Chicago

Sweden’s poker game with a sting in the tail. Swap for the best hand three times, then fight for the last trick. First to 52. 2–4 players.

Who To Play With

or
bots

How to play Chicago

  1. 1Everyone gets 5 cards from one pack, aces high. A hand has three swaps. In each, going round from the dealer's left, you may throw away any of your cards face down and draw that many new ones, or keep them all.
  2. 2After the first and second swaps, the best poker hand scores: a pair 1, two pairs 2, three of a kind 3, a straight 4, a flush 5, a full house 6, four of a kind 7 and a straight flush 8. A royal flush is worth 52, the whole game. Only the single best hand scores; if the best hands are exactly equal, or nobody has a pair, nobody does.
  3. 3After the third swap come five tricks with no trumps. The player left of the dealer leads; follow suit if you can, and the highest card of the suit led wins and leads next. Only the last trick counts: whoever takes it scores 5. Then everyone's five cards are compared and the best poker hand scores once more.
  4. 4Chicago: before the tricks, a player with at least 15 points may call Chicago, lead the first trick and try to take all five. Take them all for 15 points. Lose one and the hand stops there: the caller loses 15 and nobody else scores. Scores never drop below zero.
  5. 5A player who ends a hand on 46 or more can't swap any more and must play the cards they're dealt. The first to reach 52 at the end of a hand wins; if several get there, the highest score wins.

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