Discard Jones

Discard Jones is a Holdem varient that I'm sure will be sweeping the nation in no time. It was invented by a couple of the regulars at our monthly game, and every so often it rears its ugly head. I don't recall if I was present as the rules were originally devised, but I'm pretty sure that it was created as a result of the first few people that were eliminated from our tournaments being really bored. With nothing else to do, they started acting as if the burn cards were theirs, and at each showdown point out that they would have won. I'm getting ahead of myself.

I think it is time to unleash Discard Jones upon the rest of the unsuspecting public.

Each player is dealt two hole cards, as in a normal holdem game, with the exception of the dealer. The dealer receives no cards andis also referred to as Discard Jones for the remainder of the hand. Alternately, the big blind could be made to play the part of Discard Jones, but I think it works best with the dealer.

There is a round of betting, which the dealer must play blind.

A three card flop is dealt. Normally the top card on the deck is mucked prior to dealing the flop. In Discard Jones, that burn card is instead given to the dealer, or whoever is playing the part of Discard Jones for this hand. If Discard Jones has already folded, then the card is mucked as normal.

After another round of betting a fourth community card is dealt, but again, rather than burning the top card, it is given to Discard Jones.

Discard Jones now has as many cards as the other players still in the hand.

There is another round of betting, and again, Discard Jones is given the burn card and the final community card is revealed. At this point Discard Jones has a total of eight cards to choose from when making his best five card hand, while the other players only have seven. There is a final round of betting followed by the showdown.

Now, rarely is Discard Jones played as described above. Normally the people that have already been eliminated from the tourney will follow along with the burn cards because they don't have much else to do. But that doesn't mean Discard Jones hasn't been attempted as part of a normal ring game situation. I'd recommend trying it. There's all sorts of interesting strategery involved.

First off, if you are Discard Jones, do you ever play a hand? Theoretically with the extra card, you should come out ahead more often than not, but how do you decide to stay in when you have to play the first round blind, and second round short carded?

If you aren't Discard Jones, how much to you raise preflop? Do you even want to chase Discard Jones away? What's the EV of your pocket aces against three random cards? I guess if I wasn't lazy I could figure that out, but instead I'll leave it as an exercise for you.

What happens when there are board shows two cards of the same suit? Are you worried about the flush? It really sucks when the river doesn’t bring the third card of that suit so you assume your straight is good, except that Discard Jones had three of that suit in the hole and you are screwed. In fact, it’s impossible for you to have the absolute nuts with anything less than top four of a kind.

So, now that you know the rules to Discard Jones, I challenge not you to wonder what Discard Jones would have had, the next time you're playing with your friends and board misses everyone. I bet he had you beat. Check and see. I know you want to.

Start working on you strategy now. I wouldn't be surprised if Discard Jones becomes a WSOP event in five years. Wouldn't that make some great TV? Discard Jones has the ability to inflict some brutal bad beats with his bonus card per round. And we all know how much ESPN loves showing bad beats.