Ultimate in New Zealand

Went to play Ultimate at the Sky City casino in Auckland. I was playing alone. My very first hand a straight appears on the board. The dealer takes my chips. I say hold on, there was a straight on the board. The dealer informs me she must play her 2 cards, which included a ace, and I must play mine. The straight was 10 high. I protested and the supervisor showed me in writing that was there rules. I played this for 8 years all over the world and have never heard that. If 4 of a kind was on the board no one would have quads because. They have to play their 2 cards.

You are playing your two cards, they're the worst of the 7. Both of youz have a 10-high straight which is the highest 5-card poker hand. She probably can't think straight from living upside-down and toilets swirling the other way n such.

So in their version, you must play your two cards, and exactly three cards from the board? That's like Omaha, but with only two cards.

You are referring to Ultimate Texas Hold'Em, right? Were there other rule changes, like payouts on the blind? Does dealer still need a pair to qualify?

Without thinking too much into it, to me, it seems this rule variation would make it quite a bit harder to make certain hands, like flush/straight/full-house. It also seems like you may be more aggressive.

That's totally screwed up. You don't each have 2 cards: you each have 7 cards. 5 of them are the same cards. But yous still each make your best 5 card poker hand from those 7 cards.

I think a complaint to NZ gaming would be in order. But that's just me, perhaps, because it would cut both ways. You might even have an advantage with that kind of stupidity.

Is the game branded as ultimate Texas holdem? If so, I'd think a deviation this large would be interesting to the distributor.

I never heard of this rule in Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em either. According to SkyCity's rule book for Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, " Both the Dealer and all players must use both their Hole Cards together
with three Community Cards to make the best five-cards Poker hand that they can." So, you would seem to be right. Very un-poker like.

I'll have to make some modifications to my program to see how that effects things. It will definitely be bad for the player. More Antes pushing and it will much harder to win anything on the blind.

Can you confirm if the Blind pay table is the same? The rule booklet doesn't say.

As Deucekies pointed out, my first thought was this was exactly like omaha... Where the player MUST use 2 cards from their hand (thought typically in omaha you get 4 cards, but I digress).

This would most certainly hurt the player unless the blind pay table was modified. So if the board is H-H-H-H-D (4 hearts one diamond) and you have Ah-2c, you don't have a flush then? It would absolutely destroy the players chances of making straights/flushes/etc.

Quote: Wizard

I never heard of this rule in Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em either. According to SkyCity's rule book for Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, " Both the Dealer and all players must use both their Hole Cards together
with three Community Cards to make the best five-cards Poker hand that they can." So, you would seem to be right. Very un-poker like.

I'll have to make some modifications to my program to see how that effects things. It will definitely be bad for the player. More Antes pushing and it will much harder to win anything on the blind.

Can you confirm if the Blind pay table is the same? The rule booklet doesn't say.

A previous thread has a link to the Dealing Procedures and lists various trips pay tables, but the Blind looks the same.

Quote: miplet

Dealing Procedures and lists various trips pay tables, but the Blind looks the same.

This would seem to confirm that rule.

Quote: rule 9.7

For all remaining players, the Dealer will turn over his / her two cards. Each player and the Dealer’s two cards will be combined with three of the Community Cards to make the best five-card poker hand.