Poker Games: A Guide of Top Online Poker Variations

Poker has been one of the most popular casino games for decades now, so it’s no surprise that multiple variations of this game have emerged during these years. Things have moved even faster due to the uprising of online casinos, with iGaming software providers offering thousands of poker variations today.

Poker has been one of the most popular casino games for decades now, so it’s no surprise that multiple variations of this game have emerged during these years. Things have moved even faster due to the uprising of online casinos, with iGaming software providers offering thousands of poker variations today.

TOP PLAYABLE POKER VARIATIONS

Players also see Texas Hold’em as the favorite poker variation when it comes to real money casino games. However, other poker games such as Pot-Limit Omaha, 7-Card Stud, or Chinese Poker also receive a lot of attention. Without any further ado, let’s explore the favorite poker games in online casinos.

TEXAS HOLD’EM

Texas Hold’em is currently the most popular variant of poker and virtually all casino site offers it. However, this variant has its own poker games.

Probably the best-known is No Limit Texas Hold’em. Given that many other poker types were designed after this exact game, the hands of Texas Hold’em are also known as Traditional Poker hands. In comparison to other variations, No Limit Texas Hold’em presents easy-to-pick-up hand rankings and not complicated rules to follow.

How to play?

  • The player to the left of the dealer is called the small blind. Right after, there’s the big blind.
  • Each player is dealt two hole cards face-down and then the first round of betting begins. Then, they can look at their cards and call the big blind, raise, or fold.
  • The dealer places three face-up community cards in the middle of the table (the Flop) and players make another round of betting.
  • The dealer adds a fourth community card (the Turn) followed by one more betting round, and then a fifth card (the River) is dealt followed by the final round of betting.
  • When the final betting round is done, players have to show their hands. The winner is the best five card hand. made out of seven available cards (two hole cards and five community cards).

Learning how to play Texas Hold’em is not complicated. You can develop intermediate skills relatively soon, but it takes time to be a master. There are many nuances that need to be understood and processed, and that’s the reason why Texas Hold’em is played in all major tournaments, such as the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

PROS

You can play it at almost every online casino with very low buy-ins.

CONS

There are too many games based on Texas Hold’em, so it took time to find a good quality one with a higher payout.

POT-LIMIT OMAHA (PLO)

Another widely popular poker variation is Pot-Limit Omaha. This poker game is more common amongst European casinos and amongst the high-stake advanced players. The basic gaming technique is similar to Texas Hold’em because players are dealt with the flop of hole cards, the same number of community cards are also involved, and players must make the best five-card hand. However, there are some major differences.

How to play?

  • Players are dealt four hole cards but they can use only two of them to make a hand, along with 5 community cards.
  • Omaha is played in pot-limit format and the size of the pot determines the size of the bets. Every betting round could have different betting limits.
  • PLO uses the same poker hand rankings as No-Limit Texas Hold’em.
  • The game has the same components such as big blindflopturn, and river.
  • The best hand at the showdown wins the pot. In case of a tie, the pot is split into equal parts.

For those with a basic understanding of how to play Texas Hold’em, PLO may seem easy at first. However, it requires a very sharp mind and quick counting skills as it’s a high-stake variant and the pot quickly raises. For example, if the initial pot is $100, then the first bet can be up to $100. Thus, the pot can raise to $200 and, as a result, the next player can place a maximum bet of $200.

PROS

Very similar to Texas Hold’em, so it doesn’t take a long time to learn the rules.

CONS

Quick and high-stake poker game, not recommended to newbies.

OMAHA HI

Another very common poker variation of Omaha-type is called Omaha Hi, which refers to Omaha ‘High’. The key aspect is that the highest hand gets the full pot at showdown. Usually, Omaha Hi is played as a pot-limit game, so we recommend learning how to play Pot-Limit Omaha first to be familiar with how to count and raise the bets.

How to play?

  • Rules and winning hands are taken the same from Texas Hold’em with two major differences.
  • Players are dealt with four hole cards instead of 2.
  • The goal is to make the best 5-card hand using 2 of their 4 hole cards plus 3 of the 5 community cards at showdown.
  • The sizes of bets and raises are capped by the size of the pot.

As players are dealt with more hole cards at the beginning, all players have better odds of making a good hand.

PROS

It’s easier to make a good winning hand because of 4-hole cards a player is dealt.

CONS

Not as popular as Pot-Limit Omaha, so not all casinos offer it to play.

OMAHA HI-LO

It is considered one of the most complicated poker games as players must think of both high and low combinations. The main difference from Omaha Hi is that the pot, at showdown, is divided into two equal parts to be awarded for the highest-ranked hand and the lowest. Different combinations of hole cards may be used in order to make both the high and low hands.

How to play?

  • Players receive 4 hole cards and can use 2 of them.
  • 3 community cards are dealt later and players must form 5 cards hand.
  • When all players make their bets, everyone folds their cards before the showdown.
  • A player can win the pot without the need to show a hand. However, if the final bet is called and there is a showdown, hands are examined to see who has the best ‘high’ hand and who has the best ‘low’ hand, to share the pot.

