Poker Games

The most popular of all poker games is of course Texas Holdem for which we feature a comphrehensive poker rooms list. In this section we give you a quick rundown of the most popular poker games which you can read more in-depth about in the poker rules sections, as well as the best poker rooms for each poker game.

The king, the emperor, the president and almost dictator of all poker games is Texas Holdem. Its popularity can largely be credited to its simplicity, play speed and how easily it can be taught to and understood by novice players.

Don't let the simplicity fool you though, it might take an afternoon to learn but it takes a lifetime to master.

Texas Holdem is a shared-card game where players are dealt two cards each face down. In addition five cards are dealt face up on the table. These are shared by all players with the goal being to make the best five card hand out of the seven cards (two in the hand and five on the table).

The exact history of the creation of this poker game is long forgotten but it is rumored to have started being played in Robstown, Texas in the early 20th century and came to Dallas in 1925, hence the name Texas Holdem.

Similar to the aforementioned Texas Holdem, Omaha Poker is sometimes called Omaha Holdem. The play is identical to Texas Holdem except that each player is dealt four cards rather than two and the final five card hand must include exactly those two cards and three of the five on the table.

A popular variation of Omaha is High-Low Split 8 or better where the best high hand splits the pot with the best low hand, but none of the cards in the low hand can include any card higher than an 8.

The best online poker rooms for Omaha Poker are Party Poker and Poker Stars.

For a long time the Stud Poker variant Seven-card Stud was the most popular poker game in home games all over the US and at casinos especially on the east coast. In this game two cards are dealt face down to each player, four cards face up and a final card face down, with the goal as always in poker to make the best five card hand out of those seven.

The best online poker rooms for Seven-card Stud are Party Poker and Poker Stars.

Another variant called Five-card Stud used to be played a lot back in the days and is the game played in the classic poker movie Cincinnati Kid. It can still be found at some online poker rooms such as Paradise Poker but don't expect a massive amount of players on those tables.

If you ask someone if they want to play poker Draw Poker is probably despite its non-existant popularity in professional and semi-professional circles the variant they are most likely to know.

Each player is dealt five cards followed by a round of betting. Then players can discard up to five of their cards and draw new ones. After that there is a second and final round of betting.

Draw Poker can actually still retains acceptable activity at some poker rooms with the best ones for this poker game being 24hPoker, Paradise Poker, Pokerroom and Hollywood Poker.