Poker Game Selections

Home poker games normally have more game options than card clubs or casinos. The type of games is limited only by the imagination of the players. The following is the details of the most familiar home poker games.

Seven Card Stud was the most popular poker variation in home games across the United States, and in poker rooms in the eastern part of the country. Seven card stud is also played in western American casinos, but Texas hold 'em is far more popular there. Two to eight players can play. SevenCard can be played highly or high-low. Two down cards and one up card is first dealt to each player. Four more cards are dealt, three up, and the last one down, with betting intervals following each card. From the seven cards played, the best five cards win.
Texas Hold'em is the most popular poker game in the casinos and poker rooms across North America and Europe. A full Texas Hold'em table typically has nine or ten players; any less and the game may be referred to as short handed. To determine who begins the game a single card is dealt to each player; high card will be the first dealer. A white plastic chip referred to as the button, which is also what the dealer position is called, sometimes referred to as being on the button indicates the dealer position. After each round of play, sometimes called a hand, the dealer button rotates to the left, making sure that everyone gets to play in this and all other positions.

Omaha High is a community card poker game, which began showing in Poker Room in the early 1980's. In Omaha High, each player gets four cards face down, and then a bet occurs. Then three cards are dealt face up all at once on the board as common cards, with a betting round. Then a fourth common card is dealt face up with a bet, with a betting round, and a fifth common card is dealt face up with a common card and with a betting round. A player must use two (and only two cards) from his hand, together with three of the common cards. Hands in Omaha tend to be higher than those in Seven Stud or Hold'em because of the greater number of cards dealt out and the greater number of possibilities. The variations of Omaha High are defined by their betting limits: Limit Omaha High (there is a specified betting limit in each game and on each round of betting), Pot Limit Omaha High (a player can bet what is in the pot), No Limit Omaha High(a player can bet all of their chips at any time)

Omaha High-Low, hr-Better (Omaha/8) is commonly found in larger brick and Poker Rooms as well as at all the major online Poker Rooms. There is another variant played for high hand only and, while the mechanics are the same, the game plays much differently. Omaha High-Low is played in the same way as Omaha (four cards in your hand, five common cards ultimately on the board), but there is a high hand and a low hand that splits the pot. A qualifying hand of 8 or better is needed for a hand to be in contention to win half of the pot.