Depending on where you learned to play poker, you might think that poker is just Texas Holdem, or even Five Card Draw. In reality, there are many different types of poker games that are played by people all over the world. Some are simple, while others take a bit more concentration. Here are a few common poker game types.
Draw Based Games
In types of poker games that are draw based, at some point during the game, a player may get rid of part of their hand and receive new cards. The most common form of draw poker game is Five Card Draw. Players get five cards and after a betting round may discard part, or in some cases all of their hand.
Other forms of draw games include Triple Draw and Single Draw lowball. In these games, the object is to make the worst possible hand. In triple draw, you have three rounds where players can get new cards. In single draw, players may exchange cards once.
Draw based games can tend to be gambling games, especially those that require multiple draws. The above games are just the common types. Most of the variations of the above draw games are seen in home games that tend to be more for fun and less serious.
Flop Based Games
Flop based games are among the most popular types of poker games you will run across. This is where you will find Texas Holdem and Pot-Limit Omaha. In flop games, players receive cards and have a round of betting. Afterwards, there are three more rounds with a set of community cards that players may play off of. These are the flop, turn, and river. The community cards give players five additional cards with which they can use to make their hands depending on the rules.
A less common but still popular flop based game is Pineapple. In pineapple, players get three cards before the flop is dealt. They then discard one of their cards before the flop is dealt and the hand is then played like Holdem. In Crazy Pineapple, players do not discard until after the flop. Crazy Pineapple players will see many more flops than your typical Holdem player.
Stud Based Games
Until the poker boom in 2004, Seven Card Stud was one of the most popular forms of poker in the world. It is still very popular, but it is harder to find a good stud game live in many casinos. The main component of Stud based games is that each player has their own hand and they get their cards one at a time.
Each player starts with 2 cards down and 1 card up before the first betting round. Then they will receive three more upcards before getting a final card face down. There are betting rounds after each card is dealt to a player. Once the final card is dealt and the last round of betting is completed, the player must make their best five card hand based on the cards dealt to them. No switching is allowed and there are no community cards to assist.
While Seven Card Stud is the most common form of the game nowadays, Five Card Stud used to be the most popular stud variant. It can be played in three ways. You can have one card down and four up. The next way to play is 1 down, three up, and 1 down. The final way is the way you see it played some from the old west, with five cards dealt face down. The last version you seldom see anymore. In fact, you seldom see Five Card Stud outside of many home games.
Variants of Seven Card Stud include Razz and Stud Hi-Lo. Razz is a lowball stud game where the lowest hand win. Aces are always low and a pair of aces if lower than a pair of deuces. Stud Hi-Lo is a split pot game where a player gets half the pot for a high hand, and another gets one for a qualifying low hand. In the most common variant, Stud 8 or Better, the low hand must be five unique cards eight or lower. In straight Stud Hi-Lo, there is always a low because the low is played via Razz rules. Straight Stud Hi-Lo is seldom played anymore.
While it seems that I went over a lot of different types of poker games, in reality, I mainly went over the ones that are the most popular. There are many other poker games out there that are played in home games across the country. The main reason I did not mention many of them is that many are luck intensive and usually not a good way to make a lot of money. Of course, if all you care about is having fun, then you may be interested in games such as “Follow the Queen”, “Indian Cross Poker”, “Pass the Trash”, and others. If nothing else, you should now have a good grasp on the fact that poker is not just Holdem or Draw, but is indeed a world of possibilities.
