Types of Poker – Ultimate Guide to Poker Variations

Poker is one of the most popular games to play at online casinos as well as land-based casinos. One of the reasons that poker is a favorite among casino players is the fact that there are so many different types of poker to play. The poker variations can be combined to form many more variants of the game.

In this guide we reveal all the different types of poker and all you need to know about each variant. Learn how to play the different variations, strategies to help you along the way and much more.

1. Texas Hold’Em
2. Omaha High
3. Omaha Hi/Lo
4. Seven Card Stud
5. Razz
6. Five Card Draw
7. Deuce to Seven Triple Draw
8. Badugi

How Many Types of Poker Are There?

As mentioned above there are three main variations of poker. Each game of poker you play will be classified under one of the following categories – Stud Poker, Draw Poker and Community Card Poker. Below we will be looking at each of these categories individually.

Draw Poker

Draw poker is a variation of the game where players are dealt a full hand before the starting round. These cards will be hidden from the opponents and players are able to try and improve their hands by replacing a certain number of cards and ‘draw’ new cards. Popular draw poker variants include Five Card Draw, Seven Card Draw and Badugi.

Stud Poker

With the Stud Poker variation, players will be dealt a combination of cards, some face up and some face down. This way opponents have a clue as to what type of hand you may have. These games are also non positional, meaning that the player that places the first bet on each round will change. Seven Card Stud, Caribbean Stud and Razz are a few popular examples of this poker variation.

Community Card Poker

This variation of poker uses community cards also known as shared cards. These cards are used to improve a hand that is hidden from other players. The dealer provides the shared cards and are dealt in the middle of the table. Popular versions of this poker variant are Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

Other Types of Poker

In most games of poker, the player with the highest hand wins. There are however, exceptions to this. Two variations of poker that do not involve the highest hand winning are called Lowball Poker and High-Low Split. Let’s have a look at each of these.

Lowball

In these games, it is not the highest hand, but the lowest hand that wins. There are specific rules as to whether straights and flushes count and whether an Ace is a high or low ranked card. Razz and Deuce to Seven Triple Draw are examples of this type of poker.

High-Low Split

These are generally some of the more complicated and advanced poker variants that we wouldn’t recommend to beginners to start off with. In these games, the pot will be divided equally between the player with the highest hand and the player with the lowest hand. In some cases it is possible for the player to have the highest and the lowest hand. A popular example of this poker variation is Omaha Hi-Lo.

Mixed poker games as the name implies basically combines a number of poker variants into one game. These games can be a lot of fun, but very confusing at the same time. Players will play one hand (or many) of a certain variant and then play a number of hands of another variant. These games involve a great deal of concentration when being played. Popular variations of mixed games include:

• H.O.R.S.E
• H.O.S.E
• Hold’em Mixed

1. Texas Hold’Em

Texas Hold’em is definitely one of the most popular poker games played. It is quite easy to learn and get the hang of, so if you are a beginner and just starting out, Texas Hold’em is a great place to start. The object to the game of Texas Hold’Em is to have or convince your opponents that you have the best 5 card poker hand. You as a player will be given 2 hidden cards and then there will be 5 cards in the middle of the table which are community cards.

There are four betting rounds in Texas Hold’em, these are the pre-flop, the flop, the turn and the river. During each of these rounds you will have a chance to bet or to fold. The pre-flop is once you are dealt your 2 cards, before any community cards have been dealt. You will be able to place your first bet based on the 2 cards that you have. The flop refers to the first three community cards, the dealer places the first 3 community cards face up in the middle of the table. You will now be able to bet or fold once again. The turn is the fourth card that gets added to the community cards, it will be dealt face up, once again bet or fold. Lastly the dealer will deal the river, this is the fifth and final community card. You can increase your bets once again.

After the river betting round has taken place, all remaining players will reveal their cards. The player with the highest 5-card hand will win. This is just a simple explanation of the Texas Hold’em poker variant, read up on our Texas Hold’em guides to help you learn all you want to know.

