Top Types of Poker Games
Explore the vast number of variants found in the world’s most popular card game; poker. Players can experience the thrill of Texas Hold’em, the intricacies of Pot Limit Omaha, and the nostalgia of 7-Card Stud, along with a variety of other popular poker variants.
In this article, we’ll delve into each of the most popular poker variants, giving you a taste of what each game has to offer, and helping you decide which game is right for you. Learn the differences between popular betting formats and discover helpful tips for choosing your favorite variant. Come with us as we journey into the fun and exciting world of online poker variants.
The Most Popular Poker Variations
While there are a large number of poker variants, the majority of the games found at casinos and online poker sites are centred around the most popular versions. To give you an introduction to each of the most popular poker variations, we’ve listed a brief explanation of each game below.
Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold’em is the most popular poker variant in the world thanks to its fast-paced action and easy-to-learn rules. It’s known as the Cadillac of poker, and is the “default” poker game that most people think of when talking about poker; featuring in popular movies such as James Bond and Rounders. It is also the poker variant used for the World Series of Poker Main Event – the most prestigious poker tournament in the world.
The game starts with each player being dealt two cards face-down, and five community cards are dealt face-up in the middle of the table that everyone can use to make the best five-card poker hand. There are a total of four betting rounds, and the game is commonly played with no betting limits, adding even more excitement to the game. For more information on how to play Texas Hold’em, check out our Texas Hold’em online page.
Omaha
Texas Hold’em might be the Cadillac, but Omaha is the souped-up drag-car race going full speed. The game is similar to Texas Hold’em, but in Omaha, you start with four cards rather than two. There are still four betting rounds and five community cards face-up in the middle of the table, but players must use two cards from their hand and three from the board.
The action is wild in Omaha, which is what makes it such a popular game, as it’s much easier to make big hands such as straights and flushes than in Hold’em. Omaha is often played as a pot limit game compared to Texas Hold’em which is predominantly a No Limit game. If you want to learn more about this exciting game, check out our Omaha poker guide.
Omaha Hi-Lo
Omaha Hi-Lo is a similar game to Omaha with one key difference; the pot is split into two equal halves, with one awarded to the player who wins the high hand and one to the player who wins the low hand. The high hand uses the traditional poker hand ranking system, but the low hand is awarded to the player with the five lowest cards.
There are still four rounds of betting and five community cards, and players must still use two cards from their hand and three from the board. However, players can use different cards from their hand for the high and low hand. If you need a little more info on how this works, just check out our Omaha Hi Low guide.
H.O.R.S.E.
H.O.R.S.E is a five-game poker mix that features many of the most popular games. This variant is made up of Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Seven-card stud, and stud Eight or better and is most commonly played with the limit betting format. Each game is played for one round, so when the button has made one full rotation, the game is changed to the next one on the list.
If you’re looking to learn multiple poker games at once, this could be a great option for you. Learn how to play H.O.R.S.E. poker with our expert guide.
7-Card Stud
7-Card Stud is a popular form of the Stud variant of poker. This game plays very differently to Hold’em and Omaha; rather than community cards that everyone can use, each player is given a total of seven cards throughout the hand, and players must make the best five-card poker hand from the seven in front of them. There are also no blinds in Stud; instead, each player antes at the start of the hand, and the player with the lowest up-card must pay the “bring-in.”
Players are dealt two cards face-down and one card face-up to start the hand. After each round of betting, all remaining players are dealt an additional card, until they have seven cards in front of them. The fourth, fifth, and sixth cards are all dealt face up, with the seventh card being dealt face down.
There are plenty of chances to bet, bluff and make incredible plays in this game. If you want to learn more, check out our 7-Card Stud guide now.
5-Card Stud
5-Card Stud is one of the oldest remaining poker games still being played today, having started during the U.S. Civil War. This game follows similar rules to 7-Card Stud, but players only receive five cards instead of seven. Players start with one card face-up and one face-down, and each subsequent card is dealt face-up for a total of one card face-down and one face-up.
While this game isn’t as popular as 7-Card Stud, you can still find plenty of casinos and online poker rooms that offer 5-Card Stud. If you want to learn more, we have a 5-Card Stud guide that offers everything else you need to know about this game.
5 Card Draw
5-Card Draw is an old family-favourite poker game and is often the game that introduces people to the world of poker. In this game, each player is dealt five cards face-down, with no cards being dealt face-up at any point in the hand. Players are able to discard cards they don’t want and draw new ones to try and improve their hand.
The game is commonly played as Single Draw and Triple Draw; Single Draw has one round where players can discard and draw cards and Triple Draw has three rounds where players can discard and draw new cards. It’s a drawing and bluffing game and it’s still one of the best out there. If you’re interested in learning more about 5 Card Draw, read our comprehensive guide.
Mississippi Stud
Mississippi Stud is a casino game similar to Texas Hold’em. Players are given two hole cards and three community cards are flipped over one by one after rounds of betting. The goal is to beat a paysheet that starts with a pair of sixes. The better your hand, the bigger the payout. Check out the full list of payouts and more in our Mississippi Stud poker guide.
3-Card Poker
3-Card Poker is another casino game that’s very easy to understand. In this game, players are given three cards and, the aim is to try and beat the pay table. The better your hand is, the more you can make. There are no opponents or bluffing, just you trying to get the best 3 Card Poker hand you can get. There’s lots of fun to be had and if you want to get started, read our guide to learn more.
