When Poker enthusiasts think about online Poker, Texas Hold’em is probably the first variant that comes to their mind. Undoubtedly, this variant is one of the most popular at present, but there are many other variations of the game one should not ignore. If you are keen on widening your perspective and want to check out the most uncommon variants, you can certainly get an idea by reading this guide.
TEXAS HOLD’EM:
Texas Hold’em Poker is one of the world’s most popular variants of Poker. It is an easy game to learn. From two to ten players can play. At the beginning of this game, each player receives two hole cards. On the other hand, the board consists of five community cards which are shared by all the players. The betting stage is divided into four stages: the preflop, the flop, the turn, and the river. Preflop is when a player gets two of their hole cards. On the flop, the first three community cards are revealed at once. The fourth card is shown in the Turn. The fifth card at the final round of betting called the River. The objective is to make the best five-card Poker hand using two hole cards and five community cards.
OMAHA HI:
Omaha Hi is the second most popular Poker variant in the world. Hi (high) means the player with the topmost ranking wins the entire pot at the showdown. The players from two to ten can play in the game. The game is surprisingly similar to Texas Hold’em, but with one minor difference, i.e. rather than two pocket cards each player receives four pocket cards. The blinds in Omaha Hi are counted as bets. A player must use two of their four pocket cards and only three of their five community cards to form the best five-card Poker hand.
OMAHA HI-LO:
Omaha Hi-Lo variant is similar to Omaha Hi, but with an exception that at the end, the pot is split evenly between the highest winning hand and the lowest winning hand. It is a fixed limit game. In this game, each player receives four hole cards and followed by four betting rounds before the flop, after a flop, turn, and river. The objective of the game is that a player must make two separate (high and low) 5-card Poker hands, using two hole cards and three community cards. If a player has both the best and the low hand they will win the whole pot which is known as scooping.
7-CARD STUD:
7-Card Stud used to hold the same status that Texas Hold’em is enjoying today. This Poker variant is played without any community cards. Maximum eight players can play in this game. Each player in Stud is individually dealt with seven cards. All players playing a hand must pose an ante in the pot. After this, they will receive two cards face down, and one card faces up one at a time in the rotation. The betting round begins (third street). The player with the lowest face-up card should make a small bring-in, or they also have an option to go for a complete bet. After this betting round ends, all players will receive a fourth face-up card. The second betting round begins (fourth street). It begins with the player with the highest face-up card. This playing pattern persists with every player receiving a fifth face-up card (fifth street) and then a sixth face-up card (sixth-street). On the seventh street, the final card is given to each player face-down. At the showdown, the active players must turn up their hole cards and choose the best five cards out of seven as their hand. The player with the best highest five-card combination hand wins the game.
2-7 TRIPLE DRAW:
2-7 Triple Draw Poker is a popular variation of draw Poker and uses a lowball hand ranking system. Maximum six players can play. Each player will receive their five-cards to start. Once all the players have their cards, the first betting round begins with the player to the immediate left of the big blind. When the first betting round ends, they enter the first round of drawing. In this round a player can discard any cards in their hand in exchange for new cards to improve their hands. They can choose to stand pat and remain with their hand as it is. Every player gets the same chance to draw cards. After the first round, the second betting round starts with the first player sitting left of the dealer button. The same betting pattern continues. The remaining active players follow the last betting round and the player with the lowest possible five-card hand is declared the winner. In this variant pairs, straights and flushes will be counted against the player’s hand and Aces are considered high card.
5-CARD DRAW:
5-Card Draw is the simplest variant of Poker. Up to five players can play. A dealer deals five cards to each player, one at a time hidden from their opponents. The player seated to the direct left of the big blind starts the betting action. Once the betting round ends, the players have the opportunity to discard cards and replace with the new ones from the deck. If they do not want to draw any of their cards, they can “stand pat”. After this draw round ends, one more round of bets takes place. At the showdown, the remaining players left will show the cards, where the player with the highest-ranked five-card Poker hand wins the entire pot.
