Sviten Special Is Here: The Stockholm Split-Pot Game Arrives at Phenom
Some poker games are designed in boardrooms. Sviten Special was born at 2am with four players left at the table.
In 2004, Anders "Bengan" Bengtsson was running the Sviten club, a small Stockholm poker room with a regular crowd who loved mixed games. Late one night, with the table down to four, Bengan suggested something new: deal five cards like Draw, run a board like Omaha, and split the pot between the best hand of each. The group enjoyed it so much they played it again the next night. Within weeks it was the club's signature game.
The Sviten club closed its doors in 2007, but its name lives on in the game it created. Travelling Finnish players took Sviten Special home to Helsinki, and from there it spread through Scandinavia, the Baltics and eventually the major European mixed-game festivals, where it now features in tournament schedules and rotations alongside the classics.
How it plays
Every player gets five hole cards. After the flop there's a single draw, where you can swap anywhere from zero to five cards. Draw exactly one and it's dealt face up, so you choose whether to keep it (knowing the whole table has seen it) or send it back for a blind replacement. Then the turn and river come out as normal.
At showdown, half the pot goes to the best five-card Draw hand and half to the best Omaha hand (exactly two hole cards plus three from the board). Hold the best of both and you scoop the lot. It's traditionally played pot-limit, which is why the pots get big fast.
Why we're launching it
Sviten Special is the game mixed-game players keep asking for and rarely find online. It rewards reading the draw, punishes autopilot Omaha habits, and delivers action on nearly every hand. We think it deserves a proper home.
Sviten Special is live now on Phenom. Pull up a seat and find out why a late-night experiment in Stockholm is still going strong two decades later.
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