HOW TO PLAY · 2–6 PLAYERS
Cold Hand
Five cards. Raise the stakes or fold. The weakest hand takes the pulls.
Five cards and two draws
Each survivor receives five private cards from one shuffled standard 52-card deck, with no jokers. There are two draw rounds, each followed by betting. On each draw turn, exchange up to three cards or keep your hand. Discards stay out during that draw, then are shuffled back with the remaining deck before the second draw. Each rank/suit combination appears once.
Call, raise or fold
Each hand starts betting at the current house minimum; stakes carry into the second draw and betting round. Call accepts the current stakes. Raise adds one pull, up to four, and everyone else still in gets another decision. Fold leaves the hand and costs the current house minimum, settled after betting. Once everyone has called in the first betting round, the second draw begins. Once everyone has called in the second betting round, the hands are revealed. If only one player remains in either round, the hand ends early.
Weakest hand takes the pulls
Reveal the hands still in. Only the weakest hand takes the raised stakes; everyone else is safe. Tied weakest hands each take the house minimum. Folded hands stay covered and each folded player takes the house minimum. With one player still in, that player is safe and also keeps their hand covered. Penalties are settled in seat order.
Rising house stakes
The house minimum starts at one pull and increases to two, then three. It rises every three completed hands for 2–3 starting players, or every four for 4–6. Starting stakes, folds and tied weakest hands use this minimum. Raises can still reach four pulls. The table shows how many hands remain before the next increase.
Hand rankings
Strongest first: straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card. Compare grouped ranks first, then remaining cards from highest to lowest. Aces are high; A–2–3–4–5 is a five-high straight. Suits are equal. A royal flush is the highest straight flush. Your hand’s name appears below your uncovered cards; teal marks the cards forming it. Selected exchange cards use a gold outline. Open Hand rankings beside the hints for the full reference.
Fresh cylinders
Every player starts each hand with one hidden bullet among six chambers. A penalty spins once, then advances one chamber per additional pull. Empty means survive; a bullet eliminates you and ends your remaining pulls. After all hand penalties finish, survivors get fresh cylinders and five new cards. The opening seat rotates clockwise. Last survivor wins immediately.
Read who is still in
A middling hand can survive if another hand finishes lower. A fold removes one possible lower hand. Raising can pressure someone into folding, but makes your own penalty larger if you call and hold the weakest hand.
If time runs out
Each turn lasts sixty seconds. A draw timeout keeps your five cards; a betting timeout calls the current stakes.
Try it at the practice table
Choose How to play beside Cold Hand on the home screen for an interactive guide. You can also open it from your table.