Crazy poker games are alternative poker variants specifically designed to create more action, wilder hands, and memorable moments than standard Texas Hold’em or Omaha. They include games like Irish Poker, Badugi, Pineapple, Short Deck Poker, and Vanunu, variants where extra hole cards, unusual deck compositions, or inventive mechanics make every session feel different.
I have played and taught all of these games over the years, and the ten I have selected below are the ones that consistently produce the most excitement and the most interesting decisions. Some are played at the highest levels of mixed games competition. Others are pure home game entertainment. All of them are worth knowing, and we will teach you the basic rules here.
#1 – Badugi
Badugi is one of my favorite games to introduce to students who have never played a draw game. The biggest adjustment is shifting your mindset from building high hands to hunting for the lowest four-card rainbow holding. That is a complete reversal of what Texas Hold’em players naturally do, and it creates a fascinating learning curve.
Badugi is a fairly simple game that includes elements of draw poker and lowball poker, and does not include any community cards.
Instead, every player is dealt four hole cards at the start of the hand, which they can change up to three times, as three draws are allowed in Badugi.
The goal of the game is to make the lowest possible combination of cards of different suits, which means Ad 2c 3h 4s would be the best possible hand.
Between every drawing round, there is a betting round, where players can make their bets and try to make their opponents fold their cards.
At showdown, any four-card Badugi beats any hand that does not have four cards of different suits. If no one has a four-card badugi, the best possible three-card Badugi wins, etc.
Players who enjoy draw games like 2-7 Triple Draw will already be familiar with how Badugi works, which makes it a relatively easier game to learn than some others.
For a deeper look at Badugi strategy, including starting hand selection and drawing concepts, see our full Badugi Poker guide.
#2 – Short Deck Poker
Short Deck Poker is one of the most action-packed variants I have ever played. I have seen students who describe themselves as bored with Texas Hold’em completely rediscover their love of poker after just one session of Short Deck.
The stripped-down deck changes equity calculations significantly, and players accustomed to the standard 52-card game will find their usual hand-reading instincts tested immediately.
Also known as 6+ Hold’em, Short Deck Poker was probably invented as a way to gain the favor of Asian “VIPs” who love action and hate folding their cards before the flop.
The game of Short Deck does not include any 2s, 3s, 4s, or 5s, which means it is a lot easier to make big hands and get good starting cards.
With the deck shortened to just 36 cards, every player is dealt two hole cards, and the community cards are dealt the same way as in No Limit Hold’em.
There are a few major changes in the rules, with one of them being a flush beating a full house and another being the Ace taking the role of a 5 in the low straight when needed.
Short Deck Poker is also played as an ante game, which means every player at the table must start the hand by posting an ante, while the player on the button posts two antes.
The game is usually played as No Limit, and it is often allowed to take chips off the table if you accumulate a certain stack, as there is a lot of variance involved with Short Deck Poker.
#3 – Pineapple Poker
Pineapple Poker is the easiest crazy game to introduce to a group of Texas Hold’em regulars because the adjustment is small but the impact is immediate. I have seen it turn quiet tables into loud, engaged sessions. The key strategic difference is that starting with three hole cards increases your equity awareness preflop, which changes how confidently you can build pots.
Pineapple Poker is played with three hole cards dealt to each player, and it is a variation of Texas Hold’em, with the third hole card being the one major difference.
This may seem an awful lot like Omaha at the start, but it is not because the third card you receive goes back into the much before showdown.
In a variation called Crazy Pineapple, each player must discard one hole card after the flop is dealt and before the flop betting round.
In another variation called Lazy Pineapple, the third card is only discarded after the river card is dealt and all betting is completed.
All other elements of this game are identical to Texas Hold’em, including the hand rankings and betting rounds.
If you want to add some flare to your home games, playing Pineapple Poker in either of its variations is guaranteed to do just that.
#4 – Irish Poker
Irish Poker is my top recommendation for home games because it rewards both aggression and genuine decision-making. I have played hundreds of hands of Irish Poker, and the most common mistake I see is players keeping a disconnected high pair after the flop and discarding the suited connectors that would have made a monster on the turn. The decision of which two cards to keep is deceptively complex and is where the game’s real skill lives.
