Poker Game Variations:

People play poker games other than Texas holdem, believe it or not. The purpose of this page is to list and describe different poker games, including poker variants and poker variations that might only be seen in your local home poker games.

Texas Holdem Poker Games:

Texas hold'em poker is the most popular poker game played in the USA , probably at least partially because of the popularity of the World Series of Poker. ( Texas holdem is also popular in other countries too.) Texas holdem is a community card game, where the players share a certain number of cards on the "board", which they combine with the cards in their hand (their "hole cards") in order to form the best poker hand.

Each player in Texas holdem gets 2 hole cards on the deal, then there is a round of betting. Then 3 more cards get dealt on the board. These are called the flop, and a round of betting follows the flop. A 4th card is dealt, called the turn, which is followed by another round of betting. The 5th and final card is called the river, and it's followed by a final round of betting. Texas holdem players can use any combination of the 2 cards in their hand and any 3 cards on the board to comprise their final hand. Texas holdem poker is played in the following betting formats: Limit - Pot limit - No limit, Texas holdem, is always played high only.

Pineapple and Crazy Pineapple Poker Games:

Pineapple poker is a variant of Texas holdem, but the players are dealt 3 hole cards instead of 2.  1 of those 3 hole cards must be discarded. In "Crazy" Pineapple holdem, this card is discarded after the flop, and in regular Pineapple holdem, the card is discarded preflop.

Omaha Poker Games:

This website is called Poker Tomorrow, and Omaha has been called the poker game of the future, so it's a real treat to get to write about Omaha poker here. Like Texas holdem, Omaha poker is a community card game. The board is deal in the same way as in Texas holdem (a 3 card flop, a turn card, and a river card), but each player has 4 hole cards instead of just 2. At least as significant as the number of hole cards dealt is the rule in Omaha for how to comprise your hand. An Omaha poker hand consists of exactly 2 cards from your hand and exactly 3 cards from the board. In Texas holdem a player can use 0, 1, or 2 cards from his hole cards, and 5, 4, or 3 cards from the board. This difference in gameplay confuses many new Omaha players. Omaha is also played in limit, pot limit, and no limit formats, although no limit is a little less common than limit and pot limit. Omaha is often played high-low, which means that the lowest hand splits the pot with the highest hand. When played high low, Omaha poker is called Omaha high low, Omaha hilo , Omaha hi lo, Omaha 8, or Omaha 8 or better.

Stud Poker Games:

Stud poker is not a community card game like Omaha or Texas holdem. Each player makes up his hand from the cards he's dealt. Unlike Texas holdem and Omaha poker, stud poker has many distinct variations. It's usually played as 7 card stud or 5 card stud, and it can be played high only, high low, or low only. Stud poker is mostly played in home games (often with lots of variant rules), although some versions of stud poker are still played in casino cardrooms. Stud poker is not a popular variant in casinos in the USA though. Stud poker is most often played high low. In that case it's called Stud 8, Stud 8 or better, Stud High Low or Hi Lo, or just 8 or better.

Razz Poker Games:

When stud poker is played lowball (where the players compete for the worst ranked hand), it's called "Razz".

Draw Poker Games:

This is the classic poker game most people learn as children in the USA . Draw poker is almost never played in casinos anymore, but it's played often at kitchen tables across the world. Usually someone needs to have at least a pair of jacks or better to open. Most video poker games are solitaire versions of draw poker. (In draw poker, a player gets to discard cards from her hand and replace them with cards from the deck.)

Lowball Poker Games:

Draw poker is sometimes played as "lowball", which is a game where the players are competing to get the worst possible poker hand. In lowball, straights and flushes don't count. Lowball has variations too, like Deuce to Seven, where aces are considered high cards, and flushes and straights do count against you. (So 75432 is the best hand, hence the name Deuce to Seven.) Another variation is triple draw, which has 3 drawing rounds instead of just one.

Mixed Poker Games:

Some tables and tournaments are played in a mixed game format, the most common of which is H.O.R.S.E. These mixed games are described in an acronym. H.O.R.S.E. stands for holdem, omaha , razz, and eight or better. In these kinds of games, the game that is being dealt rotates as the players play. Mixed games like this are normally played at higher limits.