Manila
An Australian stud variant played with a stripped-down deck (7s and higher only), which makes straights and flushes much rarer and full houses correspondingly more common.
Coming soon — not yet playable
Rules
Manila is dealt using the same structure as Seven-Card Stud (or sometimes Five-Card Stud, depending on the table) — but with a key difference before the deal even begins: all cards below 7 (the 2s through 6s) are removed from the deck, leaving a 32-card "stripped" deck of 7 through Ace in each suit.
With this shorter deck, the deal and betting proceed just like standard stud: hole cards and a door card to start, a betting round, then subsequent up-cards each followed by a betting round, and hidden cards where the standard stud pattern calls for them.
Because so many low cards are removed, hand probabilities shift dramatically: straights and flushes become much harder to make (since there are fewer consecutive ranks and fewer total cards of each suit available), while pairs, three-of-a-kinds, and full houses become noticeably more common relative to a full deck. Some Manila tables adjust hand rankings to account for this — most commonly by ranking a flush ABOVE a full house (the reverse of standard poker hand rankings), since flushes are now rarer than full houses with the stripped deck.
Strategy notes: Because the maths of the game are meaningfully different from full-deck poker, players used to standard hand-rarity intuitions need to recalibrate — a full house is a good but not always dominant hand here, while a made flush can be a real monster if the table plays the adjusted "flush beats full house" ranking.
Common house rules
Flush beats full house (confirm before dealing)
This adjusted hand ranking is common with a stripped 32-card deck but not universal — always confirm with the table whether standard hand rankings or the adjusted 'flush beats full house' ranking is in use before the first hand.
Five-Card or Seven-Card Manila
Manila can be dealt following either the Five-Card Stud pattern (one down, four up) or the Seven-Card Stud pattern (two down, four up, one down) with the stripped deck — agree on which before dealing.
Aces high only
Because the 2s through 6s are stripped from the deck, the traditional ace-low 'wheel' straight (A-2-3-4-5) isn't possible in Manila — aces play high only, and the lowest available straight is 7-8-9-10-J.
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