How To Play SOKO Poker On Your Mobile?

March 21, 2023January 17, 2024 Kamal Kaur

Soko Poker is known as Canadian Stud or Scandinavian Stud. Abbreviated as SOKO it is a variant of Five Card Stud poker, offering two different hands: a four-card straight and a four-card flush.

In Canada, you can play SOKO poker on your mobile at Play Now Casino online.

All you need is to join Play Now Casino Canada on your mobile.

Visit the poker games and select SOKO

Players will buy-in for the posted amount.

Players will place an ante into the pot. Your ante will be placed into the pot by default. You may turn off this feature under the settings menu in the game.

How to play SOKO Poker?

In SOKO poker the dealer always deals first to the player closest to the dealer’s left and, moving clockwise around the table, will “deal-in” each player that has anted. The players will be dealt one card face down and then a second card is known as the “door card” will be dealt face up. A round of betting will occur starting with the player with the highest card by value and suit. This is known as the “force” or “bring-in” bet.

The player with the highest card value (ace being high) will be the force. In the event that two or more players hold door cards of the same rank, then the highest suit will determine the force. Suits are ranked, from highest to lowest, alphabetically, spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs (i.e., the two clubs are the lowest possible card). This is the only time suits will play a role in the game.

The next card to be dealt into the game will be the third card the players will receive in their hands. This is called “Third street.” The dealer will burn one card off the top of the deck and then always deal to the player closest to the dealer’s left and, moving clockwise around the table, will deal each player one card face up. A round of betting will occur starting with the player with the highest two-card value. This is known as “having the action”.

The player having the best hand on the board “has the action” and may make the initial bet of the round or check to the next player. If there is a tie between players as to the best hand, then the player closest to the dealer’s left will have the action.

In fixed limit stud, if any player displays an open pair on the third street, that player may bet the higher amount of the game limit (normally not available until the fourth street).

If the player with the action chooses to make the lower limit bet, any other player still in the hand may choose to make either the lower limit or higher limit raise. Once any player has made the higher limit bet, all further bets and raises must be made at the higher level.

If you choose not to bet, then you are said to “check,” or pass on the option to bet to the next player.

If a player bets, you may “call” the bet, “raise” or “fold”.

If a player checks and another player makes a bet, the player who checked may in turn raise the bet made by the other player. This is called a “check & raise”.

The next card to be dealt into the game will be the fourth card the players will receive in their hands. This is called “Fourth street.” The dealer will burn one card off the top of the deck and then always deal to the player closest to the dealer’s left and, moving clockwise around the table will deal each player one card face up. A round of betting will occur starting with the player with the highest three-card value. Starting with Fourth street, and continuing through all further streets, all bets and raises in fixed-limit games are made at the higher limit.

The next card to be dealt into the game will be the fifth and final card the players will receive in their hands. This is called “Fifth street”. The dealer will burn one card off the top of the deck and then always deal to the player closest to the dealer’s left and, moving clockwise around the table will deal each player one card face up. A round of betting will occur starting with the player with the highest four-card value. On Fifth street, all bets and raises in fixed-limit games are made at the higher limit.

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The SOKO Hand Rankings

Royal flush
Straight flush
Four of a kind
Full house
Flush
Straight
Three of a kind
Two pair
Four card flush
Four cards straight
One pair
High card

Note that SOKO introduces two new combinations compared to traditional hand rankings.

Four cards straight are ranked above one pair and consist of any four cards of two or more suits in a sequence of rank, and a fifth card that doesn’t extend the sequence to a traditional five-card straight.

Four card flush is ranked above four cards straight and consists of four cards of the same suit and a fifth card of another suit.

Who shows first?

In a live game, generally, players who feel that they have an excellent opportunity to win a pot will show their hands voluntarily. However, in many instances, players all stare at each other wondering who will show their cards first. To avoid this situation, the game employs the following standard rule:

The determination of which players’ cards will and must be shown first will lie with the player who had initiated the last bet, raise or re-raise.

This simply means that whoever created the last action on Fifth Street must show his cards first. If the player who had the action checked and all players checked, then the player who had the initial option to bet would show first. If a player checks and another player bets, then the player who bets will have his/her cards shown first. If a player checks, another bet and then another player raises, the raiser’s cards will be shown first.

FAQs

Q1. If a player wins by default does he or she require to show a hand?

Players that have won a pot do not have to show their cards if they were not called. This means that if two or more players were playing and one player bets and the other player(s) fold, the player who has won the pot by default will not under any circumstances have their cards shown automatically. The winning players may choose to “show” or “don’t show”.

Q2. Do Players have to show their cards if they call a bet or a check on Fifth street?

Players are required to show their cards if and only if they are the player who created the last action by betting or raising. Note that players may set their play to “Muck Losing Hands” in the Menu>Settings. Muck Losing Hands – checked – will mean that any losing hand will automatically muck. Muck Losing Hands – unchecked – will mean that the player will be presented with the choice to muck or show when applicable.

Q3. How do you bet & raise in a fixed-limit game?

Each bet in every betting round will be in strict compliance with a structured game.

If you choose not to bet, then you are said to “check,” or pass on the option to bet to the next player.
If a player bets, you may “call” the bet or “fold”.
If a player checks and another player makes a bet, the player who checked may then in turn raise the bet made by the other player. This is called a “check & raise.”

Q4. What are fixed-limit games?

Most commonly called “fixed” limit games, this type of game limit structure is by far the most common betting structure you will find. A fixed-limit game is one in which each bet will remain consistent through several betting rounds and then change at some predetermined point in later rounds. All bets will remain equal to the posted table limit. For example, in a $5-10 SOKO game, the bets will be as follows.

In the early betting rounds, a bet and any raises must be exactly $5. In later betting rounds, such as the last round, a bet and any raises must be exactly $10.

Q5. How is the winner declared?

The dealer will find the best five-card hand on the table and declare it the winner based on the above SOKO hand rankings. It is theoretically possible that two or more players can hold the best five-card hand. If there is a tie between two or more players, then the dealer will “split” the pot equally between all the winning players.