The Joker is one of the most famous and best-loved cards in all of the card gaming but what makes the Joker so special? In case you’ve been living under a card cardigan, the Joker is the final card in a standard poker hand.
The Joker is a trick-taking card that is also known as the elephant card because it is the only card that can be played in a hand that only contains a Joker; if your hand contains a full house, you can also play an additional card known as the king card.
Deal
When playing cards, you don’t always have the advantage of knowing how many cards you’re dealing; most games will let you keep going until someone gets out of hand, but some games, such as blackjack, require you to stop the game and deal the deck directly from start to finish.
This means you won’t know how many cards are in your deck until the very end, and you won’t be able to choose which hand you’ll be dealt. The best way to avoid this is to make sure you finish the deal and then call it a day.
If your dealer is dealt a double-J, it means you have two Jokers in your deck; in this case, you do not need to deal the deck, but you must choose the hand you will be dealt. Depending on the game, you may receive double the value or face value of the cards dealt with you.
Show Your Hand
Although you can’t see it from the outside, everyone’s hand is known to the dealer – and this is called joker gaming hand showing, and it’s a vital part of the game- a player can’t show his or her hand unless the dealer first shows theirs.
In other words, if the dealer’s hand is all cards, you have to show your hand, too and if the dealer only has some cards, you can keep your hand quiet, but you have to show your cards if the dealer does; some games let you check your hand by making sure you don’t have any cards that match the dealer’s but this may sound like a simple check, but in some games, you have to make sure you don’t accidentally reveal your hand.
Play A Joker
If you’ve been dealt the Joker, you have the option of playing it alone or with other cards in your hand. There are a few different things you can do with the Joker:
- Play it alone – In this situation, the other players think you have nothing to offer in fact, if someone bets on your hand without knowing it’s the Joker, you can end up losing a lot of money.
- Play it with another card – In this situation, you and the other players are trying to create a hand with the cards you both have, it’s not unusual for people to try to play the Joker with other card sets to increase the chances of a better hand.
- Play it with all cards – In this situation, you’re taking all the cards in your hand and making a singleton hand or end up with a hand that contains either the Joker or nothing at all.