Variations of Poker
The previous page drew attention to the ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ form of Poker, which is by far the most popular approach to playing the game, however, it is by no means the only way of playing.
Texas Hold ‘Em, or simply ‘Holdem’ is a ‘community card game’, meaning a deck of cards, usually placed in the centre of the playing area will deal three ‘flop cards’ that are available to all players, who will then aim to create a ‘hand’ using both ‘the flop’ plus two of their personal ‘hole cards’. ‘Holdem’ is often regarded as a simplistic game, which has generally increased its popularity – the rules and concept are far from complex. Generally, once all players have been dealt their initial hands, rounds of betting can then commence. This involves players betting chips depending on their hand, and this continues until all players have either folded (ceased betting in that particular game), gone ‘all in’ (gambled all of their remaining chips), or ‘called’ or ‘matched’ the amount of all other players. Flop cards are then added to the equation, and betting continues. A fourth community card is then turned, known as ‘the turn’, and betting continues, with a final fifth community card later being turned, known as ‘the river’. There is then a face-off, in which players who are still active in the game create their best possible hands and reveal their cards.
‘Omaha Poker’ is a deviation of Texas Hold ‘Em, in which players are initially dealt four cards, on top of the standard five ‘community cards’. However, in order to make a valid hand, players of ‘Omaha Poker’ must construct it by using exactly two cards from their personal ‘hole cards’, and exactly three community cards. Anything other than ‘2 & 3’ is void.
A further aberration from ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ is ‘Royal Hold ‘Em’ poker. In this variation, all cards other than tens, jacks, queens, kings, and aces are removed from the pack, leaving only twenty cards overall, and drastically decreasing the maximum amount of players. ‘Royal Hold ‘Em’ could be considered as a particularly lively and rousing variation of the game, as large rankings hands are common.
There are also forms of poker in which no ‘community cards’ are used at all, most notably, ‘Five Card Draw’, in which players are dealt a complete hand initially, with the option to ‘replace’ or ‘draw’ cards later in the game in order to develop their hand.