Objective
Like every poker game, Cincinnati is about winning chips. You can take a pot two ways: hold the best hand when the cards are shown, or bet so that everyone else folds before the showdown.
What sets Cincinnati apart is how many cards you get to choose from. You see ten cards, five private and five shared, so strong hands come up far more often than in five-card draw. A hand that would win easily in draw poker can be ordinary here.
Setup
Agree on stakes and betting limits before you start. Everyone antes into the pot. The dealer deals five cards face down to each player, one at a time, then deals five more face down in a row in the middle of the table. These are the community cards, sometimes called the widow.
Even with eight players, the deal uses only 45 of the 52 cards, so the game works at a full table. The deal passes to the left after every hand.
How to play
Look at your five cards. A round of betting follows, starting with the player to the dealer’s left. You may check, bet, call, raise or fold within the limits your table agreed.
The dealer then turns up the first community card, and another round of betting follows. This repeats for each of the five shared cards. Most tables bet once after the deal and once after each community card, six rounds in all.
When the last card is up and the final betting is done, the players still in show their hands. Each player picks the best five cards out of the ten available to them: any mix of their own five and the five on the table.
- 1Ante, then take five cards face down
- 2Bet after the deal
- 3Turn one community card and bet again
- 4Repeat until all five shared cards are face up
- 5Show down your best five cards out of ten
Scoring
The best five-card hand at the showdown wins the pot. Hands rank in the standard poker order. With ten cards to choose from, the bar is high: one pair rarely holds up, and a straight or better is common at the showdown.
| Hand | Example |
|---|---|
| Straight flush | 9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 6♠ 5♠ |
| Four of a kind | Q Q Q Q 4 |
| Full house | 10 10 10 3 3 |
| Flush | Any five cards of one suit |
| Straight | Five cards in sequence, mixed suits |
| Three of a kind | 7 7 7 K 2 |
| Two pair | J J 5 5 9 |
| One pair | A A 8 6 3 |
| High card | None of the above |
A royal flush (A-K-Q-J-10 of one suit) is simply the highest straight flush. Ties go to the hand with the higher cards; if two hands are exactly equal, they split the pot.
Variations
Cincinnati Liz: the lowest community card is wild, along with every other card of the same rank. Wild cards change the hand values a lot, so it has its own page on our list.
High-low split: the pot is shared between the best high hand and the lowest hand. Agree in advance whether players declare high or low before the showdown.
Hold ’em is the modern cousin of the same idea: two private cards, five shared ones, and the best five out of seven.
Tips from the table
Read the board as it grows. Each new community card helps everyone, so ask what it does for the whole table, not only for you.
If the board pairs or shows four cards of one suit, assume someone is holding a full house or a flush. Your private cards are what make your hand different from everyone else’s.
Fold weak hands early. With six betting rounds, staying in to see one more card adds up quickly.
Count your outs. If you hold four cards of a suit between your hand and the board, nine more of that suit are still unseen, and each face-down community card is another chance to catch one.
Video Guides Are on the Way
We’re filming Game Guides that walk through full hands at the table, from the deal to the score.
Frequently asked
How is Cincinnati different from Texas Hold ’em?
In Cincinnati each player gets five private cards instead of two, and all five shared cards are dealt at the start and turned one at a time. You pick your best five from ten cards, not seven.
Do I have to use some of my own cards?
No. Any five of the ten count. If the best hand is the five community cards, everyone can play it, which usually means a split pot.
How is it different from Cincinnati Liz?
Liz adds wild cards: the lowest community card and every card that matches its rank. Plain Cincinnati has no wild cards.
How many betting rounds are there?
Most tables play six: one after the deal and one after each of the five community cards.
New rules every month
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