HORSE Poker Game
HORSE poker is an interesting variation because it actually includes several different poker games. That’s right, if you’re playing HORSE poker you’re actually playing five different poker games and switching every round.
That means every time the button goes around the table, the game switches up. This can be a little intimidating at first, but once you realize very few people are experts at all the games, you can relax and focus on the fundamentals. That alone will put you ahead of lots of HORSE poker players out there. HORSE poker is also typically played as a limit game. While you might find some pot-limit or other variations out there, casinos or sites usually offer limited HORSE games.
First, let’s break down the five different games played in HORSE poker. Always remember, the games are played in this order. There are other mixed game variants like 8-game, 10-game or dealers choice poker that have different orders, but HORSE poker always follows the following pattern:
H: Hold’em
Every first hand of HORSE poker is a Hold’em hand. Texas Hold’em is by far the most popular poker format out there. It’s the format used in the World Series of Poker Main Event and if you’re at a home game with friends, it’s probably what’s being played there too.
In Hold’em every player gets two facedown cards called hole cards and then there are five cards on the board called community cards. Players then try to make the best five-card poker hand possible. Players can use both, one or none of their hole cards in making their hand.
There are four different betting turns during Hold’em. Preflop betting occurs after each player receives their hole cards, resulting in a round of betting. Then three community cards called the flop come out and there’s a round of post-flop betting.
After that, there’s one more community card called “the turn” and a third round of betting. Afterward, players proceed to “the river” for a final round of betting. If a final bet is called, players reveal their hands to determine the winner.
Since HORSE is usually a limit game, both preflop and postflop bets are based on the small bet while the turn and river use big bet increments. Action is usually capped at four bets, comprising a bet, raise, re-raise, and a final cap.
Check out our complete Texas Hold’em guide if you want more details on how to play Texas Hold’em.
O: Omaha Hi/Lo
The second round brings twice as many hole cards and split pot action. Omaha Hi/Lo is similar to Hold’em in that players get community cards and a five card board. They then try to make the best five card hand using a combination of the two.
There are a few major differences between Omaha and Hold’em though. The first is that players get four hole cards instead of two. This doesn’t just mean double the cards, it means a sextupling of action. That’s right, there are six different two-card combinations you can use with your four hole cards. This brings another key difference between Omaha and Hold’em. While you can both, one or none of your hole cards in Hold’em, you must use exactly two hole cards and three community cards in Omaha.
Not three hole cards and two community cards. Four spades on the board and one in your hand doesn’t mean a flush in Omaha either. This is a key difference that often traps up players transitioning from Hold’em.
Another difference specific to this format is that Omaha Hi/Lo is a split pot game. That means half the pot goes to the high hand and the other half goes to the low hand. One caveat here is that there has to be a qualifying low hand. To qualify there have to be five cards lower than 8. Straights and flushes don’t count against a low hand, so the best is A-2-3-4-5.
There’s a chance there’s no qualifying low hand and in that case the full pot goes to the high hand. Regardless, it’s always advisable to aim for both pots, referred to as “scooping” the pot. For more details on how to play Omaha Hi/Lo, head on over to our Omaha Hi/Lo guide.
R: Razz
Razz is probably the smoothest sounding poker variant out there. Not only does it rhyme with jazz, it has a history that also dates back to the early 20th century. The goal of the game is to get low. That’s right, there’s no high hand here. Your high full houses, trips and pairs have no place here. What you’re really looking for is A-2-3-4-5, which is the nuts in Razz.
Razz is a seven-card stud game. Each player receives three cards initially, one of which is face up.The player with the highest ranking card then posts the bring-in, and action goes clockwise from that player. After a round of betting, players get one card and bet again. This process repeats itself until players have a total of seven cards. This includes the two initial face down cards, four faceup cards and one final card that’s dealt facedown.
The rounds in Razz are called streets and you start on third street with three cards. You bet every street until you get to the final round, which is called the “river”. If action is called on the river, then players show down their hands. Since this isn’t a split pot game, low hands don’t have to qualify. That means that a pair of 2s could be the lowest hand and take down the pot.
S: Seven Card Stud
Seven Card Stud is like the opposite of Razz. The amount of cards and betting structure are the same, but the hand rankings are the complete opposite. That’s right, your full houses and sets are good again. Seven Card Stud uses the standard poker hand ranking system with a high card at the lowest and a royal flush at the very top.
Just like Razz, Seven Card Stud consists of five different betting streets. Unlike Razz, the high card doesn’t kick things off in Seven Card Stud. In this game it’s the low card that posts the bring-in and the action goes clockwise.
Then, just like in Razz, there’s a round of betting after every card. If there’s a pair showing on fourth street, then that player can up the bet to a big bet, if not, the big bets don’t come into play until fifth street. From fourth street on, the player with the highest showing hand starts the action.
When action reaches the river, there’s one last round of bets and then a showdown. If you want a bigger breakdown of the game, head on over to our Seven Card Stud guide.
E: Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better
This is the final game in HORSE poker and it’s a blend of Razz and Seven Card Stud. Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better is a split pot game (like Omaha Hi/Lo) but played in Seven Card Stud fashion.
That means that players get three cards dealt at the start of each hand with one card face up. But since it’s a split pot game, who posts the bring in? The lowest card. That’s because this game also requires a qualifying low hand. If you remember from the “O” part of HORSE poker, a hand has to be 8 or lower to qualify for the low pot. If there aren’t any hands that qualify, then the pot only goes to the high hand.