Caribbean Stud Poker
Another casino classic; Caribbean Stud Poker actually has you playing directly against the dealer. Players get dealt five card hands and so does the dealer. The dealer flips one of their cards face up while you check out your hand and decide if you want to bet or fold. If you bet, the dealer turns over their cards but they need at least an ace-king to qualify. You can learn about the rest of the rules in our comprehensive Caribbean Stud Poker guide.
Different Betting Formats in Poker
There are three main betting formats in poker games; Limit, Pot-Limit and No-Limit. Let’s take a look at how they affect the game.
Limit
Limit games are the simplest. There’s a big bet and a small bet, those are your only two betting options. The small bet is used in the early betting rounds, and the big bet is used in the later betting rounds. You can only bet or raise that determined amount throughout the game. Raises are typically “capped” in these games, meaning there’s a maximum number you can make per street.
Pot Limit
Pot-limit is the most complicated because you have to keep track of the size of the pot at all times. It’s great if you have a skilled math whiz of a dealer, but can get pretty hectic in a home game where players aren’t keeping track properly. In Pot-Limit games players can bet or raise any amount up to the size of the pot. So, if there’s $50 in the pot, that means the most you can bet is $50.
No Limit
As the name implies, there’s no limit to what you can bet in No-Limit. When action goes to you, you can bet all in and not look back. It definitely leads to a lot more action, as your entire stack is theoretically at risk at every point in the hand. Some players feel more comfortable starting out in Limit games and eventually working their way up to No Limit.
Cash Games vs. Sit & Gos vs. Tournaments
The way the game is structured can be just as important as the game you pick. A real money cash game plays differently from a tournament and both of these games play differently from sit & gos. It’s not just the number of players that makes it different, your whole strategy has to change based on things like increasing blinds, payout structures, and more.
Cash Games
Cash games have fixed blinds with a direct cash value. For example, in a $1/$2 cash game, the small blind is $1 and the big blind is $2. The blinds never go up in a cash game and your chips are equal to cash. That means you can stop at any time and cash out or you can buy in for more if you lose all your chips. Players are free to come and go as they please in cash games; as long as there’s a seat open at the table, you can sit down and start playing.
Tournaments
Tournaments, on the other hand, have scheduled start times, and you must play until you’re knocked out or you win the whole thing. Sometimes it takes all day, and sometimes it can be over in just a few minutes. In a tournament, everyone buys in for the same amount and they all get an equal stack of chips.
Once the tournament begins, the blinds keep rising at set times until there’s only one player left standing. In tournaments, your chips don’t have monetary value. Around 15 percent of the field gets prize money with the biggest spoils to the final table and the champion.
Sit & Gos
Sit & Gos are most similar to tournaments but they have a set number of players and only begin once everyone has registered. There can be single-table Sit & Gos with just nine players or multi-table Sit & Gos with 200 players. These Sit & Gos are similar to tournaments when it comes to buy-ins and chips, but they don’t have a scheduled start time.
Online Poker Games
During the late 90s/early 2000s, online poker exploded in popularity due to the convenience it offered the average player. No longer did players have to trek to their local card room to play, they could enjoy online poker from the comfort of their own home. Sites such as partypoker, Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars, and Paradise Poker led the way, becoming the most popular poker sites during the boom of online poker.
In the early days of online poker, the most popular poker game was Limit Hold’em; it wasn’t until the mid-2000s that everyone started playing No Limit Hold’em. Since then, online poker sites have branched out into a variety of different poker games, giving players easy access to mixed games such as Omaha, Stud, 5-Card Draw, and many more! The best online poker rooms offer a variety of poker variants in both cash game and tournament formats, giving players the option to play their favorite games.
Summary
There are many different variants of poker to choose from; each of them offering something unique that makes them fun to play. While Texas Hold’em and Omaha are the two most popular poker variants, there are plenty of players who enjoy playing alternative poker games, such as 7-Card Stud, 5-Card Draw, and more! If you’re interested in learning more about these games, make sure you check out our dedicated pages.
FAQs
That’s a tough question because there are plenty of great sites out there and they all have their pros and cons. A lot of it comes down to personal preference like sign-up bonuses, banking options, Bitcoin availability and more. Lucky for you our team of experts who have decades of online poker experience have extensively reviewed the best online poker sites out there.
So head on over to our poker reviews page to read about the top sites and find one that works for you.
Everything. There are nearly 100 poker tournaments during the World Series of Poker and thousands of cash games and Sit&Gos that run for almost two months. During that time you can find every single kind of poker game we’ve mentioned and more.
The WSOP Main Event is a No-Limit Texas Hold’em event though. But they $50,000 Poker Players Championship —considered to be the highest badge of honor among top pros— is played in a H.O.R.S.E. format.
Tons of places! Every site we’ve reviewed also has free-to-play or play money tournaments and cash games. This will give you a chance to test out everything you’ve learned in our guides without having to risk any money. Once you feel comfortable, then you can deposit on the same site and start raking in the dough. These sites also offer freeroll tournaments that have real cash prizes, that means you can jumpstart a poker career without every having to deposit.
There are tons of great resources to learn poker these days. A tried and true method are poker books. If you look up poker strategy books there are tons of different ones covering every type of game out there. There are also great free online resources like 2+2 Forums, where several pros go and discuss strategy. Another, more expensive, option are training sites. These sites have videos or personalized coaches that can really help take your game to the next level. For the poker newbie, check out our poker hand rankings page to understand what hands will help you win more.
There’s no good answer there. Ask 100 poker players this question and you’ll probably get 200 different answers. It all comes down to personal preference. Every game has its pros and cons and little quirks that make it unique. It all depends on personal presence and which game suits you the best. So try a few out and see what feels right.
