DEAD HAND Chaos Poker™ Tournament Rules:

A DEAD HAND tournament can be run like any other poker tournament you may have run. We do NOT recommend running Texas Hold ‘Em as your primary game however, for the simple reason that so much of the hand is common to all players – and therefore all players hands are likely to be affected by the Dead Hand card. (If you do, you will find some games eliminate all players – leaving the pot for the next game.)

At conventions, we have allowed the dealer to call their choice of game between 5 Stud, 5 Draw and 7 Stud. They may also choose to declare a Wild card, if they wish. During the tournament, the DEAD HAND mechanic is always active – as is the special ‘Dead Man’s Due’ rule regarding Aces and Eights.

Give everyone an equal number of chips (we called the denominations $1, $5, $10). Once out of chips, the player is out of the game. Since we ran a two-hour slot, we had the first hour with $1 ante, Max bet $5, and a three-raise limit. The last hour maintains the same ante but transitions to a no limit game. At the end of the second hour, the player holding the most chips is declared the winner.