When poker players want to quit pussy-footing around with small stakes, and decide to get down to the real nitty-gritty, they often go for a game of Guts poker.
“Guts” poker, for the most part follows similar guidelines as other variations but is characterized by the calling of “in” or “out”, as well as the constantly growing size of the pot.
The cards get dealt and the players decide whether they would like to stay in or out. The players who call “out” have no further stakes. The ones who call “in” continue playing.
Of the players who called “in”, the one who has the best hand collects the pot. All other players who called “in” but didn’t have the best hand must match the amount of money in the pot. This way, there is an equal or greater amount of money in the pot, even after the round has ended.
Next, the cards are picked up, shuffled, and the game is dealt again, with players once again deciding whether they will go “in” or “out”. This continues until only one player goes in and he or she becomes the winner.
In “Guts”, players often assume that $10-$30 will be sufficient for a night of playing Home poker, whereas a nice game of “Jacks” and “Piss” will see the pot rise higher than a good week’s pay.
For this reason, some people play with caps. Caps limit how big the pot can get and how much money a player can lose in one hand. If somebody calls a $5 cap on a game, when the pot reaches more than $5, a player who wins it only claims $5 of it, and a poker player who loses, only has to pay $5.
A “Guts” game may be made out of just about any variation of poker, and usually it happens in games of “Draw”.
