Manila Poker Play Tips

Manila is a 32-card deck poker game, the deck consists of eights or higher. It is sometimes known as Seven Up Poker and is found mainly in Asia and Australia as a peculiar variant of Texas Holdem. Just like in Holdem, players are dealt two cards, thereafter there are very few similarities. Manila is really gaining ground in Australian casinos, but it’s rare in online poker rooms. It is less rare in home games, and is often considered a form of poker to bring variety to the game.

So how do you play Manila Poker?

Manila is made up of five betting rounds where one card is seen each turn. A player is required to use both cards in the showdown as building blocks for the top five card hand. Also, the chances of drawing a different hand given the low 32 card 8 composition of the deck and a flush trampling a full house and aces only being high on a straight are slim to none. Manila is generally played with a fixed limit betting format, and occasionally you will come across a table with only three betting rounds. Five rounds of betting lengthen the game and require greater concentration and focus, making it unsuitable for some casual games.

Some Thoughts on Ideal Manila Strategies

With the deck foreshortened as it is, drawing a powerful hand (full house or better) is a good ploy so you can see that position is critical to determining the correct play in the game. You should play pair cards when you’re in early position or even suited connectors, like a suited Jack-ten that has the advantage of being the dynamic duo on every straight in Manila. All players around the table will have high cards, so choose your hands wisely, play pairs, high suit connectors, and steal hands when you’re in good position. Any hand below a King-Jack can be discarded. It takes a full house or higher for a hand to be winning, although it’s not unheard of to draw a flush.

You may find it to your advantage to discard straight draws, as the board will certainly make a pair, beating your straight even in the case of a make-to-mark draw. Focus on the betting patterns of your fellow players throughout the rounds. They are often drawing to a full house. If and when the table evens out or a player gets jealous, try to squash them on a specific hand. A high percentage of players are very picky when it comes to their starting hand selection, since there are no pot odds for a lucky draw of a flush or higher. In these circumstances, you should bless all five betting rounds for offering more good data so that you can readjust your anticipation of the winning hand.

The bluffing strategy is not usually a good one in Manila, as many players tend to stay in the pot due to the limit betting structure and the unimpeded path to a strong hand. For this reason, one should be very careful about taking an aggressive stance in a multi-way pot unless one is extremely confident that one’s hand is the best. Given the good pot odds, you may want to stay on a strong draw due to the fixed limit format, but steer clear of any multi-way betting Armageddon.