What makes Irish Poker so fun to play is the fact there are many hands in which players discard the cards that would have helped them, or have an option between discarding cards that form different draws.
Even more than Pineapple Poker, Irish Poker is guaranteed to make your home game more lively and fun, so if you are looking for a way to make your games more exciting, try playing some Irish Poker next week.
#5 – Low/High Chicago
Chicago is one of those games that adds a fascinating split-pot dynamic to a familiar Seven Card Stud format. What I find most interesting is how holding a key spade in the hole transforms your entire strategic approach to the hand.
In my experience, players new to Chicago dramatically undervalue the spade half of the pot in the early streets when they should be factoring it into every decision from the first card.
For the most part, Chicago is played just like regular Seven Card Stud, with limit betting and every player getting dealt seven cards of their own, three of which are dealt face-down.
The major twist in this one is that it’s a split pot game, with one-half of the pot going to the player with either the highest or the lowest spade in their hand, hence the name Low or High Chicago.
This game offers quite a few interesting strategic twists. Holding the right spade in the hole gives you a chance to play your hand aggressively and win one-half of the pot regardless of other players’ holdings, freerolling for the other half.
On the other hand, holding the nuts as far as regular poker hands go but without a spade means you won’t be able to win the rest of the pot and are only playing for half.
#6 – Cincinnati
Cincinnati is one of the most chaotic games I have played, and I mean that in the best possible way. Before your first Cincinnati session, I strongly recommend recalibrating your hand value ranges entirely. What constitutes a “big hand” in this game is shifted dramatically upward compared to Texas Hold’em, and players who fail to adjust routinely overvalue their holdings.
In Cincinnati, each player receives five hole cards to start with, and these five cards can be used in any fashion, unlike Omaha games, in which only two hole cards can be used at showdown.
In Cincinnati, you can start with a made hand in the hole, such as a full house, quads, or a flush, or you can look to improve on your hole cards with community cards.
Five community cards in total are spread across the table, and these cards are revealed one at a time, with one betting round between every new card being revealed.
If you decide to play Cincinnati with your friends, beware that every hand can be a winner, and every hand can be a loser, as the combinations in this one are quite endless.
Don’t be too quick to give hands like straights too much value, as five hole cards mean that making flushes and full houses is going to be the norm.
#7 – Drawmaha
Drawmaha is one of the more unusual games on this list, and I want to be upfront: I have seen it confuse experienced PLO players at first. The critical thing to remember is that you are playing for two separate pots simultaneously.
You need to hold both your best Omaha hand and your best five-card draw hand in mind before and after the draw phase, which requires a specific kind of multi-layered thinking.
The game starts with each player getting dealt five hole cards and the preflop betting round playing the same way as it would in classic Pot Limit Omaha.
The dealer then puts out a flop, and the second betting round ensues. Once this betting round is completed, players get to discard as many of their cards as they choose and get new ones instead.
Once the drawing is completed, the hand is played out, with the turn and river being dealt out and betting rounds happening after each of the streets.
Now that all the cards are out, players flip over their cards, and the winner is decided. But remember, this is not Omaha, this is Drawmaha.
For that reason, the pot is split between the best Omaha hand and the best Five Card Draw hand, with the player with the best five hole cards getting half the pot.
If you are curious about how the dealing is done in this game, it is worth noting that the discarded cards can be shuffled back into the deck to allow players to make their draws and still ensure there are enough cards in play for everyone.
Because the game can be so wild, it is often played with limit poker rules, but pot-limit games are also played from time to time.
#8 – Vanunu
Vanunu is one of the few poker games I have played where the strategic depth genuinely rivals Texas Hold’em at a high level. The declaration phase is what makes it unique: you must commit to playing for one side of the pot, the other, or both. If you declare for both, you must actually win both to collect anything. That added layer of risk management is something most poker games simply do not offer.
