Manila Poker

Manila Poker, or Seven-Up Poker, is a Texas Hold’Em Poker variation, which is very popular in Australian casinos. The game is played with a stripped deck where all cards below the rank of seven are removed. The remaining deck has 32 cards.

Rules of Manila

After the initial blind bets, each player is dealt two cards face down. One face up community card is also dealt. The player to the left of the player that posted the big blind begins the first round of betting.

A second community card is then dealt. This is followed by the second round of betting, starting with the player to the dealer’s left. A third, forth, and fifth community card are dealt, each card is followed by another round of betting. This is followed by the showdown.

Unlike in Texas Hold’Em, in Manila Poker each player must make the best possible five-card poker hand with both of his hole cards and exactly three of the five community cards.

Because of the stripped Manila deck, a flush beats a full house. In addition, an Ace may not be played low for a straight (A-7-8-9-10 is not a straight). A common variation for Manila Poker involves dealing three cards to each poker player, one of which can either be discarded at some point (like Pineapple Poker), or else held to the end, but maintaining the requirement that each poker player play exactly two of his own cards with exactly three of the board community cards. The three-card variant is sometimes played with 6s being restored to the deck, making it 36 cards.