According to Tom Koch
1. BikePoker is a fun game. It is also a betting game. Almost any medium will do. It is the responsibility of the dealer to determine the bet for each wheel. Medium of exchange may be M&Ms, power bars, drinks at the end of the ride, dinner, or currency. Similarly, task-oriented bets are encouraged (who oils the chains and cleans the bikes at the end of the ride?).
2. Side bets between riders are encouraged. Thus one may bet with a single player on the relative merit of only two hands in each wheel (for example, ‘I'll bet tomorrow's washing that I win this one'). Side bets don't affect one's standing in the wheel as a whole, however.
3. Strip BikePoker is possible and even enjoyable but only in circumstances where nudity does not lead to arrest or serious sunburn. Caution is advised.
1. Each hand is called a "wheel" and is determined by the dealer, a position that rotates among players, at the beginning of each stage.
2. The ride organizer is the first dealer. Dealer rotation can be either in the order that players come to the ride, alphabetically by last name, or by any other means the organizer chooses. One may, for example, have the winner of each hand serve as dealer for the next hand.
3. The dealer "calls the wheel" and sets the time of its play. Wheels may be zeroes high or low, four- or five-numbered, etc. The time of the play may be in time (‘we'll play again in fifteen minutes'); miles or kilometres (‘we'll play again in 18 kilometres;' or by location (‘we'll gather at the old gas station on County Road 9 for the next hand').
1. Each wheel is played by comparing numbers on the bicycle's cyclometer. This can include the trip meter's reading or the odometer's reading. The latter is preferred. People can play in either miles or kilometres, although the latter has a more rapid change and is preferred.
2. Each cyclometer must have at least 100 kilometres or miles on an odometer or trip meter that reads to the tenth of a kilometre/mile (100.1). If one player has 10,000 kilometres and another has 1,000 at the beginning of a ride, the one with the larger number removes the left hand digit so all will have an equal playing field. In short, everyone starts with the same number of cards.
1. Each variant of the game, and every hand played, is called a "wheel". Each wheel has a dealer chosen in a rotation whose order is chosen at the beginning of a ride. There are four-wheels (four numbers) , five-wheels (five numbers), zeroes high, "wild" numbers (say, a seven), etc. The deal rotates each wheel between the riders.
2. Each wheel is played in a fashion similar to deals in traditional poker. A pair of 9s (1-9-9-5-6) will beat a pair of 5s (1-9-5-5-6); three of a kind beats any pair, etc. If zeroes are high, the best straight would be 6-7-8-9-0. If they're low, of course, the highest straight (beating four of a kind) would be 5-6-7-8-9. A straight in a "straight wheel" is equivalent to a straight flush and beats four of a kind. But four of a kind beats a straight in an "open wheel." (See Variants for definitions of straight and open wheels.) Five of a kind beats a straight.
3. No person can play the same wheel twice. If one has a straight (9-0-1-2-3), the hand cannot be saved after it is played. Just as in traditional poker, each wheel in BikePoker is different and unique.
There are, naturally, several ways to play the game.
1. In a "straight" wheel, hands are counted as they're dealt. An odometer reading 4-5-2-3 has no value, even though a "straight" is buried in the hand (2-3-4-5). A hand with 4-5-5-3 is a pair of 5s while one with 2-5-5-5 has three of a kind beating the pair, etc.
2. In an "open wheel" one creates the best possible hand based upon odometer numbers irrespective of order. In this variant a 4-5-2-3 "straight" would beat a wheel with three 5's (5-5-5-6) because a straight beats three-of-a-kind.
3. Paceline Wheels are those where the cyclometer stays on the bike until riders reach a pre-set location. Then, and only then, can they be removed from the bike. This means the hand is whatever results at the end of the ride. It is contrasted with the next variant, the Off-road Wheel.
4. In Off-Road wheels, riders can take their cyclometers off their bicycle and set their hand any time from the end of the previous wheel to the location for the next one. Obviously, this improves a rider's chances of getting the best possible hand. Anywhere along the ride — when three of a kind appears, for example — the hand is frozen by removing the cyclometer at what the player thinks is the best possible location.
5. Noughts and wild numbers (spokes): Each dealer must decide for each wheel whether to call noughts (Os) high or low. In the former, any zero is the highest possible number possible. In the latter, it is the lowest. This will affect straights, of course. Similarly, dealers may declare another number "wild." This is called "pulling the spoke" and means, with 7s wild, that a hand 4-4-4-7 would in fact count as four of a kind.
Good players watch and remember each other's readings. Bad players try to. In BikePoker — as in its earlier variant — the adroit player knows how to look confident, bluff, and pray he or she remembers the last damn hand.
If my cyclometer showed a near straight (2-3-2-2) and the next wheel is in 25 minutes, my straight (2-3-4-5) will likely be fulfilled in an off-road but not a paceline wheel. If, however, I showed 2-2-1-5, my chances of getting four 2s is good. The trick, of course, is in remembering everyone's numbers and guessing whether they'll make a correct hand in the next wheel.
Bike Poker™ was born on club rides and long, solo treks. It uses the cyclometer’s mile measuring odometer or trip meter as a dealer. The numbers displayed are poker hands which people play, one against the other. It’s an addictive pastime, and dangerous.
Named the official game of the 1999 Canadian Triple T Southern Ontario Cycling Rally in Ontario—and of the Tour du Canada— it combines the pleasure of the bicycle with the joy of poker. Like its drawing room progenitor, Bike Poker has a number of variants. And, like the older version, these variants have a common core. Players seek the best hand possible—two, three or four of a kind, or runs of consecutive numbers (4,5,6,7,8). Here, however, the miles or kilometers on a cyclist’s odometer—or the trip meter—generate constantly changing player hands.
Tom Koch is the creator of Bike Poker. Tom is a bioethicist, writer, and Effective Cycling instructor (No. 188). He is the author of Six Islands on Two Wheels: A Cycling Guide for Hawaii (Bess Press: 1990), Creating a Cycle Efficient Toronto (1993) and other books and articles. he can be reached through his web page at: http://www.a1net.com/koch.
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