Most Popular Variants of Online Poker
Play Poker » Most Popular Variants of Online Poker
Quite a few variants of poker are played online. Each poker variant comes with a different set of rules. The strategies employed to play them are determined by the variant you chose to play. Here is a list of some of the most popular poker games played online:
Texas Hold’em
The standard poker variant, Texas Hold’em, is the most widely played game in the world of online poker. Players compete for chips or money contributed by their fellow opponents to a common pool. It is called the ‘pot’. Players don’t have control over the cards that are dealt to them. They can, however, decide the action that should be taken to play the cards the best way. The moves of opponents are predicted by gamers to win the chips in the pot.
Texas Hold’em consists of a series of hands. At the end of each round, the player with the best hand gets the pot. In case of a tie, the pot is awarded to two players. If all players in the game except one ‘fold’, the pot is awarded to the player who doesn’t fold.
Pai Gow Poker
Started in the US, Pai Gow Poker is another variant of online poker. The game can be played by 6 players, apart from the dealer. The objective of every player is to defeat the dealer and the opponents. Pai Gow Poker is played with a deck of 52 cards and a joker. Seven cards are dealt to each player. Two hands have to be created from the distributed cards – a two card hand and a five card hand. The value of the 5-card hand has to be higher than the 2-card hand.
Five-card Draw
Played with simple rules, Five-card Draw can be easily learnt by players. The player next to the big blind starts the initial betting round. After this, the subsequent betting rounds are started by players to the left of the dealer. Each player is distributed 5 face-down cards. The remaining cards in the deck are picked by players as the game proceeds. ‘Draw’ begins if two or more players remain after the first round. You can select the cards that you want replaced. The discarded cards go into the deck from where 5 cards are dealt to each player again.
Omaha Hold’em
A few aspects of Omaha Hold’em are similar to Texas Hold’em. Each player in the game is dealt four cards. Players can use two of the dealt cards and three from a set of 5 community cards to make a hand. In Omaha 8, each player has to make a high 5-card hand and another low 5-card hand. To make a high hand, 2 hole cards can be used. The same holds good for the low hand. Pot-Limit Omaha is mostly played high. It is a game of drawing. Sometimes Pot Limit Omaha is played with 7 or 9 high qualifier rather than 8-high.
Seven-card Stud
Players in the Seven card stud game have to place an ante. One face up and two face down cards are distributed to each player. Betting continues in the game in a clockwise manner. The player having the face-up card of the lowest value has to place a bet. It is called the ‘bring in’. After this, every player has the option to ‘fold’, ‘raise’ or ‘call’ his cards. The second round of betting is started by the player having cards of the highest value.
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