How to Play Monterey Poker

Monterey Poker is usually filled with big pots and big hands. This seven card stud game is played with a standard deck of 52 playing cards and also incorporates the use of wild cards for each player. Wild cards mean you’ll need to make sure you have a big hand to play for the pot, as any less than a full house is likely to lose. In Monterey Poker the maximum number of players able to play this game is seven with no less than 4.

Instructions and Rules for Playing Monterey Poker

Each player will ante followed by being dealt three cards face down. Once all of the players have received their three cards, they can view them and the first round of betting begins. Its normal for no betting to actually take place during the first round as its difficult to gauge just how strong your hand actually is. Once the initial betting round has finished, each player will choose one of their cards to turn face up. The player who has the highest face up card will begin the betting round.

The dealer will now deal a 4th card to each player face up. The player with the highest ranking poker hand using the two face up cards will be the first to start the third betting round. Each player will now receive their 5th card, which is again dealt face up. The betting round is again initiated by the player with the best poker hand using only their face up cards. The 6th card is dealt to each player face up and again the same steps are repeated during the betting round.

Finally, the dealer will deal each player their seventh and final card. This card is given to each player face down and will act as a wild card. To make the game even more difficult, any matching card in the players hand, either up or down, that matches the rank of their 7th card is also considered wild and can be used to complete any combination they’d like to make the best five card poker hand.

The final betting round will take place, followed by each player showing their best five card hand. The player with the highest five card poker hand, using any of the five or seven cards dealt to them will be declared the winner.

Summary

  1. Each player needs to ante into the pot
  2. Dealer will deal each player three cards face down
  3. A betting round takes place
  4. Following the betting round, each player will turn over a card
  5. Player with highest rank card starts betting
  6. Dealer will deal a 4th card face up
  7. Highest poker hand starts second betting round
  8. This will continue with the dealer dealing a 5th and 6th card face up with betting rounds in between
  9. A 7th card is dealt face down and will act as a wild card followed by another round of betting.

Player with the best poker hand wins.

Monterey Poker Strategy

Monterey Poker uses wild cards which aren’t determined until the final card is dealt to each player. By doing this you’ll find the majority of players will stay in the hand longer because of they won’t know how many wild cards they will hold till that final card is dealt.

Once they’ve received their final card you can expect to see some big bets during the last betting round.
Since this game uses wild cards for each player, straight flushes, royal flushes and five of a kind are quite normal as winning hands. When betting on the last round you should make sure your hand is equivalent to one of those three, otherwise checking or folding is your best strategy.

Players who hold pairs early on in the game should keep those cards hidden from the other players in the event that their final card matches those cards. This will help you hide the strength in your hand.

Finally when players flip over their cards and show their hands, the hand they declare they have is what they must use. This means if a player makes a mistake in how strong their hand actually is, and called out a weaker hand, they will be forced to play the weaker hand.

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