2. Omaha High

Omaha is also a popular community card poker variation. There is one way to tell the difference between Omaha and Texas Hold’em and that is in Omaha you get dealt four cards instead of two. You will use two of the cards to make up your poker hand. This rule makes the hand you think you will play pre-flop almost certainly change during the flop, turn and river. The strategies you use and decisions you need to make will also be affected. Read up on the Omaha poker guide to help you.

3. Omaha Hi/Lo

Omaha Hi/Lo is a much more complicated version of Omaha poker. Players need to form two separate hands with their whole cards and the community cards- a high hand and a low hand. This is a split pot game, where the pot will get split between the highest hand and lowest hand. To win the whole pot, you need to be the player that has the highest as well as the lowest hand.

4. Seven Card Stud

This is the first stud poker variant we will discuss. In this type of poker game, players will start with 7 cards – hence where the name comes from. It is played with a standard 52 deck of cards, so only a maximum of 8 players can play at a time. The game will start with each player putting in an ante bet. The dealer will then give each player two cards face down and one card face up. The player with the lowest face up card will then play the bring-in bet. In this type of poker, Aces are high, so the lowest card is a 2. The bring-in bet is the start of the first betting round. Players will now be able to bet or fold. The dealer will then deal another face up card to all players. The player with the strongest hand will be the first to bet in each round, therefore the first player to bet will change from one round to the next. The same pattern will continue for the fifth and sixth cards to be dealt. Lastly, the seventh card will be dealt face down. You will now have 3 cards face down and 4 cards face up and you will need to make the best 5 card hand from those 7 cards. There are no community cards.

5. Razz

Razz follows a very similar structure to 7 card stud poker. Players will place an ante bet and then receive 2 cards face down and 1 card face up. The betting rounds and deals will follow the same pattern as 7 card stud. There is one main difference between these two variations and that is that Raxx is a lowball game, meaning that the player with the lowest hand wins. Therefore, opposite to 7 card stud, the player with the highest card will place the bring-in bet. Aces are low in Razz and the highest possible card is the King of Spades. The player with the lowest hand will be the first to bet in each round. The lowest hand is the strongest hand.

Your strategy will need to be adjusted when playing Razz as your focus will be on low hands. Razz is also not typically played on its own and generally makes up the ‘R’ in mixed poker games such as H.O.R.S.E.

6. Five Card Draw

5 card draw poker is the most popular variant of draw poker. This variation is played a lot at home and online but you do not find it very often at land-based casinos. This variation of poker is very straightforward, so also great for beginners to learn to play. The games need to be limited to a maximum of 6 players so that there are enough cards for players to draw. Some 5 card draw games require ante bets and other versions require small blind or big blind structures. After the ant bet or blinds have been placed, each player will be dealt 5 cards. Players will place their first round of bets based on the 5 cards in their hands.

Before the next round of betting starts, players will have the opportunity to discard some of the cards in their hands and exchange them for new cards, ‘draw cards’. You can keep or trade as many of the cards as you want, up to 5. After all players have had an opportunity to draw, the final betting round will take place. The player with the highest 5 card hand wins.

7. Deuce to Seven Triple Draw

This is another type of poker where the goal is to have the lowest hand. Deuce to Seven Triple Draw is usually a pretty crazy game that’s filled with a lot of action, but it’s relatively easy to learn and there isn’t a huge amount of poker strategies involved. This is a game that can provide a fun change of pace to try something different.

8. Badugi

Badugi is not as popular as the other variants we have mentioned, but it does seem to be gaining popularity. This is a rather unusual type of poker game with one main aspect sticking out is that players will have 4 cards in their hands as opposed to the usual 5 cards. Badugi is also a lowball poker game, meaning the lowest hand wins. To get a Badugi you will need 4 cards with different values and different suits. The best hand in Badugi will be Ace, 2, 3, 4 all of different suits.

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