NOVO Poker

To start the game, players need to place an Ante wager before dealing. Once the dealer calls “No more bets” and covers the wagers with own hand, the players may not touch or change their wagers. Then the dealer deals five cards to themselves and to each box, and players need to decide to:

• Play. The player puts cards on BET and places a wager of two Antes.
• Fold. The player has to muck their cards and loses their original Ante wager.
• Exchange 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 cards for one Ante and then place the Bet wager or lose the Ante and muck their cards. Cards to be exchanged are placed face down next to the Ante; the player has to place chips in the amount of the Ante wager on top of their cards.
• Buy a sixth card for one Ante and make a decision on the box. When a sixth card is bought, the box is marked. Chips in the amount of the Ante wager are placed next to the Ante, the cards being placed face down on Bet.
• Insure their hand against the dealer’s “No game”, provided the player has a Three of a Kind hand or better.
• Buy the dealer a game if the dealer has “No game.”

Once a decision is made, the player may not change it and the players may not touch their cards.

The dealer starts exchanging cards only when the players have made their decisions on all boxes.

A player may not have more than two hands on a box. The second hand should have at least one card that is not part of the principal hand. With five cards, a player may have only Ace + King as the second hand. The player receives an additional payout on the second hand only if the principal game is better than the dealer’s game. The total payout on both hands should not exceed the table’s maximum payout.

The dealer always has only one hand.

A player playing six cards may have a wider range of hands.

The Ante is never paid out unless the dealer has “No game’, i.e., even if a player did not buy or exchange cards, only the Bet wager is paid out as per the payout coefficient table.

A player may, if they so choose, play between one and four “open” boxes, looking at each of the four boxes in turn and making decisions on each box as the dealing progresses. Once a decision is made, the player may not go back to the box.

If a guest raises only one box while the dealer opens other boxes, the guest may make decisions in any order.

The player needs to confirm their choice by placing Ante and Bet wagers before dealing starts. If there are free boxes, the player may play any number of boxes blind (up to four), with any wager different from the player’s principal wager.

No boxes may separate one player’s open boxes from one another. Any free boxes may be played blind.

The dealer takes five-card sets from the shuffler, spreads and deals to each playing box in turn. Once the dealer has placed cards on the box, players may take up their cards immediately.

The dealer takes the final set of five cards, flips their bottom card and places it on top of their remaining four cards.

The dealer burns one card per deal in two cases: before exchanges begin and before a player buys the dealer a game. When cards are dealt at poker tables using a shoe, the dealer deals cards in turn to all the boxes with an Ante wager and to their own box until each playing box has five cards. Then the dealer flips their top card and puts it on top of the remaining four cards.

The dealer burns one card per deal in three cases: before dealing, before exchanges begin and before a player buys the dealer a game. If a dealer’s card gets flipped for some reason during dealing, this card is placed on top of the dealer’s other four cards.

When a player has a Three of a Kind game or better, they may place a wager to insure their hand against the dealer’s “No game”; to do this, the player puts chips in front of Ante.

The player may place a wager of up to 100% but no more than the table’s maximum payout. The minimum wager equals the Ante.

A player may place an insurance wager until the dealer announces that insurance wagers are no longer accepted.

• If the dealer has “No game”, the insurance wager is paid out 1:1.
• If the dealer has an Ace+King hand or better, the player’s insurance wager loses.
• If the dealer has a game equal to or better than the player’s hand, the insurance wager neither wins nor loses.

The total payout on hands and insurance may not exceed the table’s maximum payout. A blind box may not be insured.

Table of payout ratios for combinations: