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Some people don't like poker when it includes wild cards. Honestly, I used to be like that, and if I were playing for any serious amount of money, I still would be. But when playing for dimes with friends, wild card games tend to even out skill levels to some extent and that can make it more fun for everyone.

I play here at Oak Point with a "wild card" group - we play all sorts of games that would make traditional players wince: Follow the Queen, Baseball and more you may never have heard of. Here I'm going to introduce you to a game we play often.

This is one of the wild card games we play at our Thursday night Oak Point poker game ( see Low ball, high in the hole wild, Jacks-Split and Wild Card Poker: Killer 55 for others).

We call this "Hot Potato". It's best with at least seven players and because there's no drawing, can be played with as many as ten. And although I introduced this as a "wild card" game, it can actually be played without any wild cards at all and it's just as much fun.

The dealer deals five cards to each player and announces whether or not there are any wild cards. These would usually be "high red" (in your hand) or "low black". However, as I said, this game is perfectly good without wild cards - I suggest trying it that way first.

The player to the left of the dealer begins by passing one, two or three cards face down to the player on their left. They can also choose not to pass any cards.

If they do pass cards, the player who now has the cards in front of them has a choice. They can either pass the same number of cards to their left and then pick up up the passed cards, or they can just push the cards along to the next player. Note that they cannot change the number of cards passed: if three cards were passed to them, they must pass three cards themselves or just push those cards along to the next person.

The chance to pass proceeds around the table, with each person choosing to pass one, two or three cards. That person bets before the next turn.

Special rule: if a person whose turn it is to pass chooses not to pass any cards, the person to their left gets two chances to pass cards. If there are seven people playing, there will be seven passes of cards, even if all of them are made by the the last person to pass.

Special rule two: if the person who originated the pass gets back their same cards (no one wanted them), then there will be no more passing. The person whose turn it was to pass bets, and the game is over at that point; best hand wins.

When the turn returns to the dealer, they pass their cards and bet, and the game is over. However, if the dealer does not want to pass cards, the person to their left again gets a chance to pass: the total opportunities to pass always equals the number of people playing. Of course if no one wants to pass, then the final bets are placed and the game ends.

With seven players and no wild cards, it's not at all unusual for four of a kind or a straight flush to win the pot. With wild cards, five of a kind is almost always the winner unless there are less than seven players.

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