Preface

This rulebook is an update of Christopher J. Mecklin's excellent rulebook from July 2021. The rulebook had fallen a bit out of date, since it was written for the 2021 BARGE tournaments; and BARGE being BARGE, and poker players being poker players, some newer games have been made up.

This book was initially reconstructed in 2024 from the PDF of the 2021 edition. Many formatting errors were introduced. Many, but likely not all, have been fixed.

This rulebook codifies various poker games that may feature, or have been featured, at BARGE. It is a supplement for the host casino's rulebook and the TDA rules, not a replacement for them. This rulebook does duplicate some of them, but more importantly, it covers the things that are unique to BARGE.

Web version and PDF Version

This version of the rulebook is provided in both a web page and a LaTeX-based PDF book which is better for printing.

The web version represents the full book. Currently, it is continually updated at https://www.barge.org/rulebook/ when there are changes. At that site, you can print the web version of the book. This prints as a web page and will lack a table of contents.

For printing, the PDF version is recommended. This version is available at https://www.barge.org/rulebook.pdf. This comes with a nice table of contents and page numbers. This version includes hyperlinks when viewed electronically, but it is not as easy to navigate as a web page or on a mobile device. (This version may also be slightly out of date compared to the web version, as updating it requires an extra trivial step, easily forgotten.)

Improving this Rulebook

Please report suggestions to Tim Showalter so we can update the rulebook.

The source code for the rulebook available on GitHub at https://github.com/ts4z/barge-rulebook. You are encouraged to send pull requests. Of course, if you're not technically inclined, you can provide suggestions over email, or over beers. In all cases, substantive text changes are preferred over vague suggestions. If possible, please try to match the style of other games or rules.

Having a little more context on each game would be welcome.

Because the rulebook is generated in multiple versions, there are some technical limits as to what we can provide. I apologize in advance if I am unable to accomidate some suggestions.

Preface from the 2021 Edition

(This section has been slightly abridged from the 2021 edition.)

This document contains the rules of many forms of poker, some of which will be played in BARGE 2021 tournaments, others in tournaments in past years, and yet others only in BARGE cash games or home games.

I obtained these rules from a copy of the official rule book for the XXV 25-Game Mix poker tournament played at BARGE XXV in 2015. That rule book was originally written by Patrick Milligan and Rich Bremer and is reproduced here with their permission. Also, rules for some of the stranger games came from an archived version of the BARGE website, called the BARGE Poker Game Rule Archive. I have also referred to Bob Ciaffone’s Robert’s Rules of Poker. [This link has been updated, as RRP has moved with Bob Ciaffone's passing.]

Note that the rule book, unless otherwise noted, is written under the assumption that the games are being played in a limit format, with a small betting limit and a large betting limit. Please make appropriate adjustments when playing that game in the pot-limit or no-limit format.

This document also includes Appendices explaining the “Sevens Rule” (originally written by Michael Weisenberg) and various Lowball Scales (written by me [Chris Mecklin]).