Poker Game Variations

In Texas hold’em, players receive two down cards as their personal hand (holecards), after which there is a round of betting. Three board cards are turned simultaneously (called the flop) and another round of betting occurs. The next two board cards are turned one at a time, with a round of betting after each card. The board cards are community cards, and a player can use any five-card combination from among the board and personal cards. A player can even use all of the board cards and no personal cards to form a hand (“play the board”). A dealer button is used. The usual structure is to use two blinds, but it is possible to play the game with one blind, multiple blinds, an ante, or combination of blinds plus an ante.Rounds of Betting

• Opening deal – Each player is dealt two cards face down, which are known as hole cards or pocket cards.

• First round of betting – Starting with the player to the left of the big blind, each player can call the big blind, raise, or fold. The big blind has the option to raise an otherwise unraised pot.
• The flop – The dealer burns a card, and then deals three community cards face up. The first three cards are referred to as the flop, while all of the community cards are collectively called the board.

• Second round of betting – Starting with the player to the left of the dealer button, each player can check or bet. Once a bet has been made, each player can raise, call, or fold.
• The turn – The dealer burns another card, and then adds a fourth card face-up to the community cards. This fourth card is known as the turn card, or fourth street.

• Third round of betting – It follows the same format as the second round, but the size of the bets have usually doubled in limit games.
• The river – The dealer burns another card, and then adds a fifth and final card to the community cards. This fifth card is known as the river card, or fifth street.

• Final round of betting – It follows the same format as the second and third rounds.
• The showdown – Using the best five-card combination of their hole cards and the community cards, the remaining players show their hands, with the bettor or last raiser showing first. The highest five-card hand wins the pot. (In case of a tie, the pot is evenly split among the winning hands.)

Other Texas Hold’em Poker Rules

These rules deal only with irregularities. See Button and Blind use for rules on that subject.

• If the first or second hole card dealt is exposed, a misdeal results. The dealer retrieves the card, reshuffles, and recuts the cards. If any other holecard is exposed due to a dealer error, the deal continues. The exposed card can not be kept. After completing the hand, the dealer replaces the card with the top card on the deck, and the exposed card is then used for the burncard. If more than one hole card is exposed, this is a misdeal and there must be a redeal.
• If the flop contains too many cards, it must be redealt. (This applies even if it is possible to know which card is the extra one.)

• If the flop needs to be redealt because the cards were prematurely flopped before the betting was complete, or the flop contained too many cards, the board cards are mixed with the remainder of the deck. The burn card remains on the table. After shuffling, the dealer cuts the deck and deals a new flop without burning a card.
• If the dealer turns the fourth card on the board before the betting round is complete, the card is taken out of play for that round, even if subsequent players elect to fold. The betting is then completed. The dealer burns and turns what would have been the fifth card in the fourth card’s place. After this round of betting, the dealer reshuffles the deck, including the card that was taken out of play, but not including the burn cards or discards. The dealer then cuts the deck and turns the final card without burning a card. If the fifth card is turned up prematurely, the deck is reshuffled and dealt in the same manner.
• If the dealer mistakenly deals the first player an extra card (after all players have received their starting hands), the card is returned to the deck and used for the burn card. If the dealer mistakenly deals more than one extra card, it is a misdeal.

• If you are playing the board, you must so declare before you throw your cards away; otherwise you relinquish all claim to the pot.

 

Omaha is similar to hold’em in using a three-card flop on the board, a fourth board card, and then a fifth board card. Each player is dealt four hole cards (instead of two) at the start. To make a hand, a player must use precisely two hole cards with three board cards. The betting is the same as in hold’em. At the showdown, the entire four-card hand should be shown to receive the pot.The best possible five-card poker hand, using exactly two hole cards and three community cards, wins the pot.

Betting Rounds

• The dealer deals each player four cards face down (hole cards or pocket cards)

• First betting round.
• The dealer burns a card, then turns over three community cards face up (the flop)

• Second betting round.
• The dealer burns another card, then turns over one more community card (the turn, fourth street)

• Third betting round.
• The dealer burns another card, then turns over one final community card (the river, fifth street)

• Last betting round.
• Showdown. (Every remaining player shows hand. with first bettor or last raiser showing first.)
• All remaining players must use their two pocket cards and the three board cards.

