One morning years ago, I woke up from a dream in which I was playing a card game by the following rules:
- Each player is dealt a five-card hand (face down) and a five-card tableau (face up.)
- The remaining cards are placed face down in the center of the table. These cards form the stock.
- The player to the dealer’s left takes the first turn. Play proceeds clockwise around the table.
- Each turn begins when the player draws a card into his or her hand.
- On his or her first turn, the first player may draw the top card of the stock or any card of his or her tableau.
- During a player’s turn, s/he must direct another player to discard a specific card from his or her tableau. The first card to be discarded goes face up next to the stock. This is the first card of the discard pile.
- During a player’s turn, s/he may bet. Betting proceeds according to the usual rules of poker.
- During a player’s turn, s/he may knock, indicating that play will proceed around the table just once more.
- A player’s turn ends when s/he discards a card from his or her hand. If there are five cards in the player’s tableau, s/he discards to the discard pile. If there are fewer than five cards in the player’s tableau, s/he discards to his or her tableau.
- When there is a discard pile, any player may begin his or her turn by drawing either the top card of the stock, the top card of the discard pile, or any card of his or her tableau.
- When the stock is exhausted, the discard pile is turned over and becomes the new stock. The discard pile is not shuffled.
- Hands are ranked in the usual order of poker hands.
I’ve played this game a couple of times. It works pretty well, for something that came to me in a dream. Play is comparable to Whisky.