Different Poker Games
3 min read
Switch up your game with different poker games – they are fun to play and provide an opportunity for variety! Some require more strategy than others, while all provide welcome relief and provide something new.
Similar to Hold-em, players receive four hole cards and five community cards for this variant; however, bluffing is less often encountered.
Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold-em is one of the world’s most beloved poker games. Featured both as Limit and No-Limit variants, Texas Hold-em can be found in most major tournaments (such as WSOP Main Event ). Texas Hold-em players compete to accumulate an amount of chips contributed by other players into a pot, using two hole cards plus five community cards to form hands that form winning hands.
Before betting begins, each player receives two face down cards called their “Hole or Pocket Cards.” Three community cards – known as the Flop – are then distributed, enabling players to combine these with their hole cards to form a poker hand and construct four betting rounds within each Texas Hold’em hand.
Five Card Draw
Five Card Draw is one of the easiest forms of poker and an ideal way to learn, as players have limited information regarding opponents’ holdings and can practice bluffing without facing too much resistance.
Players pay an ante before receiving cards and then begin betting in fixed increments; betting structures vary, with no limit and pot limit being the most prevalent options. Once betting has concluded, players reveal their hand and reveal whether it was high or low to claim the pot. Five Card Draw Hi-Lo adds another strategic twist; players compete to create both high and low hands at once; the one who manages the best low hand wins half of it!
Badugi
Badugi is a draw game similar to 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, yet with its own distinct method for determining winning hands. Players start out with four cards and may discard any that don’t help create their desired hand. After shuffling the deck and paying an ante fee for playing each hand, betting takes place starting with the player closest to the dealer on his or her left taking turns first before passing onto other players on your right.
Once antes are set, the dealer burns a card to signal that a new round of betting and drawing has begun. Each player may then discard or draw cards to their hand; four-card hands dominate all other three-card and two-card hands in Badugi; in cases of equal numbers of cards, those with lowest card win.
Stud
Stud is an ancient form of poker dating back to the American Civil War. Before Texas Hold’em came along, this form was the dominant form, and continues to find favor both at home and in casinos alike.
Before receiving their cards, each player places an ante and then bets according to the rank or quality of their hand or cards. The person holding the lowest card pays a “bring-in bet” to initiate action; all remaining players then act in turn.
The goal of Five Card Stud Poker is to form a five-card poker hand which ranks higher than all the other players’ hands. Following similar rules as high poker games such as Hold’em and Omaha, this game can typically be found playing under fixed limit formats, although pot limit and no-limit formats may also be utilized.
Mixed
Mixed games have become an increasingly popular option on both online poker sites and physical cardrooms, giving players an opportunity to discover more variants of poker while broadening their skill set. Before engaging in such a game, however, it’s vital that one understands its rules and strategies for winning.
Most mixed games involve rotating between different forms of poker variants, with the dealer switching up each time around the table. Popular mixed games include HEROS Poker and HA Poker.
Upswing Poker Lab’s mixed games course is an invaluable way to develop strategy in these games, such as lowball variants such as 2-7 Triple Draw and Badugi. Perfect for intermediate as well as advanced players alike!