Rules of Omaha

• All the rules of hold’em apply to Omaha except the rule on playing the board, which is not possible in Omaha (because you must use two cards from your hand and three cards from the board).

Omaha High-Low

Omaha is often played high-low split, 8-or-better. The player can use any combination of two hole cards and three board cards for the high hand and another (or the same) combination of two hole cards and three board cards for the low hand.

Rules of Omaha High-Low

• All the rules of Omaha apply to Omaha high-low split except as below.
• A qualifier of 8-or-better for low applies to all high-low split games, unless a specific posting to the contrary is displayed. If there is no qualifying hand for low, the best high hand wins the whole pot.

Seven-card stud is played with two downcards and one upcard dealt before the first betting round, followed by three more upcards (with a betting round after each card) and one more downcard. After the last downcard is dealt, there is a final round of betting. The best five-card poker hand wins the pot. In all fixed-limit games, the smaller bet is wagered on the first two betting rounds, and the larger bet is wagered after the betting rounds on the fifth, sixth, and seventh cards. If there is an open pair on the fourth card, any player has the option of making the smaller or larger bet. Deliberately changing the order of your upcards in a stud game is improper because it unfairly misleads the other players.Betting Rounds

OBJECT: The best five-card poker hand, out of seven cards, wins the pot.

• Each player must place an ante into the pot.
• Each player is dealt two cards face down (hole cards) and one card face up (door card)

• First betting round.
• Each player is dealt one card face up (fourth street)

• Second betting round.
• Each player is dealt another card face-up (fifth street)

• Third betting round.
• Each player is dealt another card face-up (sixth street)

• Fourth betting round.
• Each player is dealt a final card face down (river)

• Last betting round.
• Showdown (Every remaining player shows hand with first bettor or last raiser showing first).

Players can use any five of their seven cards to make their best hand.

