Fool's Poker

Fool's Poker is a surprisingly deep poker variant which retains the hidden information and bluffing of poker but adds a strong deductive element. It is played with a traditional 52-card deck.

At the beginning of the game, all players are have hands of size 5. Each round, the players are dealt a new hand. One player calls out a 5-card poker hand that they believe can be made by the collective cards of all the players. The player to their left must call the previous player's bluff by saying "BS" or similar, or otherwise state a higher hand of their own. Play continues clockwise until a player's bluff has been called. Players pool their cards and see if the last name hand can be assembled from their cards. If the hand is possible, the hand size of the player who called the bluff drops by 1. Otherwise, the hand of the player whose bluff was called decreases by 1.

The next round begins with fresh hands using the new lower hand limits. The player who called "BS" last round starts the new round. If a player's hand size drops to zero, they are out of the game. Play continues until the players only have 4 cards between them, and the player with most cards remaining is the winner.

Rules for hands: Pair, Two Pair, 3 of a Kind, Full House, and 4 of a Kind: must name their card values Straights, Flush, and Straight Flush: must name their high card Flush and Straight Flush: also must name their suit

Variant: The 2's are wild able to take any value and suit. The 5 of a Kind hand becomes a valid poker hand, ranked higher than Royal Flush. This variant addresses the issue where, late in the game, it may be difficult to assemble even small hands.