If you’ve ever played poker before, chances are you will have played Texas Hold’Em. There are dozens of online poker types and Texas Hold’Em is by far the most common. Not only is it a mainstay of land-based casinos, it’s also played by millions online.
There are even some who try to make a living playing it. Since it’s so popular, it’s easy to forget about all the other types of poker you could be playing instead. Let’s have a look at the different types of poker variants, before looking at some of the less common poker types.
Types of poker variants
Most poker variants fall under one of three categories: draw poker, stud poker and community card poker.
In draw poker games, players are dealt a full hand, with all cards hidden, before the start of the first betting round and aims to perfect their hand by replacing cards.
Stud poker sees players dealt a combination of both face-up and face-down cards in several betting rounds; it’s also possible for the player who bets first to change with each round.
In community card poker, players a dealt an incomplete, hidden hand. This can be combined with shared ‘community cards’ that other players can use.
Some of the other types of poker variants include lowball, where it’s the lowest hand that wins, and high-low split, where the pot is shared between both the player with the highest hand and the player with the lowest hand.
It’s possible for a single player to win the pot if they happen to have both the highest and lowest hand.
Less common poker types
1) Badugi
This draw poker poker variant is also a type of lowball poker and can be played by 2-6 people. Players are dealt four cards, instead of the usual five, and have to make the best low hand possible, with similar ranks and suits counting against them.
A ‘badugi’ is a hand of four cards, all of which are of different rank and suit. If a hand contains more than one card of the same rank or suit, the player must eliminate some cards until they have a valid hand; it’s possible to end up with a hand of just one card.
The best hand you can get in the game is A-2-3-4 with one card of each suit. Players have a total of three rounds of drawing where they may exchange up to four of their cards; betting takes place after each round and the winner is the player with the lowest hand at showdown.
5) Five-O Poker
This poker variant is unlike the others we’ve talked about so far in that you can only play it on Facebook. It’s one of many casino games to have launched on social media.
Even though it’s great to play, it’s still waiting to be discovered by many. It’s a type of heads-up poker, which means it’s played just between two players, with your opponent selected randomly.
What sets it apart from other poker types is that players are given five hands each of one face-up card. After several rounds, players will have five hands of five cards each, with one card in each hand face-down.
The players’ hands are pitted against each other and whoever has three or more stronger hands wins. A Five-O Win is when one player beats the opponent with all five of their hands. Players are given $10k in chips for free and can claim a further 1k every four hours.