Types Of Poker

Seven Card Stud

Each player receives seven cards. The objective is to make the optimum five card hand from the seven cards dealt. The player with the best hand wins the pot

To start with two cards are dealt face down and one face up. The remaining cards are dealt face up apart from the last which is face down. There are four cards on display to your opponents and three which are hidden. Betting takes place after each card has been dealt with the person holding the highest ranking hand on view being the first to bet (or fold)

With seven card stud everyone in the game puts an amount of money into a pot before any cards are dealt. By repeatedly raising the stakes you can force your opponents to fold. The game often involves bluffing and can be a test of nerves.

In many cases the game may have a "spread limit". If a game had a spread limit of $1-$4 this would means that players can bet between $1-$4 at any time. Three or four raises per round are allowed, so long as the raise is at least equal to the previous bet. An illustration of this would be if Paul bet $1 and Oliver raises $2, John can only play if he calls $3, that is the total of Paul's bet and Oliver's raise.

If John wished to play, the minimum he can raise by is $2. If John raised by four dollars, then the next player, Peter, would either have to fold, call $7 to match John's raise above the previous raise, or raise $4 more, which would mean the next player, Stephen would have to raise $11.....and so on.

Texas Hold'em

Texas hold'em poker is also a game in which the objective is to make the best five card hand from seven cards you are dealt. However there are a lot of differences with seven card stud poker.

In Texas hold'em, poker each player receives two cards, dealt face down. When the players have looked at their cards, the first bets takes place (at this point some players may choose to drop out)

The remaining cards are community cards, and can be used by any player. Three community cards are dealt at first ( this is called the flop) they are turned face up by the dealer and are positioned in the middle of the poker table. Another round of betting follows the flop which is in turn followed by the dealing of another community card another bet and then the final community card. The common cards in the middle of the table, combine with each players two private cards that are still face down next to the player.

Texas hold'em poker is sometimes regarded as an easier version of seven card stud. This is because a player only has to concentrate on the cards in their own hand and the cards the centre of the poker table. There is no need to remember what cards the other players in the game have discarded as this is not relevant.

To learn how to play Texas hold'em click here for further information and tutorials.

Omaha Hold'em

Omaha poker is similar to Texas Hold'em, the main difference is that the dealer will give each player 4 rather than 2 cards, and the player will combine 2 cards from that hand to make the best five card hand from three of the five communal cards in the centre of the table.

The game is dealt in a similar way to hold'em poker with a flop of three community cards. However Omaha is a much more complicated game because of the way that the five card hand is made. You need to give more consideration to the cards that you hold in your hand and remember that you can only use two of them . Because of these added complications it is usually recommended that beginners to online poker do not start out with Omaha .

In online poker rooms Omaha poker is usually split into two games, Omaha/8 and Omaha High

Usually Omaha is played as a high-low split game, in which the best high hand and best qualifying low hand split the pot. In order to qualify for the low side of the pot, you must have a hand of five cards that are unpaired and have a rank of eight or lower. You must form this hand from three of the cards in the middle of the table and two cards you're your personal hand .

Because it is possible to make both the best high hands and also the best low hands, there is the potential to take the entire pot of money. When players try to do this it is called "scooping." When there are lots of players all trying to scoop, the game becomes very complicated

Summary: For each side of the pot, wither a hand hand or low hand, players must use any two cards from there own hand, and three gfrom the community cards that are shared by all the players.

In Europe the majority of Omaha games are "pot-limit" and are genrally played for high hand only