Ultimate Texas Hold'em
A casino adaptation of Hold'em played against the dealer: players commit to a raise size at each stage (or fold), with the biggest raises available before the flop is even seen.
Coming soon — not yet playable
Rules
Ultimate Texas Hold'em deals two hole cards to each player and the dealer, exactly as in standard Hold'em, with a shared five-card community board revealed in a flop, turn, and river.
Unlike standard Hold'em, there's no multi-way betting between players. Before the flop, each player places equal Ante and Blind bets, then may immediately raise up to 4x their ante (or wait). After the flop, an unraised player may raise up to 2x. After the turn and river together, a final decision to raise exactly 1x or fold is required — a player who hasn't raised by this point must either bet 1x or fold entirely.
Showdown: the dealer's hand must qualify (a pair or better) for the Ante and raise bets to be compared normally; the Blind bet pays out separately based on the player's final hand strength (typically requiring at least a straight to win anything on the Blind, regardless of beating the dealer).
Historical note: invented by Roger Snow for Shuffle Master Inc., patented in 2005 and trademarked in 2008.
Strategy notes: Because the biggest legal raise (4x) is only available before the flop, strong starting hands are typically raised immediately rather than waiting to see community cards — a significant strategic departure from standard Hold'em, where preflop raise sizing is usually much smaller relative to the pot.
Common house rules
Raise sizing only shrinks as the hand progresses
Standard rule: the maximum legal raise decreases at each stage (4x preflop, 2x after the flop, 1x after the river) — a player who declines to raise early can never raise for a larger multiple later.
Blind bet has its own separate requirement
The Blind bet only pays out if the player's final hand is a straight or better, entirely independent of whether they beat the dealer — worth explaining clearly to new players, since it's the game's most commonly misunderstood rule.
Dealer qualifies with just a pair
Unlike many other casino poker variants with a higher qualifying threshold, the dealer here only needs any pair to qualify, making non-qualifying dealer hands relatively rare.
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Based on shared category, origin, and rules that reference each other.
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