second place finishes

I also don't see it catching on

Thanks for the responses. I thought of the game conceptually because I always felt it peculiar that with an equal numbers of each numbered cards in a deck, cards are ranked, which has no relation to their distribution or probability of being dealt.