Again, action proceeds clockwise from the bring-in, and players receive another card after that betting round concludes. After that, there’s another round of betting followed by another card. Just like in the previous two games, this pattern repeats itself until players have seven cards.
HORSE Poker Rules
HORSE poker is pretty unique in that it’s actually five different games in one. This makes it seem like there are a ton of rules and there are. But if you master the basics of each game, then you’re pretty much set.
The only HORSE poker specific rules are the order that the games are played, the betting limit, and the number of hands in each game. As we mentioned before, the order is always Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better.
You’ll also mostly find HORSE poker as a limit game. That means that there are established betting limits that dictate the blinds, the bring, the ante and how much you can bet each street. For example, if you’re playing a $2/$4 limit game, the big blind for Hold’em and Omaha will be $2 while the small blind will be $1. Betting preflop and postflop will be in increments of the small bet while the turn and river will be in increments of the big bet.
When it comes to the board games like stud, the bring-in depends on what casino or what room you use to play poker games online. The bring-in will always be smaller than the small bet though. The antes are also much smaller than the small bet. Betting is dictated by the small bet the first two streets (unless a player is showing a pair in Seven Card Stud or Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better) and then bets take big bet sizing in the following streets.
The amount of hands for each game depends on table size. Each game lasts one orbit, which is when the button makes one trip around the table. This is fairly easy to keep track of in Hold’em and Omaha since the button moves to the left after every hand, but it can get tricky in board games since there’s no sequential order. In these cases it’s necessary to keep track of how many hands have passed until it’s time for the next round.
HORSE Poker Hand Rankings
The best HORSE poker starting hands is going to depend on which game you’re playing. For Hold’em, pocket aces are king and pocket kings are second best. Any big pocket pair is extremely strong and suited connectors like AK and AQ suited are next.
In Omaha Hi/Lo you want to get hands that can scoop the entire pot. That means that AAKK isn’t the strongest, but AA23 double suited is because not only does it give you great chances of hitting flushes, straights, trips and a full house, it gives you multiple ways to make a wheel (A-2-3-4-5) which is the best hand in Omaha.
When it comes to Razz, you always want to get as low as possible. Again, the wheel is the nuts in Razz so you’re hoping for a dealt A23, but anything that gets close to that is a strong hand. In Seven Card Stud the best you can hope for is rolled up trips. This is followed by strong pocket pairs, three flush cards or straight cards. In Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better you want a scooping hand again so hands like AA2 are strong as are three to a wheel.
HORSE Poker Strategy
The most important thing about HORSE poker is awareness. Since there are so many games with so many different rules it’s very easy to get lost. It might sound very basic, but many players have forgotten what game is being played and make silly mistakes because of it. While it’s quite obvious when you switch from Hold’em to Omaha or Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better, there are three identical looking board games played in a row. If you’re not paying attention, you can easily start playing a Seven Card Stud hand while the game is still Razz.
The awareness extends far beyond that though. One of the key things in board games is to be aware of not just your cards and board, but everyone else’s. Let’s say you’re drawing to a low hand in Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better and need a 4. If you look around and see three 4s on the board, you know there’s only one out left for you in the deck. In these games you always want to be counting how many outs you have to the hand you want to make. If you’re looking to score a heart flush, count all the hearts. If you’re looking for a straight, look to see how many straight cards you have left. This is one of the most fundamental skill any stud player should have and should always be aware of.
The other thing players should be aware of is how their opponents play. Each player has a game (or two) that they’re weakest at. Watch your opponents play, even if you’re not in the hand, to see how they play. Observe where they seem most uncomfortable or make the most mistakes and exploit their weaknesses whenever you get a chance.
FAQs
Yes, there’s tons of HORSE poker at the World Series of Poker. In fact, there were four HORSE poker tournaments during the 2021 World Series of Poker including a $10,000 HORSE poker championship. HORSE and mixed games are actually a symbol of poker prowess and the $50,000 Poker Players Championship used to be played in a HORSE poker format until 2010 when it switched to an 8-game format. In 2021 they added yet another game to make it a 9 game mix.
There’s no definitive answer, but there are a lot of contenders. For years lots of players considered Chip Reese to be the ultimate HORSE poker player. That’s why after his death in 2007, the WSOP Poker Players Championship trophy was renamed the Chip Reese memorial trophy.
Since then, a lot of formidable mixed game players have taken down the title including Scotty Nguyen, John Hennigan and Mike Gorodinsky. But Brian Rast has taken the trophy twice and Michael Mizrachi has taken the trophy an astounding 3 times since 2007.
There’s no shortage of places to learn about HORSE poker. You can learn a little bit more about each game individually by reading our poker guides and there are also tons of HORSE poker specific articles and forums you can learn more strategy from. If you like posting your hands and having other players comment on them, then TwoPlusTwo is a great forum for that. If you like books, then Ken Lo’s “A Poker Player’s Guide to MIXED GAMES: Core Strategies for HORSE, Eight-Game, Ten-Game and Twelve-Game Mixes” is widely considered to be a great starting point. If you can afford, there are several coaching sites that offer videos and group lessons or one-on-one coaching to help you improve your game as well.
Luckily we have you covered there. Our team of online poker loving reviewers have dived deep into the best online poker sites out there and penned comprehensive reviews of each one. So if you’re looking for a place to start playing online, head on over to our reviews page and start looking for the site that’s right for you.
