How to Play Baseball Poker

Objective

Win the pot, either by holding the best five-card hand at the showdown or by betting until everyone else folds. You get seven cards (more if you catch a four face up) and use the best five of them.

The numbers come straight from the ballpark: three strikes, nine innings, four balls for a walk. That is why threes and nines are wild and a four gets you a free card. With eight wild cards in the deck, big hands are common. Five of a kind is a real possibility, and three of a kind rarely wins.

Setup

Agree on the stakes before the first deal: the ante, the size of a bet and how many raises are allowed in a round. Everyone antes into the pot before each hand. The deal passes to the left, and in most home games the dealer calls the game, so Baseball usually turns up as a dealer’s choice.

Deal each player two cards face down and then one card face up. The face-down cards are your hole cards. The rest of the deck stays with the dealer for the later rounds.

How to play

After the first three cards there is a round of betting. In most home games the player showing the highest card opens the first round, and in later rounds the player whose upcards make the best poker hand bets first. On each round you can check (if nobody has bet yet), bet, call, raise or fold.

The dealer then gives every player still in the hand a fourth, fifth and sixth card face up, one round at a time, with a betting round after each. The seventh card comes face down, followed by the last round of betting. Players still in then show their hands.

The special cards work like this. Threes and nines are wild wherever they land, face up or in the hole, and can stand for any card you choose. If a three is dealt to you face up, you must immediately match the pot (put in as many chips as it already holds) or fold. A three in the hole carries no penalty. If a four is dealt to you face up, the dealer gives you an extra card right away. Most tables deal it face down as another hole card.

With a big table and several extra cards, the deck can run short. If there are not enough cards left for everyone’s seventh card, the dealer turns one card face up in the middle as a shared card that every player can use.

1. 1Ante, then take two cards down and one up
2. 2Bet, then take three more upcards with a bet after each
3. 3Match the pot or fold if a three lands face up
4. 4Take an extra card for every four dealt face up
5. 5Take the last card down, bet, and show your best five

Scoring

There are no points. The best five-card hand wins the pot. Use any five of your cards and say what each wild card stands for when you show. Suits do not rank, so identical hands split the pot.

With eight wild cards in play, the winning hand is usually a full house or better. Keep that in mind before you chase a straight or a small flush.

Variations

Five-card stud Baseball: the older book version deals one card down and four up, with the same wild cards and the same rules for threes and fours.

Night Baseball: everyone gets seven cards face down and nobody looks. Players take turns flipping their cards one at a time, trying to beat the best hand showing, with a round of betting each time a new best hand appears. Threes and nines are still wild.

Buying the four: instead of a free card, some tables make you pay a set price for the extra card, or let you turn it down.

Tips from the table

Wild cards change the math. Before you call, think about what a strong hand looks like in this game, not in plain stud. Two pair is weak here, and a straight is only middling.

A face-up three is a gift and a bill at the same time. Matching the pot late in the hand can be very expensive, so know the size of the pot before you stay in.

Watch the upcards. If you can already see several threes and nines on the table, your own chances of catching a wild card have dropped.

A face-up four is worth more than it looks. Every extra card is another chance at five of a kind, and the whole table knows you got it.

Frequently asked