Guide to Different Kinds of Poker

The appeal of poker is explosive these days! Players of all experience levels can find quality tables day or night, all over the world, whether live or online.

With this popularity come options. There are so many varieties of poker out there! Where should one begin?

Read on for a small dose of poker education in the ongoing process of getting the best of it at any table.

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Texas Hold’em

The undisputed king of modern poker, Texas Hold’em rose to international prominence during the early 2000s. Day or night, in the poker room of just about any casino in the world, whether online or brick-and-mortar, there’s likely to be at least one table dedicated to this game.

Even true newcomers are likely to be familiar with it from televised tournaments, popular movies…

… even like “going all-in” have become used in everyday speech!

There have been countless books written about Hold’em, but here are the basics:

Each player is dealt two ‘hole’ cards. Five communal cards are dealt face-up to be shared by everyone. The best five card hand, made up of any combination of these, wins the hand.

There are four rounds of betting: after the hole cards have been dealt (pre-flop), after the first three common cards have been revealed (the flop), after the fourth common card is revealed (the turn), and after the final card is revealed (the river).

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

In a way, it is! The great appeal of the game is that, since the five common cards are shared, it’s easy to tell what the absolute best hand is at any given time.

(Pro tip: the best possible hand is known as “the nuts” in pokerspeak.)

Rest assured that, though the rules are straightforward enough, this game is complex enough to fascinate players for years and years.

It’s a ‘moment to learn, lifetime to master’ kind of activity.

To get a strong sense of the mathematics involved, this odds calculator is a useful tool. Simply plug in card values and watch which hands become winners.

Omaha Hi

If Texas Hold’em is king of modern poker, this is the bejeweled queen.

Or to put it another way, Omaha is like Hold’em on steroids!

That’s because, although five common cards are revealed just as in Hold’em, are dealt four hole cards instead of two in this variety. With those extra cards in hand, the ‘nuts’ tend to appear much more often.

Indeed, if hands of Hold’em are often won with a simple pair or even ace-high, those seated at an Omaha table can expect to see straights, flushes, full houses, quads, and even straight-flushes with regularity.

The best five card hand made up of exactly three common cards and exactly two hole cards wins.

Though not quite as ubiquitous as Hold’em, Omaha and it variants can still be found in many brick-and-mortar casinos, and at most major online poker sites as well.

Omaha Hi-Lo

The most famous Omaha variant, this game offers experienced players exponentially more possibilities than the original version.

The reason why?

While the best possible hand will always be a winner, the worst possible hand will frequently take half the pot!

Here’s the basic concept of Hi-Lo poker: the pot is split 50/50 between the best high hand (the hand that would win in, say, Texas Hold’em) and the best low hand (the hand that would normally lose)!

The best low hand at most tables is A2345, though A2346, 23456, or 23457 may also be used.

(An important caveat: not all hands “qualify” for a low winner. If the board consists of K2K9J, for example, the lowest possible hand would be jack-high. At most tables, only an 8-high hand or below can qualify for low. In that case, the high hand would take the whole pot.)

With those four hole cards, and with two separate versions of the ‘nuts’ available, there can be tremendous amount of action.

Indeed, Omaha tables can get very wild, with massive bets being thrown around on practically every hand.

Keep in mind that the same player may win both high and low, using two separate combinations of hole cards and common cards to take down the whole pot.

Seven Card Stud

The hipster’s choice among poker varieties, Seven Card Stud has an even longer history of prominence than either Hold’em or Omaha.

In seven card stud, players are dealt a total of seven cards: three of them are dealt face-down, for only them to see, while four are dealt face-up, where the whole table can see them. Like Hold’em or Omaha, there are four rounds of betting.

Unlike in the above games, there are no common cards to be shared. Therefore, while an opponent’s face-up cards will certainly yield information about their hands, it’s impossible to know what opponents might hold…

… for example, an opponent whose visible cards look like nothing at all (say, 349K) could hold four-of-a-kind if their hole cards are 333, 444, 999, or KKK.

That’s right: nothing is certain in stud poker!

Stud may be available in its Hi-Lo variation as well. If that’s the case, the pot will again be split between the best high hand and the best low hand.

Five Card Draw

The wise grandfather of poker, this game has been enjoyed at least since the time of the Old West and the American Civil War.

In movies and tv shows set in olden days, those dusty cowboys and gunfighters in the saloons are usually playing Draw!

It can be tough to know what opponents hold in Draw, because there are no communal or face-up cards.

Instead, everyone is dealt five cards facing down. After a round of betting, they may discard one, two, or three cards and be dealt new ones. A second round of betting follows, and then the best high hand takes the pot.

This is the only kind of poker where no opponents’ cards are visible. Players must pay extraordinary attention to betting patterns and human behavior to know what to expect…

… and even then, anything can happen!

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