Those who already know how to play Omaha Hi have an advantage because the ‘high’ hand is determined exactly in the same way as in Texas Hold’em or Omaha Hi. However, a bigger effort is needed to learn how to play with ‘low’ hands in order to play successfully.

PROS

There are more chances of winning because the pot is always divided into two.

CONS

Both ‘high’ and ‘low’ hands must be considered at once, so the game requires more skills and knowledge.

5-CARD DRAW

The 5-Card Draw poker game is considered pretty easy. Basically, it’s a variation of ‘High’ poker, played with 52 cards, and hands are the same as in Texas Hold’em.

 How to play?

  • All players are dealt five cards and all must be kept face down.
  • The dealer starts the sequence from the first player to their left and deals one card to each player, a clockwise direction.
  • When all players have five cards, the first round of betting starts. After raising the bets, the game is moved on to the draw phase.
  • Players choose which cards to discard, and the dealer gives them new cards from the deck. Of course, they can also opt not to change any card (this is known as ‘standing pat’).
  • After the draw, another round of betting follows. Once all the betting is done, all players who haven’t folded must show their hands to determine the winner.
  • The player with the best hand wins the pot. If two or more players have the same hand, they’ll split the pot equally.

This online poker variation is very easy to learn, as there’s only one round of drawing, two rounds of betting, no community cards are involved and every player is individually dealt with the whole hand.

PROS

5-Card Draw poker is pretty straightforward to play.

CONS

All bets are made by guessing because none of other players’ cards are visible during the game.

SHORT DECK POKER

The Short Deck poker game is played only with high-ranked cards. This makes the gameplay more intense and makes more chances to have impressive hands. The winning hands and rules are similar to Texas Hold’em, so it’s easy to get familiarised with the process!

Short Deck is played without cards lower than 6 but Aces are still included. Eliminating those cards of lower values means that you have more chances to make a full house than a flush. It’s also harder to get three of a kind than a straight.

How to play?

  • The game starts when all players put out big blinds and small blinds.
  • Later, all players are dealt 2 face-down cards and players need to match the big blind at least in order to continue.
  • After the initial betting round, 3 community cards are dealt and another betting round starts.
  • After raising the bets, the turn card is laid out.
  • Then one more betting round happens and the river card is added.
  • Finally, the remaining players need to open their cards in order to find the winner of the pot.

PROS

Playing with a deck with all lower cards removed means that every round is shorter and winners are revealed faster.

CONS

Not recommended to beginners to avoid confusion between hands.

7-CARD STUD

Poker of Stud type is another popular type of all poker games and, in some ways, you can say it beats Texas Hold’em. When playing the Stud-type poker games, players receive their own individual hands. Some of these cards are dealt face-down and hidden from players, while other cards will be face-up for everyone to see. In this game, hole cards and community cards are not used.

How to play?

  • Players receive two face-down cards and one card face-up card.
  • The player with the lowest face-up card acts first and must either make a small “bring-in” bet or a complete bet of lower value.
  • Betting continues in a clockwise direction.
  • When the betting round is ended, the remaining players are dealt with another face-up card.
  • The player with the highest value of exposed cards is first to make a bet.
  • Two more betting rounds come, with the addition of 2 face-up cards being dealt (1 per round).
  • After another betting round, each player receives one final face-down card, so they have to make the best 5-card hand out of the 7 dealt cards.
  • After the final betting round, the showdown is reached and the player with the best hand wins.

PROS

It’s a different way of playing poker, without community cards.

CONS

Without community cards, smaller bets are usually placed.

CHINESE POKER (OFC)

The most different variation with exceptional playing structure is Chinese Poker or also known as OFC. This poker variation doesn’t follow any of the traditional game rules and structures.

How to play?

  • Chinese poker is usually played by no more than 4 players.
  • Each player gets 13 cards and must make 3 hands out of them: best 5-card hand; a middle strength 5-card hand; and the weakest 3-card hand possible.
  • Before the start of the game, all players must agree on a stake.
  • The player who wins each “hand” (by having the highest hand for each category) collects one “unit” of wagering from each player.

All hands of Chinese Poker can be either straights or flushes, and one player wins the entire round of hands outright. However, this must be declared to other players before opening their hands.

PROS

The most beginner-friendly online poker type.

CONS

It is not “pure poker” and chance can be more important than knowledge or skills.

PINEAPPLE POKER

This funny-named poker variant gained its popularity somehow not because of its distinctiveness only, but because it’s easy to play and easy to learn. Pineapple or Crazy Pineapple is almost identical to Texas Hold’em but it is distinguished as a sub-category of Chinese Poker. The difference lies in the number of hole cards.

How to play?

  • Every player gets three hole cards instead of two.
  • Everybody evaluates their hands and discards one card before the first betting round begins.
  • Players can choose their two hole cards out of three they were dealt with, so the quality of hands always is higher than in Hold’em.
  • The player with the highest rated hand wins the pot.

PROS

When the players are familiar with Texas Hold’em, the quality of the plays can be really high.

CONS

The game takes longer because there are fewer possibilities to fold.