Different Types of Online Poker

There are a great many online poker games for players to choose from. It is always a good idea to learn the rules and practice one type of poker in order to perfect your strategy for that particular game. This will help you to be more successful during play.

Texas Hold'em Poker

Texas hold'em poker is the most popular form of online poker. The majority of player traffic can be found at the Texas hold'em tables and the majority of online poker tournaments through online poker rooms are played in Texas hold'em poker.

Texas hold'em is played with five exposed community cards and two hidden hole cards. There are three betting structures in Texas hold'em and they include fixed limit, pot limit and no limit. The rules for betting in each case vary so you need to be clear on the rules when you choose a type of hold'em game.

• No Limit Hold'em – There are no betting limits placed on the game.
• Pot Limit Hold'em – The bets are limited by the size of the pot at the time that the bet is placed.
• Fixed Limit Hold'em – There are fixed minimum and maximum betting limits and players have to bet within these limits.

Omaha Poker

Omaha poker is a variation of the game that is growing in popularity. Almost all online poker rooms offer Omaha games and it is not too difficult to find Omaha tournaments either. The rules of Omaha poker are similar to Texas hold'em except that players are dealt four hole cards although you can only use two of them to make up your final hand. There are also three community cards and players must use the three community cards plus two of their hole cards to make up their final hand. There are two variations of Omaha – Omaha hi and Omaha hi-lo.

• Omaha hi – The high hand wins the entire pot in Omaha hi.
• Omaha hi-lo – This variation of the game is also sometimes known as Omaha eights or better. The pot is divided between the high hand and the lowest qualifying hand (five cards under eight with no pair). The highest hand only wins the whole pot if there is no qualifying low hand.

Seven Card Stud Poker

In seven card stud poker, each player is dealt two cards face down and one card face up. After the bring-in bet and a complete betting round, three cards are dealt face up. There is a betting round after each and the final card is then dealt face down. There are no community cards in seven card stud – players must make their final hand of five cards out of the seven cards that are dealt to them. There are two variations of seven card stud – seven card stud hi and seven card stud hi-lo.

• Seven Card Stud Hi – The high hand wins the entire pot.
• Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo – This variation of the game is also known as seven card stud eights or better as the low hand must consist of five cards under eight. The pot is divided between the highest hand and the lowest hand, which is A, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Razz

Razz is similar to seven card stud, except that it is played in reverse. The lowest hand wins the entire pot. The lowest hand is A, 2, 3, 4, 5. Razz is generally played with fixed betting limits.

Five Card Stud

Five card stud is similar to seven card stud, except that each player is dealt one card face down (a hole card) and then one card face up. Betting rounds begin with another face up card dealt after each betting round until four face up cards have been dealt. Four of the five cards are dealt face up, making it fairly impossible to bluff.

Five Card Draw

Each player is dealt five cards that are concealed from the other players. A round of betting takes place. The player then decides which of their cards they wish to hold and which they wish to discard. You can discard up to three cards. The cards that you discarded are then replaced and a final round of betting takes place. This variation is similar to video poker.