How to Play Bid Em Poker
What is Bid'em Poker?
Bid Em poker is a game based on 5 card stud, where players bid to buy cards they like. In an example below we will take a game with 25 cents initial bets and classic Bid Em poker rules. However, some of the values in this example, especially the bet sizes can change in accordance to the specific table the game is played at.
How to Play:
Each player initially receives one face-down card, after which the first bid round starts. The dealer turns up a card from the top of the deck and gives the first player to his left a choice to bid 25 cents on this exposed card or to pay 50 cents and receive a blind card from the top of the deck. If the player chooses a blind card, he receives it face-up placing 50 cents into the deck, and the same choice is offered to the next player in the clockwise direction. If the player bids on the exposed card, all other player at the table who did not receive a card in this round are given an option to bid a higher sum on this card, and the one who makes the highest bid, receives the card.
The next card from the top of the deck is then exposed, and the next player who still did not get a card is offered to bid on the exposed card or to buy a blind one. Players can not receive more than one card per round, therefore, the players who already received their card do not take part in the further action until the end of the round.
When each player receives one card, if the exposed card is still in play, it is discarded and a new card is turned up to start the next bid round. The second bid round does not start from the player to the dealer's left, but from the next player in the clockwise direction. There are three bid rounds in the game, after which all players have one face-down card they received in the beginning and three face-up card they received in bid rounds. At this stage another face-down card is dealt. Now, when all players have five cards, they are given an option to exchange one of the cards by a new one from the deck (a la draw poker) placing 1 dollar into the pot, after which the showdown occurs and the player with the best hand wins the pot.
Traditionally, each bid round, and the last face-down card are followed by standard betting rounds, but it is subject to the table rules and betting rounds can occur in different times.
Variations:
There are several variations of Bid Em poker. First of all, features like the number of face-up and face-down cards, as well as the total number of cards can vary along with the number, the format and the sequence of bid and standard betting rounds. Besides, it is advisable to play Bid Em poker in High/Low format to make the game more interesting.
Super Bid Em:
One popular variation of Bid Em poker is Super Bid Em, a game almost equal to the traditional Bid Em poker, but with bid rounds played differently. In Super Bid Em poker, players are not obliged to buy only one card per round. They can buy up to three cards (or whatever number of total face-up card is defined by the rules). A player can buy all cards in one single round, and not bid until the end of the game. However, if a player has more cards than the number of bid rounds occurred, he can not open a new bid round, even if it is his turn to do it. In such case, bidding starts from the next player in the clockwise direction who has no extra cards.
