Whether it is enjoyed in a land-based casino or in online gambling India, Poker is one of the most beloved card games and comes in many forms. The similarity is based on card rankings, the randomly dealt cards, and the amount of entertainment provided.
Let’s see what the most popular types are!
Texas Hold’em
Some say that Texas Hold’em is so popular that it is the only Poker game most gamblers will ever learn. Still, you shouldn’t let the simplicity of this game fool you; if played at the highest levels, the game can become extremely complex.
If you’re new to this type of Poker, you need to start with the basic rules, as these will help you understand the gameplay and basic strategy.
How to play
The goal of the game is to use your dealt cards in a combination with the cards on the table, in order to accomplish the best 5-card hand.
Thus, each one of the players is dealt two cards face down – the “ hole cards”. Over multiple betting rounds, 5 more cards are dealt face-up on the table, available for all the players – also called “the community cards”.
Your objective is to build your 5-card hands by using the best 5 out of the total 7 (hole + community cards). You can build them by using both types of cards or even only with the ones on the table.
Remember that you will only win by having the highest Poker hand unless all players quit the game before the showdown.
Hand rankings:
- One Pair — 2 cards of the same rank (10♥10♣9♥4♦2♦)
- Two Pair — 2 pairs of cards of the same rank (A♠A♣J♦J♣7♠)
- Three of a Kind — 3 cards of the same rank (8♣8♠8♦K♣4♥)
- Four of a Kind — 4 cards of the same rank (Q♣Q♥Q♦Q♠4♦)
- Straight — any 5 cards consecutively ranked (Q♣J♦10♥9♠8♦)
- Flush — any 5 cards of the same suit (A♠J♠8♠5♠2♠)
- High Card — 5 unmatched cards; (A♣J♦10♠5♣2♥)
- Straight Flush — 5 cards of the same suit and consecutively ranked (9♣8♣7♣6♣5♣)
- Full House — 3 cards of the same rank and 2 more cards of the same rank (J♣J♥J♠8♦8♥)
- Royal Flush — 5 cards of the same suit, ranked ace through ten (A♥K♥Q♥J♥10♥)
- No pair – the hand contains “nothing”, as none of the cards pair up. If this happens to more than one participant, the hands are rated by the highest card.
Omaha Poker
This type of poker is in close competition with Texas hold’em. The good news is that if you know how to play one of them, you can easily play the other.
Yet, when it comes to Omaha, there are sub-variants that come with specific characteristics and a dedicated player base. Two of the most popular in online gambling India are:
- Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO)
- Omaha hi-lo
When playing this game, you want to remember the five different phases that form the hand:
- The pre-flop – Some of the players at the table must place a blind bet (‘Blinds’) while the others can decide if they want to call, fold, or raise.
- The flop – Players that decided to call or raise will make their next move once the dealer places the first three cards on the table, face up.
- The turn – Gamblers get to decide how to act after the dealer lays another card.
- The river – The last betting round. The participants have one more decision to make as soon as the dealer shows the last 5 community cards.
- The showdown – The players reveal their cards and learn whether they won or lost.
Seven-Card Stud
If you want to play Seven-Card Stud in online gambling India, you need to remember that compared to the other Poker types, here, each participant receives two cards face down and one face up. They are dealt one after the other, in rotation.
Then, each active gambler receives another 3 cards face up and another one face down. The last round of cards dealt will have a betting break.
For the showdown, each participant shows all their hole cards and chooses 5 or 7 cards as their hand. The remaining 2 cards must be discarded and cannot be reclaimed after finding that a better combination was possible.
5-card draw
The 5-card draw game is more popular in home games than it is in online gambling India, although it is not lost.
Its rules are similar to the other types of Poker and the aim is to have the best hand.
When it comes to preflop betting (the first betting round), the 5-card draw has two different methods:
- All players place a bet before receiving the cards (common in home games);
- There is a small blind and big blind, similar to Omaha (customary in online poker sites and casinos).
Aside from the two methods, there also are 3 betting structures:
- Fixed-limit
- Pot-limit
- No-limit
The same poker rules apply to these betting structures, yet you need to adapt your strategy for each.
Chinese
Chinese Poker is another version that is easy to play, following the same poker hand rankings. Yet, there are some differences.
Each one of the players receives a 13-card hand which must be divided into 3 hands. Two contain 5 cards each (middle and back), and one three, known as “the front”.
The back hand needs to be the highest-ranking hand and is placed face down, behind the middle hand. The front must be the lowest ranking cards. After each player has set their hands, they must communicate (clockwise) if they want to play their hand.
Then, before revealing their hands, they each announce their royalties. The hand will be automatically won if the player makes three straights or three flushes.
May the flop be with you
No matter if it’s Chinese, 5-card, Seven-card Stud, Omaha, or Texas Hold’em, Poker has been around since the 20th century, which answers the questions about its popularity and gamblers’ appreciation.
Thus, as soon as you decide which one is your favorite, you can head to the closest casino or even a live dealer online gambling India to try it out.
