Learn how to play poker

Poker Variants

Poker is one of the most popular games in casinos. In fact, it is even played frequently outside the casino. But what is truly notable about this game is that it has numerous variants. Although there are several variants, the principles of the game are essentially the same. The following are just some of these types of poker:

The most popular versions of poker are community card, draw, and stud. Community card poker has each player sharing a set of face up cards with which they would combine with their own hand held cards to form their hand. Subtypes of this kind of poker are Omaha and Texas Hold 'Em. Draw poker has each player being dealt a set of cards face down and upon opening them, a player may exchange any number of these cards in an attempt to improve their hand. Stud poker is similar to draw poker except that some of the cards are dealt face up while some are face down. Further, this kind of poker involves multiple rounds of betting. You can have seven card or five card stud, the number actually indicating how many cards will be dealt to each player.

Other Variants:

Oxford stud can be said to be a combination of stud and community card poker. Some cards are dealt to each player face up, some face down and a "community" set to be shared by all players. This type of poker even has its own subtypes depending on how many cards are dealt, how many are face up/down, etc.

Billabong is just like Oxford stud since it is also a combination of stud and community card poker. Each player is dealt two cards face down and one card face up. Two community cards are first dealt face up after each player is dealt their own hand. After the first betting round, another community card is dealt. Then comes another betting round, then a final community card is dealt, which culminates in a final betting round. Shanghai is just like Billabong, except that each player is dealt an extra card face down, but has to discard one of these at some point in the game.

Guts is that version of poker that can have the pot grow exponentially in a very short time. Instead of having multiple betting rounds like most variants of poker, there is just a round determining whether a player choose to be "in" or "out". As always, the player with the best hand wins the pot. However, in this game, all players who chose to be "in" during the last round and lost have to put in an ante equal to the previous pot. For example, if four players declared that they were "in" during one round and the pot then was $20, each losing player who was "in" puts in $20 for the next round's pot which would make a total of $60. It ultimately becomes a game as to who has the "guts" to stay "in".