5-CARD OMAHA:
5-Card Omaha is same as regular Texas Hold’em or Omaha Hi, but with only one difference of an extra hole card dealt to every player. As a player has one more hole card with them, so they have more chances to make stronger hands. In this game, each player receives five hole cards. The first betting round begins with the player to the left of the big blind. After this round, the three cards on the flop, one on the turn, and one on the river are dealt with a separate betting round after each street. Any player left with the hand after the final round of betting goes for a showdown where they show their cards face-up, and the player with the best five-card hand wins the pots (your winning hand must consist of two hole cards and three community cards).
BADUGI:
Badugi is a unique game as compared to other Poker variants because of its hand ranking system that it uses to determine the best hand. Two to eight players can play this game. It is a game played with four-card hands. The betting round commences with the player to the immediate left of the big blind. Once the betting round ends, the player proceeds to the first drawing round. They get three chances to discard their cards to improve their Lowball hand. The remaining players left after the final round of betting goes for a showdown, and the player with the lowest set of cards wins. The winning player must have the lowest hand with no two cards of the same suit or rank, and the ace counts as a low card.
HORSE:
Although being a separate variant of Poker, HORSE is an acronym which comprises five different versions of Poker: Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Stud, and Eight-or-better. It is often played in high stakes live games and in an eminent tournament series like the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Every Poker variant follows its usual rules of the game. However, specific to HORSE, all games are played as Fixed Limit with the same stake or structure used in each version. The game proceeds in the same sequence every time- from Hold’em to Omaha Hi-Lo to Razz to Stud and finally to Eight-or-better and turn to the next game after each orbit (full rotation around the table) of play.
Razz:
Razz is a variant of a Stud Poker where a player has to make the best five-card low hand. Maximum 8 players can play this game. The gameplay of this Poker variant is very similar to 7-Card Stud Poker. Every player is dealt with two face-down cards, including one card dealt face-up. Contrary to Stud, the player with the highest face-up card begins with an action. On the later streets, the betting action starts with the player who has the lowest Poker hand. After the final betting round on the seventh street, the remaining players make a showdown. The player with the worst possible five-card hand scoops the pot.
Chinese Poker:
Chinese Poker is very different from other Poker variants, so it does not follow any of the Poker traditional patterns. There is no betting round, but instead, the player mutually agrees to a certain winning amount before the starting of the game. This game is typically played with a total of four players but can also compete between either two or three players. The objective is the player has to arrange their 13 cards into three Poker hands of different strength: (a) bottom five-card hand; (b) middle five-card hand; and (c) front three-card hand. Once all the players have arranged their cards, the showdown occurs. The players put down their cards face-up on the table. The betting amount is distributed against the matching hand of each player.
Short Deck:
Short Deck is an incredibly fun version of Hold’em. Two to ten players can play Short Deck Poker game. It has become a favourite in high-stakes tournaments and cash games. The hand rankings in Short Deck is somewhat different than in standard games (flushing beating full houses). 2’s, 3s, 4s, and 5’s are removed from the deck, leaving the game with only 36 playing cards. The players don’t put any blind; instead, they put an ante in the pot. The dealer starts with action by posting an additional ante. If a player is familiar with Texas Hold’em, they will find it easy to understand this game. The goal of the game is to have the highest Poker hand to win the pot.
Pot Limit Omaha:
Pot Limit Omaha also known as PLO, is the most famous variant of Omaha Poker. The dealer deals four cards to each player known as hole cards, and five community cards are dealt face-up on the table. In Pot Limit Omaha there is no fixed betting limit, but there is a betting “cap” that sets the maximum bet a player can make. A player cannot go beyond that maximum limit. At the betting stage, they can make a bet equal to big blind or the present size of the pot. Whereas, the maximum size bet keeps on changing depending upon the size of the pot. If a player wants to raise, they can raise by matching the amount that is already in the pot. In Pot Limit Omaha, a player should only play premium hands. The player with the best five-card hand by using two of your hole cards and three of the community cards wins.
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