Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Seven twenty-seven

Seven Twenty-Seven is a vying game similar in some respects to poker, and often played as a "dealer's choice" variant at home poker games. It uses the same equipment and betting system, but the value of hands does not use traditional poker hand rankings, either high or low, but rather uses the blackjack-style numeric sum of cards in the player's hand to determine its worth.

The game play proceeds like this:

Numbered cards are scored at face value; face cards count for one-half a point. Aces count for one or eleven--so a hand with a five and two aces scores 7 or 27.

On showdown, the pot is split in half, with the hand(s) valued closest to 7 and the hand(s) valued closest to 27 splitting their chunks. If there is a tie where two players are off by the same amount, but in different directions (6 to 8), the lower hand wins. If there is an exact tie, that chunk is split. Ties are common. The same player may contest for both high and low, so a hand with a five and two aces will win the whole pot (unless there are ties).

There are a few variations in rules that complicate things somewhat: first, the rule about ties in different directions varies; also, some players play with a declaration, while others play cards speak.