Handout 10 · Dealer's choice
The carnival games
In a mixed-game room, "carnival games" are the newer split-pot and hybrid variants that sit outside the classic rotation. The label started as a put-down and has largely stuck as a description.
1What the term means, and who says so
A Card Player columnist who writes on mixed games traced the usage in 2020: Badeucey and Badacey were the "gateway variants", and since then there has been a steady flow of what many players would file under "carnival games". The examples he gives are Archie, Dramaha High, deuce-to-seven Dramaha, Super Stud, Razzdugi and double-board Omaha. C1 Writing again in 2025, he noted that Badeucey and Badacey are themselves sometimes given the label, and that it is not meant kindly. C2
The other meaning. In the casino industry the same phrase means something else entirely: house-banked table games such as Three Card Poker and its relatives, played against the dealer, not against other players. One casino files exactly those games under a "Carnival Games" heading. M We cannot say which usage is more common overall. This site uses the poker-room sense throughout, and has nothing to say about house-banked games.
There is no official list. A game is "carnival" by reputation: it is recent, it usually splits the pot, and it is usually built by joining two older games together. The table below sorts the ones we could find written rules for.
2What is actually spread: the WSOP dealer's-choice list
In a dealer's-choice event each player in turn picks the game for the next round, from a fixed list. N2 The first such WSOP event, in 2014, offered sixteen games and introduced Badeucey and Badacey to the series. N3 The list most often published has twenty: N1 N2
| Family | Games |
|---|---|
| Hold'em | No-limit, pot-limit and limit hold'em |
| Omaha | Pot-limit Omaha, pot-limit Omaha hi-lo, limit Omaha high, limit Omaha hi-lo, Big O |
| Stud | Razz, seven-card stud, stud hi-lo eight-or-better, stud hi-lo with no qualifier |
| Single draw | No-limit five-card draw, no-limit 2-7 single draw |
| Triple draw | 2-7 triple draw, pot-limit 2-7 triple draw, A-5 triple draw, badugi, Badeucey, Badacey |
Unresolved: twenty games or twenty-one
Live reporting from the 2026 event speaks of twenty-one games on one page N4 and twenty on another. N9 We did not find an official list naming a twenty-first game, so this page uses the published list of twenty. Eight of the twenty are draw games, and every one of them has a page here.
Notice what is not on that list: Archie, Drawmaha, Razzdugi and Super Stud. Those live in cash-game mixes. The WSOP's own live-action rulebook has entries for all of them, W and a Las Vegas mixed game described in Card Player rotates seventeen variants including Archie, Razzdeucey, Badugi High-Low and six kinds of Drawmaha. C3
3Carnival games with a draw
| Game | In one line | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Badeucey | Triple draw; 2-7 low against badugi, ace high | W B A1 C2 |
| Badacey | Triple draw; A-5 low against badugi, ace low | W B C2 |
| Archie | Triple draw; high against A-5 low, with qualifiers | W B A2 C5 |
| Drawmaha (seven forms) | One draw after the flop; Omaha high against a draw hand | W B L C3 |
| Triple Draw Dramaha | Drawmaha with a draw on every street | B |
| Duck Flush | Triple draw, not a split pot. The best high hand wins if it is a flush or better. If nobody has a flush or better, the best deuce-to-seven low takes the whole pot. A straight therefore wins nothing either way | B only |
| Badugi High-Low | Badugi with the pot split between the best low badugi and the best high badugi. The ace plays both ways | C3 only |
Single-source games. Duck Flush and Badugi High-Low each rest on one written description, so treat the summaries as "one room's rules". For Badugi High-Low we could not source a complete ranking of the high side and have not written one.
4Carnival games without a draw
These are stud hybrids. They are outside this site's subject, but they share the draw games' rankings, so the rules are given briefly.
Razzdugi
Dealt as razz: two cards down and one up, then three more up and a last one down, with a bet after each, small on the first two rounds and big on the last three. Half the pot goes to the best razz hand (five-card ace-to-five low) and half to the best badugi, ace low. There is no qualifier either way, and if nobody has a four-card badugi the best three-card hand takes that half. Up to eight players. The WSOP's rules give any odd chip to the razz hand. W B The best seven cards contain A-2-3-4 of four suits with a five. W
Razzdeucey
Dealt as razz, with the pot split between the best razz hand and the best deuce-to-seven low. The two halves use opposite rules for the ace and for straights, so the ideal seven cards are A-2-3-4-5 of mixed suits with a seven: the wheel for the razz half, 7-5-4-3-2 for the other. Up to eight players; the odd chip goes to the razz hand. W
Super Stud and Super Stud Eight-or-Better
Seven-card stud with a choice at the start. Each player gets four cards down and one up; there is a round of betting; then each player throws away two of the down cards, and the hand continues as stud. Failing to discard before fourth street is dealt kills your hand. W B The WSOP's rules play it high or hi-lo eight-or-better, with the bring-in on the high card in the hi-lo form; W BARGE's rulebook also allows a razz version. B
Deuce-to-seven razz
Seven-card stud played for the best five-card deuce-to-seven low. Because the ace is high, the highest card brings it in and an ace is the highest of all. B
5Left out, and why
- Flop-only games (Big O, double-board Omaha, and the rest of the Omaha family). They appear in the same mixes and on the WSOP list, N1 W but they have no draw, and this is a draw seminar.
- "Ari". We could not find a written rule set for a game of this name, so it is not described.
- Short-deck draw games. We found rules for short-deck hold'em and Omaha, B and none for a short-deck draw game.
- Home-game variants with wild cards. No authoritative rules, and not spread in card rooms.
The about page explains the standard a game has to meet to be included.