Take It or Leave It Poker

Take It or Leave It Overview

Take It or Leave It is a variant of Five Card Stud in which players can choose to pass on cards to the next player. It is suitable for 3-8 players.

Take It or Leave It Rules

In order to begin, players ante up, placing a small sum in the pot. The dealer gives each player one card, facedown. Then the dealer gives the player to his left one card face down. That player can choose to keep the card, turning it face up, or to give it to the next player to his left. If the player passes it on to the next player, he receives the next card from the top of the deck, face-up.

If he passed it on, the next player has the same option. He may pass it on or he may keep it. House rules differ as to what happens to the dealer. Some house rules say that the dealer may “dump” his card if he doesn’t want it, while other say that he must keep whatever card is offered to him first. When play has gone all around the table, and the dealer has gotten his card, there is a round of betting.

The betting round begins from the player showing the highest card, and moves clockwise around the table. Each player, in turn, decides whether to fold, quitting the game, or to stay in. If he wishes to stay in, he can choose to call, and pay the amount of the current bet or he can choose to raise, making the current bet higher and forcing other players to match the higher bet or fold.

When the betting round is completed, there is another round where each player gets a new card. In total, each player receives four cards this way. There is a betting round after each card. After the final betting round, there is a showdown. All players who have not folded reveal their cards, and the player with the best hand wins the pot.