How To Play Strip Poker

You never know when it might come time to play a game of strip poker.

Poker’s most risque variant uses clothing removal as currency, and can lead to situations not seen in any other form of poker. 

Here’s a quick look at how to play strip poker, in case you ever need it.

How To Play Strip Poker – An Overview

Strip poker rules can be applied to any poker variant. Texas Hold’em is a good choice as the centerpiece of a strip poker game, as its the game most familiar to people these days.

Any poker variant, or any card game for that matter, can be used to play strip poker. The object of the game is to get people out of their clothes, with some semblance of your own clothes still intact.

There’s no right or wrong way to play strip poker, and as such the following strip poker rules can be used as loose guidelines.

Strip Poker Rules

The rules of whatever form of poker you like can be modified to fit the strip poker format. Let’s take a look at some possibilities.

Texas Hold’em Strip Poker

As the world’s most popular poker game, many people are at least somewhat familiar with the rules of Texas Hold’em.

One way to play strip poker is to run the game like a traditional Texas Hold’em cash game, with chips used as currency and standard rules intact.

Whenever a hand goes to showdown, players with the losing hand (see: poker hands rankings) have to take off an article of clothing.

For example:

With the blinds at $1/$2, Player A raises to $6 preflop from the button, and Player B calls from the big blind. In this scenario, all other players have folded, and Player A and Player B go heads up to the flop.

The flop comes A♥ 5♦ 8♣, and both players check. The turn comes 8♠, the big blind bets $10, and the button calls.

The river comes 9♣, the big blind bets $20, and the button calls. The big blind shows 8♥ 6♥ for three-of-a-kind, and that hand is the winner against the button’s Q♠ Q♦.

The player in the big blind wins the $72 in the pot, and the button player has to remove a piece of clothing. The clothing removed at first is typically something innocuous, like a sock, whereas the last pieces of clothing you remove will be the most salacious (like a shirt, pants, or bra).

Five Card Draw Strip Poker

Draw games can be played with chips and follow the same rules at the Texas Hold’em game outlines above. A quicker and perhaps more interesting way to play, however, involves not using chips at all.

All participants in the game play through the hand, and the player with the winning hand selects another player who must remove an article of clothing.

An even faster way to get to the point (i.e. nakedness) is having all players except the winning player remove an article of clothing. For example:

Six players are playing a game of five-card draw strip poker. All six players take turns discarding up to five cards, and replacing those discards with new cards, as per five-card draw rules.

After all players have discarded and drawn, everyone shows their hand. The best five-card poker hand wins. The winning player can then choose which losing player must “discard” a piece of clothing. The fast-track version of the game has all five losing players removing a piece of clothing.

Other Ways To Play Strip Poker

The ways to implement the rules of strip poker are almost endless. 

A particular hand can be designated that allows the person holding the hand to choose another player that has to strip. Any time a player shows a pair of aces, for example, that player gets to assign another participant to take off a piece of clothing.

If alcohol is involved, that pair of aces could mean that everyone has to take a drink. Depending on what kind of atmosphere you want in your strip poker game, the “drinking” hand could be a more common hand, like any single ace.

Strip Poker Suggestions

Strip poker should probably be only played among friends, and definitely only with people who understand and are comfortable with the rules of the game.

The game is probably best played with between two and nine players, but the most important suggestion is that all players involved are willing participants. A comfortable, private setting is a must for playing strip poker.

Have fun with the rules of the game, and expect to have one of the more interesting nights you’ll experience at the poker table.