Super Pay Cards

Game Show that aired in Canada from 1981-82, which was also syndicated in the United States. Two contestants, a man and a woman, competed in three rounds to build the best Poker hands possible. In some markets, such as Sioux Falls, the show was aired between Midnight and 3:00 AM as scheduling allowed.

In each round, only 16 cards from a standard 52-card deck were in play. Contestants were awarded money based on the rank of their poker hands, from $20 for a pair to $200 for four-of-a-kind, along with a $50 bonus to the player who had the better hand after each round.

Round 1 was always "Five-Card Draw", and Round 3 was always "Wild Card Hand". Round 2 varied from day to day, using one of four variants:
 * Two-Three-Four-Five: The board held two sets of pairs, a three-of-a-kind set, a four-of-a-kind set, and a set of cards with a fifth duplicate. The last set awarded $300 for five-of-a-kind, plus the $50 "high hand" bonus.
 * Four-Of-A-Kind: The sixteen cards held four sets of four-of-a-kind, making it very possible for both players to earn a hefty $200.
 * Strategy: Three cards were revealed at the start of the hand. The players would take two turns calling off cards (two each) and would pick two cards from the five showing for their hand. On their third turn, each player called for one last card, and picked one from the four displayed.
 * Seven-Card Stud: Mary Lou gave each player a choice of two sets of two cards to place in front of their podium. The players then used these two cards with five more cards from the board, then revealed their hands to each other. (This variant does not appear to have been used very often, based on the episodes that circulate.)

The player with more money after Round 3 (maximum of $950) played a three-stage Bonus Round. There, the object was to study four, eight, or 12 cards for the same number of seconds, and then remember the location of one of those cards. The payouts were $50, then $500, then $5,000.

Game Show Tropes in use:

 * Bonus Round: Study these cards on the board, then pick a card that Mary Lou is holding and give the number it's behind. Do this three times, win $5,000.
 * Bonus Space: The Jokers (aka Wild Cards) during Round 3, which allowed for five-of-a-kind and a cool $350.
 * Game Show Winnings Cap: One-and-done, which probably wasn't the best idea.
 * Home Game: Given to contestants along with their final score, but may not have been released commercially (or at least not in America).
 * Prize Letdown: The audience game offered such prizes as slow cookers, popcorn poppers, fire escape ladders and (most infamously) crockpots.
 * Personnel:
 * The Announcer: Mary Lou Basaraba.
 * Game Show Host: Art James.
 * Lovely Assistant: Mary Lou, to an extent.
 * Studio Audience: A member or two would play the eight-card portion of the bonus round with Mary Lou for the aforementioned "prizes".

This show provides examples of:

 * Curb Stomp Battle: In one episode (Martin vs. Jeannette), the scores after Round 2 were $500 to $40. Despite no chance of the trailing contestant winning (the top payout was $350), Round 3 was played anyway.
 * Filler: The audience game, seen only in Canadian broadcasts.
 * Pettanko: Mary Lou, to some.
 * Poker: Variant of five-card draw, with flushes and straights considered invalid. Round 3 added up to three Jokers, which made five-of-a-kind possible.
 * Rearrange the Song: The show's Theme Tune was a remix of the one used on Nicholson-Muir's CBS game Spin-Off, which aired for a few months in 1975.