Alternating Guts

Five cards are dealt to each player. Players declare in or out. Those players that declared in compare hands. The best hand collects the pot, with the other players that went in matching the pot.

At the game’s end, each player makes the best three-card hand of the five cards. However, players are able to use two cards in their hand as a single wild card if those two cards are one removed from each other in number. For example, if a player has 5-J-4-J-2, the 2 and 4 are one removed from each other in number and therefore act as a single wild card; combined with the Jacks, this makes a hand of three Jacks.

Unlike Monte Carlo, there are no straights or flushes, leaving only High Card, Pair, or Three-of-a-kind as possible hands. The game ends when one player goes in.