I will now describe the version of Sports Poker that we have the most experience with. It’s a version of Football Poker where the game is divided up into drives. In other words, there is a new hand for every drive, and the cards in the deck correspond to things that happen in drives. We’ve been playing this game, which we usually call “Drive Poker”, for more than a year. There is a second version of Football Poker that I will explain in the next post. I will then explain versions for soccer and baseball. Once you understand how one of the games works, you will easily understand the rest.
All Sports Poker varieties are played during live sporting events that the players at a “table” are watching together. The players can be sitting around a physical table (as long as they can all see the TV), but it’s also usually okay if players sit on living room chairs and couches. There are no table positions in Sports Poker games, so it doesn’t matter so much where you sit. In the near future (hopefully!) there will be a Sports Poker mobile app, so players at the same “table” can be geographically separated.
Back to Drive Poker. A typical football game has 20-25 drives, so you can play lots of hands of Drive Poker while you watch. Before each drive begins (e.g., during the commercial breaks) the players ante and are dealt 5 cards from the Football Drive Poker deck. Sometimes there isn’t much time between drives (like after a punt), but don’t worry - it doesn’t matter if the deal is a little late. If you skip a drive, that’s okay too. Every drive is an opportunity to play a round of Drive Poker.
The value of each card in your hand depends on what happens during the drive, as I will explain below. The value of your hand is the sum of the values of the 5 cards. There are no straights or full houses in Sports Poker games! Players can exchange (draw) up to three cards during the drive – one at a time, or all at once.
Most of the Drive deck consists of “suited” cards like these:
The first card (the “Touchdown 7”) is worth 7 points if the drive end with a touchdown, and 0 points otherwise. The second card is worth 10 points if the drive ends with a (successful) field goal, and 0 points otherwise. Face cards are worth 10 and Aces are worth 11 (like blackjack) if the suit matches the outcome of the drive. So the third card is worth 10 points if the drive ends with a punt, and the fourth card is worth 11 if it ends with a turnover. The Drive deck has Ace -King of each “suit”. There are 12 additional cards in the deck of these types:
The first one is worth 5 points per 1st Down in the drive. It’s a very good card to have for long drives. The second card is worth 10 points per sack in the drive, the third is worth 10 points per (successful) 4th Down Conversion, the fourth is worth 21 if the drive is 3&Out, and the fifth card is worth 5 points no matter what happens in the drive. You need to remember how many of these events occur during the drive. There’s a special card included in the deck for keeping track of them, or use our Tracker App.
Now let’s collect the cards into 5-card hands. Here are two examples.
The first hand (Player One) is good if the drive ends with a punt (at least 16 points), and is almost unbeatable if it’s 3&Out (at least 37 points). If the drive ends with a score, the first hand is very weak unless somehow there are multiple sacks along the way. The second hand (Player Two) has 5 free points, but very little else if the drive ends with a punt. However, if the drive ends with a score it’s a pretty good hand – at least 18 points if it’s a touchdown, at least 10 if it’s a field goal, plus more from the 1st Down card.
There are no Turnover cards in either hand. A bit unusual since there are 13 Turnover cards in the deck! We count interceptions, (lost) fumbles, safeties, turnover on downs, and missed field goals as turnovers. You may be surprised to learn that more drives end in turnovers than field goals! So Turnover cards are not bad cards. Turnovers pretty much happen at random. If you have a good Turnover hand you can call most bets, and you will steal some big pots along the way!
The strength of every hand changes as the drive unfolds. If it’s 3rd and 10 from the 20 yard line, Player One’s hand is looking really good, and Player Two’s hand is looking bad. But if they make the 1st down and then a few more, then Player Two’s hand is much better!
Okay, so suppose it’s 3rd and 10 from the 20, and Player One raises the stakes with a bet! Should Player Two call or fold? Statistically (according to ChatGPT) teams have only a 20% - 25% chance of making a 1st down in that situation. Even if they make the 1st down, they might still end up punting. A fold would seem wise unless Player Two knows something the statisticians don’t. What if it was 3rd and 10 from the 40 yard line instead of the 20? That’s totally different! Now it looks like an obvious call (to me). Of course, there will usually be more than two players, so Player Two isn’t a sure winner even if the team scores! There are always tough decision in Drive Poker!
Now you pretty much know enough about Drive Poker to play! Take a look at the Football Poker Primer (on this website) if this quick intro skipped over anything you need.