Guts (card game)

Guts is a comparing card game, or family of card games, related to poker. Guts is a gambling game involving a series of deals of 2, 3, or 4 cards. Hand are ranked similarly to hands in poker. The betting during each deal is simple : all players decide whether they are "in" or "out", and announce this at the same time. Each deal has its own showdown, after which the losers match or increase the pot, which grows rapidly. A round of the game ends when only one person stays in and wins the pot.

In "Two-Card Guts", each player is dealt down, two hole-cards, at the beginning of a new deal. Two Card Poker rankings apply; Pairs are ranked over high cards; however there are no 'straights' or 'flushes' in two card guts (or two card poker).

One variation of 2-card guts, ranks 23 (of any suits) as the highest ranking hand, trumping AA (pocket aces). Even though getting dealt 23 is more probable than AA (16 possible combinations of 23 compared to only 6 combinations of AA, or 1.2% vs 0.45% respectively), rather, it's the role reversal of the worst hand in heads-up, two-card poker. The name for the 23 hand, in this variation, is called the "Royal Crumpler", among other names.

All players have a chance to say 'in' or 'out' at the same time by holding out one or two fingers, or holding a chip or nothing in their hands; those who are 'in' have a showdown.

Each round starts with an ante. The players then play a series of deals; after each one, the winner takes the existing pot and the losers match it, so that the pot or some multiple of it carries over to the next deal.

For example, if the pot is $5 and three people stay in, then one player will receive the $5 pot and two players will be forced to add $5 each to the next pot, escalating the size of the pot for the next deal. Then the hand is re-dealt, and all players (even those who were "out" in the last round) can participate again. The round ends when only a single player has the guts to stay "in", and thus the pot is taken without replenishment.

Declaring "in" or "out" is similar to declaring high or low in high-low games. Each player takes a chip, places their hands under the table, and either places the chip in one fist or not. Each player then holds their closed fist above the table, and the players simultaneously open their hands to reveal their decision (a chip represents "in", an empty hand represents "out").

One of the characteristics of guts is that the pot grows quickly. As it can double or more each round, pots of 50 or 100 times the original ante are possible.

There are many variations. Sometimes only the single player with the worst hand (who stayed in) must add to the pot, but they must double the pot rather than match it. In one variation, nobody wins the pot unless nobody else stays in.

...
Wikipedia