Crayfish (variation)

Crayfish is typically dealt as a variant of Pot-Limit Omaha, and less commonly as a variant of Hold’em, but can potentially be a variant of any game that uses a five-card board.

All five cards of the board are dealt face up on the flop. On the turn and river, a die is rolled. Each of the die rolls has the potential to turn a board card face down, thus removing that card from play.

On a roll of 1-5, the corresponding card is turned face down if it is not already face down. Cards are numbered from left to right. E.g., on a board of 4♦ 7♥ 2♣ T♥ K♦ if a one is rolled on the die, the 4♦ would be turned face down; if a three is rolled, the 2♣ would be turned face down. When a 6 is rolled, nothing happens on that roll; the board remains the same.

At the showdown, the board will have between three and five cards:

• three cards, if two different die rolls are made and each roll is between one and five
• four cards, if both die rolls are the same number between one and five
• four cards, if one of the die rolls is a six and the other is between one and five
• five cards, if both die rolls are six

Face down cards can’t be used at showdown.

Notes

A crayfish swims backwards, which is how this variant got its name.

BARGErs heard about Crayfish via Don Rieck’s appearance on the Poker: All the Games podcast and we just knew it belonged here.