subject: Wild Card on Decks - Montana Poker [print this page] There are 52 cards in the pack, and the cards are ranked individually, from high to low, ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2. There is no ranking between the suits, for example the king of hearts and the king of spades are equal. A poker hand consists of five cards.
In games where a player has more than five cards and selects five to form a poker hand, the remaining cards do not play any part in the ranking. Poker ranks are always based on five cards only. At the top of the heap is the straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair and one pair. Whatever your hand, you can still bet and bluff your way into winning the pot, but the ranking of the hands truly reflects the probabilities of obtaining various combinations by random selections of five cards from a deck.
Some would spice up the game of poker with the use of wild cards. A wild card is a particular card, often a joker, which can be used to substitute for any card the holder wishes, even a duplicate of a card the holder already has. Several cards may be designated as wild - for example all the twos. However, this should be agreed in advance.
The presence of wild cards brings a new element into the game, allowing such a card to stand for any card of the player's choosing. It increases the chances of drawing more valuable hands. Using wild cards also potentially alters the ranking of various sets of cards. You can even obtain five of a kind, which typically goes to the top of the rankings.
When you play with wild cards, you can't rely on a ranking of hands in the order of the probability that they occur as you can when there are no wild cards.
