Ok you math and theory geeks, heres one for you.

What if you could "turn the corner" in HE. As in a straight could be QKA23, the rank of the deck becomes circular. How would that affect the game?

True story,

$10/$20 hold em at foxwoods. At the showdown a player says two pair, his opponent flips over his cards and says "I have the straight" which causes pure confusion as the board is QA379.

everyone is looking with that befuddled look on their faces, even the dealer, until someone says "no you don't" at which point we finally look at his hole cards of K2.

totally pissed off he begins counting "QUEEN, KING, ACE, TWO, THREEEE!!!! A STRAIGHT" the table is now in pure hysterics the dealer actually stood and was laughing so hard he was in tears while the guy kept explaining how he has a straight and has won with that hand before.

the funniest part was when he was explaining how he had a straight like you would to someone who had never played before.

I'll post another great foxwoods moment in the general discussion.

Ahem , laughing was not the affect I was looking for .

in all seriousness it would greatly improve AK possibly moving it ahead of QQ for the third best hand. and would also improve A2, QK, 23, etc.

but how would the straights be ranked? would QKA23 beat 89TJQ? maybe for each overlapped card the straight decreases or something and they all start worse than A2345. so QKA23 beats KA234. just a thought.

highest end of the str8 rules, TJQKA beats KA234, Wheel beats 4 high, etc....