This game is said to have been invented by Daniel Negreanu and his poker friends back in his early days, although it may have just been their favorite game that someone else invented.
In either case, Vanunu is a poker version that combines Seven Card Stud, Razz, and Draw Poker and makes for a very unique game.
The game starts with every player getting seven cards in total, all facing down. Then, players flip one card at a time and make bets on each card reveal.
Once five cards are revealed from every player’s hand. The remaining players can draw cards to replace their up cards or down cards for a predetermined price.
After the dealing and betting are done, players must declare which side of the pot they are playing and can only win the side they announced. If they announce they are playing for both, they must then actually win both to scoop.
On top of being a fun game to play, Vanunu is incredibly complex and is definitely not as solved as Texas Hold’em, making it the perfect game to try and outwit your friends in.
#9 – Estonian Twist
Estonian Twist is one of those games that sounds simple but reliably produces remarkable moments at the table. I have watched players pass what they thought was a useless card to their neighbor, only to see it become the exact card that gave that neighbor the nuts on the river. That element of forced card exchange creates a kind of shared fate that most poker variants simply do not have.
If you are a fan of Texas Hold’em Poker but find the game to be just a little too uneventful, Estonian Twist might be just what you need to add to your home games.
As the name suggests, Estonian Twist is a game of European origin that adds a little twist to the classic game of Texas Hold’em Poker.
Unlike a classic Texas Hold’em game, a hand of Estonian Twist starts with every player getting three hole cards instead of two.
From there, each player gets to look at their hole cards and pass one of them to the player to their left. Keep in mind that you have to pass one card to the player to your left and receive one card from the player to your right.
Once this is done, all players get to discard one card, whether it is the one they got from their neighbor or one of their starting cards.
The game is played in a typical fashion from here, but the extra preflop action allows for some additional excitement and opportunities to start with big hands before the flop.
#10 – Red River Hold’em
Red River Hold’em is perfect for home games that love action because it can turn the river into a multi-card event. In my experience, the strategy shift is more significant than players initially expect.
Flush draws that would be marginal calls at standard pot odds in Texas Hold’em become much more playable in Red River because you may see two or three additional cards before the hand ends. Pot odds calculations need to be adjusted accordingly.
Do you love to chase down draws? Then Red River Hold’em is the ideal game for you, as it creates some extra opportunities to catch the card you need.
This particular variation of Hold’em poker plays exactly the same as Texas Hold’em poker all the way down to the river.
Once the river card is dealt, something interesting happens. If the river card is black, a single round of betting ensues, and the hand ends in a showdown.
However, if the river card is red, another community card is dealt after the river. If this card is red again, yet another card is dealt.
The added opportunity to catch draws means you will often get more chances to chase after big draws, especially flush draws, despite the pot odds.
Adding the Red River twist to your home game could be just what you need to make things more fun, so if you want to try it out, suggest it to your group before the next home game session.
Which Crazy Poker Games Should You Try First?
With ten options in front of you, the question I get most often is: where do I start? My recommendation depends on the experience level of your group.
If your home game is mostly Texas Hold’em players who have never tried alternatives, start with Irish Poker. It plays almost identically to the game they already know, except for the four-card start and the post-flop discard. The adjustment is minimal, the excitement is immediate, and experienced players will still have real decisions to make.
Pineapple Poker is another excellent starting point. It is essentially Texas Hold’em with one extra hole card, and the games run at a fast, familiar pace that keeps everyone at the table comfortable.
For groups ready to step up the complexity, Badugi and Short Deck Poker both have real strategic depth and growing competitive scenes. Short Deck in particular is one of the fastest-growing variants at high-stakes tables worldwide and is worth understanding even if your home game eventually moves back to standard Hold’em.
Vanunu and Drawmaha are best introduced to experienced groups who are comfortable with Stud and Omaha respectively. They reward prior game knowledge and create more confusion than fun when introduced to a group still learning the basics.
Save Cincinnati for a session where your group wants maximum chaos. The combination of five hole cards and five community cards creates some of the biggest pots and most extreme coolers you will ever see in a home game.
