How to Play Different Poker Games

Poker came into existence as early as the 16th century when the Germans played Pochen. Later the French developed the Poque, which they took over to New Orleans. Modern poker developed from Poque around the 1930s with cards to improve a player’s hand at the game.

Today, poker is one of the most enjoyable and widely played games globally. People play the game in their homes, poker rooms, and casinos. Enthusiasts of the game play it socially for fun, pennies, matchsticks. Most importantly, some play it professionally for hefty cash rewards.

Poker has evolved into different variations over time, but the Texas hold ’em is the most famous. Other forms include the Omaha, seven-card stud, five-card draw, and the Razz, among others. You can visit any NetEnt casino to see the full list of available first-class venues offering poker games of your choice.

How to Play the Different Variants of Poker with Great Success

Poker, like any other game, requires a lot of dedication and commitment to master. If you are patient enough, your effort will finally bear fruit. Here, we shall look at three common poker variations and outline a few rules and tricks to play them.

Texas Hold’ Em

If you ask anybody about poker, they will tell you about Texas hold ’em since it’s the most common of all poker games. Due to its popularity, the game has become easy to learn and master. Why? There are many informational materials like books, videos, and magazines that give insights into the game. Here we go!

In Texas Hold ’em, you are dealt two pocket or hole cards. Then you wait for the community cards. Once the community cards are revealed, you go straight into betting. There are four rounds of betting: once the hole cards are dealt, upon the revelation of the first three community cards (the flop), after revealing the fourth community card (the turn), and finally after the fifth community cards flip (the river). You must make the best hands with a combination of five cards – the community cards and the hole cards.

Omaha Hi

Omaha comes second to Texas hold ’em in terms of popularity. The game requires 2-10 players to kick off. The “hi” indicates that the highest hand takes the entire pot during the showdown. The game is played as a pot-limit poker and people often fondly refer to it as pot-limit Omaha.

The game proceeds like the Texas hold ’em, except that four hole cards are dealt to each player instead of two. During play, you must try to make the best out of the five-card hand, and in doing so, you need to use two of your four hole cards. Only three of your five community cards are at showdown. Since you are dealt many cards at the start of the game, making a good hand is quite easy.

Omaha Hi-Lo

Omaha hi-lo is commonly referred to as Omaha 8-or-better. The game is similar to Omaha hi, except the pot at showdown is divided between the highest ranked five-card poker hand and the lowest. Various combinations of hole cards are used to generate both the low and the high cards.

All five cards making up the low must be ranked eight or lower. Straights and flushes do not count against a hand in this game. The lowest possible hand is usually the A-2-3-4-5 combination, while the low qualifying hand is 8-7-6-5-4. The ranking is normally from the highest card downwards.

Bottom Line

Poker is a game of chance, and there is no surefire way to ace the cards. Getting good at poker requires a lot of skill and experience, but you don’t have to master everything. To quote the words of the late country music guru Kenny Rogers, “Every hand is a winner, and every hand is a loser.” In a nutshell, as a player, you are the master of your fate!

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