How SKUPoker works
SKUPoker is a new way to distribute authenticated collectibles. Instead of opening a random pack and hoping, players sit down to a poker format and earn cards through play. The inventory is real, the cards are verified, and the outcome rewards skill.
Collectibles become SKU-Cards
Every item Schmidt Auctions authenticates is assigned a standard playing-card value and a provenance record. That pairing — a real, verified item plus a card value — is a SKU-Card.
52 SKU-Cards make a deck
A full SKU-Deck is 52 cards, exactly like a deck of playing cards. This keeps the mechanics familiar: anyone who has played cards already understands the table.
You are guaranteed cards every hand
Players receive at least two SKU items per hand. Unlike a sealed pack, there is no empty outcome — you always come away with verified collectibles.
The dealer rotates — nobody deals their own deck
At a table the dealer brings the SKU-Deck and deals from it, and the dealer position rotates every round or hand. That rotation is the anti-cheat protocol: you can never compete for cards out of your own deck. In practice mode the dealer is an AI demo deck; in a live event it is a node operator such as Schmidt Auctions.
The Ubuntu guarantee — you can’t be shut out
Bird in Hand (8-player Pai Gow): across 8 rounds you set a 2-card front and a 5-card back; the front is always KEPT, so 14 cards are guaranteed and the shutout rate is 0%. Only your back hand competes for the 38-card pot. Sit n Go (multi-level tournament): each 20-hand level keeps everyone’s hole cards and splits the community to the top three (4/3/1); the structure caps your risk at 30.7% with a 36-card floor as the field narrows 40 → 30 → 20 → 10 → 1. SKU-7 Stud: draw 7 and keep your best 5 each round (35 guaranteed), with optional Baseball wilds and direct-delivery cards and a No-Peek reveal — all set by the event producer. SKU-NoPeek: no dealing at all — you draft 7 from a shared reservoir, keep 2 (14 guaranteed) and play 5. The selection itself is the skill.
Formats scale from solo to championship
The same deck powers solo hands (1D), head-to-head play (2D), multi-player tables (3D), escalating tournaments (4D), and broadcast championships (5D).
The Ubuntu Anti-Mechanic
No dealing happens in Ubuntu formats. Cards exist in a shared reservoir, face-up, visible to all players. You select what you take on your turn. This eliminates the oldest weakness in card games — cheating dealers — and transforms what was luck into skill: the practiced eye of a collector knows which card to pick.
No busts happen in Ubuntu formats. Every player keeps their selected cards as a guaranteed floor. Wins are above-floor; losses redirect to bonuses. The math is simple: you can only win or win less — never lose what you came with. In Heads-Up Battle a skunk would have been a bust, so it triggers a consolation bonus instead.
Why this is skill-based, not gambling
Every player enters on equal footing and competes within the same constraints — the difference in outcomes comes from knowledge and decision-making, the same structure daily fantasy sports established as skill-based competition. Fees are transparent, baselines are published, and every card is independently verifiable. SKUPoker is a distribution platform for real inventory, operated by a licensed auctioneer.