Written by In a previous article we have written about a couple of games which seem to have been
Not this one...
invented for the whole purpose of allowing the inventor out their names to a new poker variant. One of these is Let It Ride, a strange little beast, played in very few places but which at least is a new concept. The other is Vegas Double Action, again a fairly innovative game but a rarely seen animal.
The focus of this article is Follow The Queen and this game takes the premise of tweaking a popular game in a minor way to hopefully provide a new poker experience. If you’ve been reading our articles you should be able to spot which game Follow The Queen is based on.
It’s a stud game and can be played with no more than eight players. The dealer rotates amongst the players and deals each player two face down cards and one face up. The player with the lowest ranking face up card must bet the bring in and everyone’s aim is to get the best five card poker hand according to poker rankings.
Seven cards (← clue) are dealt in total to each player assuming that they are still in the game. After the original deal and after each subsequent card dealt to each player (the fourth card is the fourth street, the fifth card is the fifth street and so on) there is a round of betting where players can call, raise, fold or check as normal. Cards three to six are all dealt face up.
So what is the difference between Follow The Queen and Seven Card Stud, you say? Right, there’s an additional rule that whenever a face up card is dealt, if that card is a Queen, the following card becomes a wild card – a significant advantage for that player. If the final face up card (sixth street) is a Queen, then all Queens are wild. No Queens means no wild cards.
If the game makes it as far as the showdown, the winner is then determined. As this is a game usually seen in home competitions, rule variations are common. For example some games will assign the wild ranking to the entire suit which follows the Queen. Make sure you know which rules you’re playing.
