Poker Games

General Guide to Poker Variations

Currently, the most popular poker variations can be divided into three groups:

♠ Community Card Poker (Poker Games with Collective Cards)

♠ Draw Poker

♠ Stud Poker

The principles of poker remains more or less the same in the different variations, though according to which variant is played, the number of cards each player receives or whether or not the cards are concealed or open, for example, may change.

Community Card Poker Games or Hold’em Poker Games

These variations of poker (among them are such classics like Texas Hold’em and Omaha) distinguish themselves not only in that every player receives their own cards (for example, either two or four so-called “hole cards”), but also that community cards are laid out on the table. With the help of these community cards, every player can then piece together their best possible hand. How many hole cards and how many community cards can or must be used for the final hand is typically predefined.

As previously mentioned, the most popular community card poker games are Texas Hold’em and Omaha. In Texas Hold’em, there are two hole cards and five community cards, whereas in Omaha Hold’em, four hole cards and five community cards are dealt.

Although Texas Hold’em poker is currently the favorite game of many poker players, there are just a few that have really mastered this variation. Among them is without a doubt Phil Hellmuth, an 11 time WSOP bracelet winner, every one of them from a game of Texas Hold’em (limit as well as pot limit and no limit). We at BonusBonusBonus have also put together an exclusive profile of Phil Hellmuth.

Other Community Card Poker Variations are:

♠ Royal Hold‘em

♠ Pineapple/Crazy Pineapple

♠ Manila

♠ Let it Ride

♠ Tic Tac Toe

♠ Courchevel

Draw Poker

Draw poker variations are probably the oldest poker variations there are. The predecessor of the modern poker game that has spread around the world since the time of the Mississippi steamboats and cowboys in the Wild West is Five Card Draw. The principle behind draw poker games is that every player receives a certain number of concealed cards that he or she can entirely or partially exchange at one or more opportunities to improve his or her hand.

In Five Card Draw – for a long time the most common poker variation of all – every player receives five cards, followed by a betting round, the possibility to exchange cards and then another round of betting. In Triple Draw, for example, there are a total of three possibilities to exchange cards. In draw poker variations, the position of the player is especially crucial because if and how many cards they exchange reveals a lot about their hand.

Other Draw Poker Variations are:

♠ Badugi

♠ 2 to 7 Triple Draw

♠ A to 5 Triple Draw

♠ Four-before

♠ Q-Ball

Most of the above-mentioned variations are so-called “lowball” games. This means that the goal of those games is not to win with the conventional “best” hand but rather with the “worst,” or to put it differently, the lowest hand possible. In various lowball (also known as just “low”) variations, there are many special rules such as, for example, the rule that an ace can only be counted as either high or low or whether or not the color of cards is taken into account.

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Stud Poker

Poker variations such as Seven Card Stud and Razz are among the so-called “stud” poker games. Stud poker variations distinguish themselves in that players are dealt concealed as well as open cards and that the position of players can change from round to round.

In the variation which was previously most common, Seven Card Stud, every player receives – as the name implies – seven cards, three of which are concealed and four are open. A round of betting takes place once the first three cards have been dealt. Then three more cards are dealt, followed by a betting round and then the last card, once again followed by a round of betting and subsequently the showdown. The player with the best five card hand wins. The variation Razz is also popular and works practically the same way as Seven Card Stud, only with the difference that in Razz, the “worst” or lowest possible hand is what wins.