You’re sitting at a table with a bunch of friends, a deck of cards, and someone says, "Let's play Polish Poker." You might expect a high-stakes betting war like Texas Hold'em.
It isn't that. Not even close.
Polish Poker—also known by its more common name, Golf—is a game of memory, a little bit of luck, and a whole lot of frustration when you flip over a Jack you didn't see coming. It's quirky. It's fast. Most importantly, the person with the lowest score wins, just like on the actual links.
People call it Polish Poker, Polish Polka, or even "Turtle" depending on where you grew up. Honestly, the name doesn't matter as much as knowing how to manage your grid.
The Setup: Building Your Yard
Most people play the six-card version. It's the sweet spot for strategy without making your brain explode. You'll need a standard 52-card deck. If you have more than four people, grab a second deck and shuffle them together.
The dealer gives everyone six cards, face down. Don't look at them yet! You arrange these in a 2x3 grid (two rows, three columns).
The rest of the deck goes in the middle as a draw pile. Flip the top card over to start the discard pile. To kick things off, every player chooses two cards in their grid to flip face up.
Now the game begins.
How to Play: The Core Loop
The goal is simple: get your total point value as low as possible. On your turn, you have two choices.
- Draw from the deck: Look at the card. If you like it, swap it with any card in your grid (face up or face down). If you don't like it, chuck it in the discard pile and flip one of your face-down cards over.
- Draw from the discard pile: You see exactly what you’re getting. Swap it with any card in your grid.
The catch? Once you swap a card, the old card goes to the discard pile face up.
The strategy comes from the fact that you often don't know what your face-down cards are. You might swap a "bad" 10 for a "good" 4, only to realize the card you threw away was actually a 2. It happens. A lot.
Polish Poker Game Rules: The Scoring Secret
This is where the game gets interesting. If you just add up the numbers, you’re playing it wrong. The secret to winning is pairing up.
If you have two cards of the same rank in the same vertical column, they cancel each other out. Their score becomes zero.
Imagine you have two 10s. Normally, that’s 20 points—a disaster. But if they are stacked on top of each other in a column? Zero. Zilch.
Point Values
- Kings: 0 points (These are the best cards to have individually).
- Aces: 1 point.
- 2s: -2 points (Yes, they actually take points off your total).
- 3 through 10: Face value.
- Jacks and Queens: 10 points (The "trash" cards you want to get rid of).
Some groups play with Jokers. If you use them, they usually count as -5 points. They are the holy grail of Polish Poker.
Ending the Round
The round ends when someone has all six of their cards face up.
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But wait! Just because you finished doesn't mean you won. Everyone else gets one last turn to try and fix their mess. Once everyone has had their final move, all remaining face-down cards are flipped, and you count the damage.
Usually, a full game lasts nine "holes" (rounds). You keep a running tally, and the person with the smallest number after the ninth round is the champion.
Common Mistakes Beginners Make
I see people make the same errors every time I teach this game.
First, they try to flip everything over too fast. Speed isn't always your friend. If you flip everything, you trigger the end of the round before you’ve had a chance to pair up your high cards.
Second, they forget about the discard pile. Sometimes a 5 is a great pickup if it completes a column of 5s you already have. Even if 5 seems like a "high" number, a pair of 5s (0 points) is better than a single 3 (3 points).
Pro Strategy: The "Wichita" Variation
There is another version of Polish Poker sometimes called the Wichita Card and Dice Game. This one uses two dice and feels a lot more like a gambling game.
In this version, you aren't trying to build a grid. You're trying to discard cards from your hand by rolling the dice. If you roll an 8, and you have an 8, you drop it. If you roll a 7, you usually have to pay into a pot.
It’s a completely different beast, but if you hear "Polish Poker" at a dive bar, it’s worth asking if they mean the "Golf" version or the "Dice" version.
Actionable Tips for Your Next Game
If you want to actually win your next session, keep these three things in mind:
- Prioritize the columns: Don't just look for low cards. Look for matches. A column of two Queens is better than an Ace and a 3.
- Watch the other players: If the person to your right is collecting 4s, don't discard a 4 unless you absolutely have to. You're just handing them a zero.
- Hold your Kings: Kings are 0 points. They are basically free spaces. Unless you can make a pair of something else, a King is almost always a keeper.
Start by playing a few "open" hands where everyone keeps their cards face up just to learn the scoring. Once you get the hang of the vertical pairs, the game becomes a lot more about memory and risk management.
Grab a deck, find two friends, and start a 9-round tally. You'll see pretty quickly why people get addicted to the "one more round" loop of this game.
To get started, simply clear off a table and deal six cards face down to everyone in that 2x3 grid. Pick your two favorites to flip, and you're officially playing.