Guts (card game)

Guts is a comparing card game, or family of related card games, akin to poker, played across a series of deals of two, three or four cards in which hand rankings resemble those of poker itself. After each deal every player simultaneously declares, usually by hiding or showing a chip in a closed fist, whether they are in or out for that hand; players who are in and hold a losing hand must match the pot, causing the stakes to grow rapidly across successive deals rather than resetting after each showdown. A round of the game continues, deal after deal, until only one player remains willing to stay in, at which point that player wins the entire accumulated pot. Because the escalating matched-pot structure can produce very large stakes from a small starting ante, Guts is best known as a high-variance gambling variant played among small groups familiar with poker rather than as a game for larger or more casual gatherings.