Rules of Seven Card Stud

• The first round of betting starts with a forced bet by the lowest upcard by suit. On subsequent betting rounds, the high hand on board initiates the action. (A tie is broken by position, with the player who received cards first acting first.)
• The player with the forced bet has the option of opening for a full bet.
• Increasing the amount wagered by the opening forced bet up to a full bet does not count as a raise, but merely as a completion of the bet. For example: In $15-$30 stud, the lowcard opens for $5. If the next player increases the bet to $15 (completes the bet), up to three raises are then allowed when using a three-raise limit.
• In all fixed-limit games, when an open pair is showing on fourth street (second upcard), any player has the option of betting either the lower or the upper limit. For example: In a $5-$10 game, if you have a pair showing and are the high hand, you can bet either $5 or $10. If you bet $5, any player then has the option to call $5, raise $5, or raise $10. If a $10 raise is made, then all other raises must be in increments of $10. If the player high with the open pair on fourth street checks, then subsequent players have the same options that were given to the player who was high.
• If your first or second holecard is accidentally turned up by the dealer, then your third card is dealt down. If both hole cards are dealt up, you have a dead hand and receive your ante back. If the first card dealt faceup would have been the lowcard, action starts with the first hand to that player’s left. That player may fold, open for the forced bet, or open for a full bet. (In tournament play, if a downcard is dealt face up, a misdeal is called.)
• If you are not present at the table when it is your turn to act on your hand, you forfeit your ante and your forced bet, if any. If you have not returned to the table in time to act, the hand is killed when the betting reaches your seat.
• If a hand is folded even though there is no wager, that seat continues to receive cards until the hand is killed as a result of a bet.
• If you are all in for the ante and have the lowcard, the player to your left acts first. That player can fold, open for the forced bet, or open for a full bet.
• If the wrong person is designated as low and that person bets, the action is corrected to the true low card if the next player has not yet acted. The incorrect low card takes back the wager and the true low card must bet. If the next hand has acted after the incorrect low card wager, the wager stands, action continues from there, and the true low card has no obligations.
• If you pick up your upcards without calling when facing a wager, this is a fold and your hand is dead. However, this act has no significance at the showdown because betting is over; the hand is live until discarded.
• A card dealt off the table must play and it is treated as an exposed card.
• In all games, the dealer announces the lowcard, the high hand, all raises, and all pairs. Dealers do not announce possible straights or flushes (except for specified low-stakes games).
• If the dealer burns two cards for one round or fails to burn a card, the cards are corrected, if at all possible, to their proper positions. If this should happen on a final downcard, and either a card intermingles with a player’s other holecards or a player looks at the card, the player must accept that card.
• If the dealer burns and deals one or more cards before a round of betting has been completed, the cards must be eliminated from play. After the betting for that round is completed, an additional card for each remaining player still active in the hand is also eliminated from play (to later deal the same cards to the players who would have received them without the error). After that round of betting has concluded, the dealer burns a card and play resumes. The removed cards are held off to the side in the event the dealer runs out of cards. If the prematurely dealt card is the final downcard and has been looked at or intermingled with the player’s other holecards, the player must keep the card, and on sixth street betting may not bet or raise (because the player now has all seven cards), but can call.
• If there are not enough cards left in the deck for all players, all the cards are dealt except the last card, which is mixed with the burn cards (and any cards removed from the deck, as in the previous rule). The dealer then scrambles and cuts these cards, burns again, and delivers the remaining downcards, using the last card if necessary. If there are not as many cards as players remaining without a card, the dealer does not burn, so that each player can receive a fresh card. If the dealer determines that there will not be enough fresh cards for all of the remaining players, then the dealer announces to the table that a common card will be used. The dealer burns a card and turns one card face up in the center of the table as a common card that plays in everyone’s hand. The player who is now high using the common card initiates the action for the last round.
• An all-in player should receive hole cards dealt facedown, but if the final hole card to such a player is dealt face up, the card must be kept, and the other players receive their normal cards.
• If the dealer turns the last card faceup to any player, the hand now high on the board using all the upcards will start the action. The following rules apply to the dealing of cards:If there are more than two players, all remaining players receive their last card facedown. A player whose last card is face up has the option of declaring all in (before betting action starts). If there are only two players remaining and the first player’s final downcard is dealt faceup, the second player’s final down card is also dealt face up, and the betting proceeds as normal. In the event the first player’s final card is dealt face down and the opponent’s final card is dealt face up, the player with the faceup final card has the option of declaring all in (before betting action starts).
• A hand with more than seven cards is dead. A hand with fewer than seven cards at the showdown is dead, except any player missing a seventh card may have the hand ruled live.See Explanations, discussion #3 , for more information on this rule.
• A player who calls a bet even though beaten by an opponentiss upcards is not entitled to a refund. (The player is receiving information about an opponent’s hand that is not available for free.)

OBJECTThe best five-card poker hand, out of seven cards, wins the pot.

• Ante, then deal two cards down and one up: Low card must bet in limit-betting games, high card must bet or fold in big-bet games.
• Deal each active player two more upcards; bet from highest hand.
• Deal each player a fourth upcard: bet from highest hand.
• Deal each player a fifth upcard: bet from highest hand, followed by a showdown.

Big-Bet Betting Structures

Half-pot, pot-limit and no-limit betting. In big-bet (that is, non-limit) games, all forms of stud require an ante from each player, with the highest card or hand acting first in all rounds of play. In the first round, the high card must either bet or fold. In later rounds, the high hand can either bet or check. The initial bet size is at the discretion of the opener and can usually be as small as one ante, or up to the maximum bet size allowed in the form used, that is, half the total antes in half-pot, the total antes in full-pot and as much as you wish in no-limit.

Limit Betting Structures

There is an ante, a compulsory bring-in from the low card, and bets typically double for the last two rounds, though this can be varied according to player’s tastes. The bets are usually capped at three per round, except in head-to-head pots.

• Low ante games: Ante, one unit; bring-in, two units, complete, 10 units. The maximum bet for the first two rounds is 10 units. Bets double to 20 units for the third and fourth rounds.
• High ante: Ante, four units; bring-in, five units; raise, 10 units. Bets double to 20 units for the third and fourth rounds.