When you think of poker, what do you think of? If you are like many players, you probably think that poker is the game that you regularly see played on TV either on ESPN or HSN. However, in reality, most shows only show one form of poker. There are many poker games types out there for players to play. Let’s take a look at the many different types.
Texas Holdem
The most common form of poker that you will see played in casinos and home games today is Texas Holdem. ESPN and the World Poker Tour has made the game of Holdem, specifically NL Texas Holdem famous. It is a super simple game to learn. You get two cards, known as hole cards, with a round of betting following. Then there are five additional cards dealt in the middle that everyone can use. These are known as community cards. The community cards are dealt in three sets known as the flop, turn, and river with a round of betting after each set is dealt. You use the two cards in your hand along with the cards in the middle to make the best five card poker hand. It is truly a game that takes just minutes to learn, but an entire lifetime to become masterful at.
Seven Card Stud
Texas Holdem is really just a variant of an old poker classic known as seven card stud. In Stud, the goal is to make the best poker hand out of the seven cards that you receive. You start out getting two cards down and one card face up followed by a round of betting. You then get three more cards face up. These are dealt one at a time and a round of betting occurs after each card. The final card is dealt face down and one final round of betting occurs. At this point, the player with the best five card hand wins the pot.
Two common variants of stud are commonly played. Stud 8 or better is a split pot game where a high hand wins half the pot and a qualifying low hand gets the other half. A low hand is five unique cards eight or below. In the case that no low exists, the high hand scoops the entire pot. Razz is the other common variant and is essentially lowball stud. In Razz, the worst hand wins. Aces are always low and a pair of aces is lower than a pair of deuces. Suits are irrelevant, only card rankings matter. A-2-3-4-5 is the best hand.
Omaha
Omaha poker is similar to Texas Holdem, but with two main differences. First, instead of receiving two down cards to start with, you get four cards. The other difference is that you can only use two cards in your hand and three cards from the community board. This is a must. You can only use three cards from the board. This makes the game a little more challenging, but also increased the amount of drawing since more possibilities exist. Betting rounds are the same as Texas Holdem. The most popular form of Omaha is Pot Limit Omaha. In fact, PLO is more popular in Europe than Texas Holdem. A common variant of this game is Omaha 8 or better. The low has the same rules as stud 8 or better. In Omaha Hi-Lo you do not have to use the same two cards to make both hands.
Lowball Draw Poker
Lowball is a five card draw variant where the object is to make the lowest possible hand. Each player receives five cards and then a round of betting occurs. After the betting round, players may exchange cards for new ones. The player with the lowest hand then wins the pot. A common form of this game is triple draw lowball. In triple draw, there are three drawing rounds. Also, many lowball games are played 2-7 lowball style. In 2-7 lowball, straights and flushes count against you and aces are high. As a result, the best hand is 2-3-4-5-7.
Badugi
Badugi is a triple draw lowball game consisting of four cards but with a twist. The main object of the game is to get what is known as a badugi hand. A badugi hand is a hand that has one card of each suit. If multiple players have a badugi hand, then the player with the lower badugi wins the hand. Aces are always low so A-2-3-4 is the best hand. In the case that nobody has a badugi hand, the player with the best three card hand wins the pot.
The above games are the most common poker games types that you will see in live casinos and in online poker rooms. Texas Holdem is not poker, but rather a poker variant. The games above are just the most common and most popular. There are many more games out there, but you can research those at your leisure.
