A card game begins with designating at least one playing card to be a substitute card and defining a substitution pattern for the substitute cards. The first player is dealt a first player hand of cards and at least one additional player hand of cards. The player plays the first player hand to completion. For each additional hand, the substitute cards are copied into other player hands to replace a card in that hand, according to the substitution pattern, only if the substitution results in a higher poker ranking for the hand. Players are rewarded based on the final poker ranking of each player hand after substitution, if any.