If someone were to add a third color to a deck of cards, introducing two new suits, which color would they choose? I’ve heard green thrown around to fit the aesthetic of a casino, like roulette, red and black on a green tabletop, but when you look at the face cards on a standard deck the only other colors used in-game are blue and yellow (white too, but I assume you don’t want the suit to be the same color as the background).

Regular poker has four suits and five cards per hand; there are exactly 2,598,960 distinct possible hands, excluding wild cards.

If we bump this up to six suits and seven cards, the odds change astronomically.  Suddenly, there are 2,641,902,120 possible unique hands.  That’s over 1,000 times as many!

In regular poker, the most likely hand you can be dealt is Junk, Nothing, No Pairs.  If you want to be optimistic, you could call it “High Card” instead.  1,302,540 possible junk hands,over half of all hands!

But in six suit poker, you are actually more likely to get one pair than you are to get random junk!

ALL POSSIBLE HANDS IN 6-SUIT POKER (RANKED BY PROBABILITY)

To calculate these odds, I’ve used binomial coefficients, or “choose notation.”  Given X items, of which you can choose Y of them, there are (X, Y) possibilities of what that combination could be.

• One Pair: AABCDEF, there are (13,1) ways to pick the pair (13 values, pick 1), and (6,2) ways to pick its suit (6 values, pick 2). There are (12,5) ways to pick the remaining 5 values (12 values, pick any five), and (6,1)^5 ways to pick their suits.  (13,1)x(6,2)x(12,5)x(6,1)^5 = 1,200,925,440
• Two Pair: AABBCDE, (13,2)x(6,2)^2 for A and B, then (11,3)x(6,1)^3 for the rest = 625,482,000
• Nothing: 478,120,440 In this version of poker, you’re more likely to get one or two pairs than you are to get nothing, so a pair is actually the least valuable hand.  Junk beats one or two pairs, isn’t that odd?
  
• Three-of-a-Kind: AAABCDE, there are (13,1) ways to choose the triple, and (6,3) ways to choose their suits. There are (12,4) ways to choose the remaining values, with (6,1)^4 ways to choose the suits. (13,1)x(6,3)x(12,4)x(6,1)^4 = 166,795,200
• Three and Two: AABBBCD (13,1)x(6,2)x(12,1)x(6,3)x(11,2)x(6,1)^2 = 92,664,000
• Three Pair: AABBCCD, (13,3)x(6,2)^3 for A, B and C, then (10,1)x(6,1) = 57,915,000
• Four-of-a-Kind: AAAABCD, there are (13,1) ways to pick the quadruple, and (6,4) ways to pick its suit. There are (12,3) ways to pick the remaining values, with (6,1)^3 ways to pick their suits. (13,1)x(6,4)x(12,3)x(6,1)^3 = 9,266,400
• Three, Two, Two: AAABBCC (13,2)x(6,2)^2 an (11,1)(6,3) = 3,861,000
• Four and Two: AAAABBC (13,1)(6,4)(12,1)(6,2)(11,1)(6,1) = 2,316,600
• Straight: 8x(6,1)^7 = 2,239,488 (includes straights and royals), minus 48 = 2,239,440
• Two Three-of-a-Kinds: AAABBBC (13,2)x(6,3)^2(11,1)(6,1) = 2,059,200
• Five-of-a-Kind: AAAAABC, (13,1)x(6,5)x(12,2)x(6,1)^2 = 185,328
• Four and Three: AAAABBB (13,1(6,4)(12,1)(6,3) = 46,800
• Five and Two: AAAAABB (13,1)(6,5)(12,1)(6,2) = 14,040
• Flush: (6,1)x(13,7) = 10,296 (including straights and royals), minus 48 = 10,248
• Six-of-a-Kind: AAAAAAB, (13,1)x(6,6)x(12,1)x(6,1) = 936
• Straight Flush: 7x6 = 42
• Royal Flush: 6

Not all of these hands have names, but I have a few proposals.

• One Pair: double or two-of-a-kind
  
• Two pairs: double double
• Nothing: It’s not technically junk anymore, but I like the way it sounds, so I’m still gonna call it Junk.
  
• Three-of-a-Kind: triple
  
• Three and Two: What would you call three of a kind and a pair?  In regular poker, this is a full house, but in 7 suit poker there are two additional cards that don’t match up with the three of a kind or the pair.  I propose calling this an Empty House, or just a House
• Three Pairs: I’d call it a Triple Double or a Senate
• Four-of-a-Kind: Quadruple or Quad
• Three Two Two: this is closer to what a Full House would be, but there are a few more hands that could also probably be called Full Houses, so I’d probably call this one just a House, with the Three-Two being an Empty House.
• Four and Two: the name Full House implies a sold out stage production, so maybe these sorts of hands would be named after Opera seats.  The best seats are Optima, but this would be up in the rafter, Balcony seats, or Gallery seats, up in the nosebleeds.
  
• Straight: A straight is a straight no matter what
  
• Two Three-of-a-Kinds: Two Triplets or a Double Triple
• Five-of-a-Kind: Quintuple
  
• Four and Three: Full House or Optima Seats
  
• Five and Two: Full House or Front Row seats
  
• Flush: Flush
• Six-of-a-Kind: Sextuple or Hextuple, Hex
  
• Straight Flush: Straight Flush
• Royal Flush: Royal Flush

What do you guys think?  If you want me to explain anything, just ask.

Introducing the two newest suits to the card game scene; blue arrowheads and horseshoes!

Available at http://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/six-suit-poker January 2021

You can download the two new suits for free (26 cards plus  for a joker) or you can purchase all 6 suits in a full deck.  I’ll break down the rules of 6-suited poker in my next post; the probabilities change drastically with the addition of new suits and extra cards per hand.  It’s a lot to wrap our head around, but if you understand classic poker, then you’ll be able to pick up 6-suit in no time!

Arrows and Shoes are the way of the future!

If there were two more suits in a deck of cards, would they be black and red, or a new third color?

6 suits in a deck of cards

• 3 Black suits and 3 red suits
• OR
• 2 black suits, 2 red suits, and 2 other suits
• If so, what color?  Green?  Blue?  Yellow?