Exploring the different variants of poker: from Texas Hold’em to Omaha

When playing online games, there are so many different versions of each game to choose from. As a lot of games are quite simple in nature, there’s always a new version popping up to give us a bit of variety when we’re playing.

Poker, however, is more complex card game and participants can choose one of many variations whether they play poker online or face-to-face. A good understanding of rules will help to play successfully once the game is picked.  

Thankfully, we’ll be taking you through a few common poker games rules so you know all about how to play.

Different types of poker game

• Texas Hold’em

Let’s start out with Texas Hold’em. This is the most popular form of poker that people play and it’s the one that you’ll find in almost every online and land based casino. 

It’s pretty simple to play. To get started, every player at the table is given two cards. These are known as ‘hole cards’ that only they can see. You can start to look at your cards and work out whether they think the hand they’ll have is more likely to be worth betting or folding on. This has to be worked out quickly as the game is typically played at a pace. 

Next, the dealer will deal out three more cards and put them face-up on the table. These cards are called the ‘flop’. Every player who chose not to fold in the previous round can now decide whether to check, bet, raise or fold. It’s best not to fold in this round unless you have a really terrible hand as you can try and bluff your way through.

Once everyone is settled with the betting, the dealer can then draw yet another card and put it on the table face down. This particular card is called the ‘turn’. Anyone who didn’t want to fold in the last round can now decide again whether to bet, raise or fold.

And finally, the dealer will then draw another card and place it face up on the table once more. This card is called the ‘river’. The players left in the game can then decide whether to bet, raise or fold for a final time. If there are two or more players betting the same amount, then everyone can reveal all their cards and the best hand will win the whole pot of money. 

It’s a lot simpler in terms of rules than you might anticipate. However, there are a few things in the middle that can complicate things such as bluffing or people not folding until the very end. If everyone is still in the game, the showdown of cards can end up being quite intense and dramatic!

• Omaha

There are a couple of slight differences when you’re playing Omaha poker versus Texas Hold’em. One of these is the number of hole cards that are given out to each player before the flop comes through. When you play Texas Hold’em, every player is dealt two cards. However, the difference in Omaha poker is that each player is dealt four hole cards. The main difference doing it this way is that making bigger hands when playing Omaha is a lot easier. That is why one of the main strategies in Omaha is to stay calm and practice patience as not all four cards are good to play. 

Another difference between these games is the number of cards you can use from the hole cards. You have to use two of the hole cards out of the four you’re dealt whereas in Hold’em, you can choose how many you’d like to use in your hand.  

• Seven Card Stud

Another popular variation of poker is called seven card stud. In this version of the game, two cards are given out to each player face down, along with one card that is dealt face up. 

After this, three more cards are given out by the dealer facing up with betting taking place in between. A final card is dealt face down followed by one more round of bets. As always, the person with the best hand is the winner.

Seven card stud is also has a different number of betting rounds – there are five rounds rather than the typical four. This alongside some other factors usually mean that the size of the stud pot is bigger by the final round of betting. That means that if you’re in the game to win big, then seven card stud might be the better game for you.

Of course, this doesn’t guarantee a win for you. But if you’re looking for the biggest jackpot to walk away with then this is your best bet. 

Now you know all about the different variants of poker, the only thing left to do is try them all out for yourself. Once you’ve played a game or two of each, you’re bound to find out which one is your favourite.