Bring your dreidel, not poker, face

Attention, parents: If your son or daughter has absolutely zero interest in spinning dreidels this Hanukkah (and let's be honest, the dreidel game rarely holds a child's interest for more than four consecutive minutes), we advise you to trick your child into thinking that dreidel is actually poker.

At least that seems to be the idea behind a new game called No Limit Texas Dreidel (www.moderntribe.com). This is not a bad concept. Poker has traditionally held more fascination for kids than a game of dreidel. Poker has all the money that goes on the table, all the exhilarating risk and the maddening mathematical calculations. It is - to put it mildly - a lot of fun.

Dreidel, well, it's just spinning a dreidel, isn't it? Even though there's often chocolate involved, it can't really compete. And even though when you hear the words "No Limit Texas Dreidel," you immediately think that this is a shameless attempt to capitalize on the ESPN generation, No Limit Texas Dreidel creates a reasonable facsimile of poker - but without the insane $1,000 bets and cigar smoke around the table. The stakes are small (chocolate gelt), and figuring out the odds of your hand are much, much easier.

Each player spins his or her own personal dreidel - what the game calls the "hole" dreidel. (Like your hole cards in poker. Get it?) You cover it in a little plastic shaker, and then the table has a round of betting. Chocolate gelt goes into a pot in the middle of the table. Then there are two community spins of the dreidel, followed by another two rounds of betting.

"Gimel" is the highest-ranked letter you can get. "Hey" the second highest. "Nun" the third. "Shin" the worst. You have to match up the three highest dreidels - as you would in poker - to create three-of-a-kind hands or pairs.

"Remember," the rules of the game advise, "this game is 'No Limit,' so players can go all in at any time, betting their entire stash of gelt and forcing players to match their bet or fold. Bluffing is allowed and encouraged. Practice your dreidel face!"

Haaretz

News Added: 07 December, 2007

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