Thinking about dipping a tentative toe into the world online poker? If so, it’s important to gain a little grasp on the game before you jump right in. Despite what you might think, the action at every poker table can differ significantly depending on the type of poker games being played. Today, we’re running through five varieties of poker, so can establish which you fancy cracking on with first.
1. Texas hold’em
Let’s kick things off with the poker’s most popular variety – Texas hold’em. Most hold’em games tend to be ‘no limit’, which means you are free to bet all your chips at any point of the game, should you think you’reonto a real winner. Alternatively, hold’em can be played with fixed limits, where the amount of each raise or bet must be in line with the dictated amount. In hold’em, each player is dealt two cards, face down. Following everyone placing an initial bet based on the two cards in their hands, three community cards are dealt face up. These three cards are called ‘the flop’. Next, comes another round of betting, a fourth community card (‘the turn’), another chance to bet, and then the fifth card (‘the river’). Each player uses the seven cards available to them, in their own hand and community cards, to make the best five-card poker hand possible.
2. Omaha
Similar to hold’em in structure, in Omaha each player is dealt four face down cards. The flop, turn and river are dealt face up, one-by-one, with a round of betting in between. When it’s time to show your cards, players have to use exactly three community cards and two from their own hand to produce the best five-card hand they can. Typically, Omaha is either played ‘pot limit’, which means the highest bet can only ever equal the size of the pot. Alternatively, for a bit of fun, it can also be played as a hi-low split game, with half the pot going to the highest hand, and half going to the lowest.
3. Stud
As the name suggests, seven card stud involves each player being dealt seven cards over the course of the game. Initially, each played in dealt three cards – one face up, two face down. A round of betting follows, each player is then dealt three face up cards each, with a round of betting in between each card. Then, here’s where it gets interesting – the seventh card is dealt facedown, for the eyes of each player only!Each player uses five of their seven cards to try and form the winning hand. Most often, Stud is played with fixed limits. Keep an eye out for Razz too, a variety of seven card stud where the player with the lowest hand wins the pot rather than vice versa. High-low varieties of Stud are also popular.
4. Badugi
If these lowball varieties are piquing your interest, you should give Badugi a try. In this discipline, you receive three draws and with a round of betting in between each. Where Badugi is different from other lowball games is that certain cards have certain rankings which can lose you points. For example, two cards in the same suit works against you. The best hand that the player can hope for is Ace, two, three, four – with every card belonging toa different suit.
5. HORSE
Now that you’ve got a taste of highballs and lowballs, you can try a mixed game, which involves two or more styles of poker. The most popular mixed poker variety is HORSE so named because of the five disciplines it encompasses: hold’em, Omaha hi-lo, Razz, Stud and stud Eight.
With so many options, the only way you’ll determine which poker discipline works for you is to try them all. You’ll soon find your game!