The different types of Poker.

While you may be familiar with Texas Holdem from television, there are many different poker game variants to learn if you wish to be a well rounded player.Now is an opportune time to learn these other games, so that you may hone your skills while the majority of other players are still exclusively playing Holdem. The reason for this is because Holdem may go out of style at any time, and it will be at this point that the truly skilled players will rise to the top.

Omaha is a popular second to Texas Holdem, because of its similarities. But becoming a winning player at Omaha is much more difficult. Omaha is played exactly the same as Texas Holdem with one exception, each player is dealt four cards instead of two. While this may not sound very hard to master, because of the extra math and calculations one most do because of the extra cards in the hand it becomes much harder to define a profitable call and a bad call. In order for your hand to be eligible at showdown in Omaha two of the cards in your hand must be used along with any of the other 5 cards that were dealt to the table. There are many variants to Omaha, such as Omaha Hi/Lo and Omaha 8 or better.

7-card stud was a very popular poker game until Holdem took over. Each player posts an ante and is dealt 2 cards face down and one card face up. The lowest up card must open the hand with either a bet or a check. If a player bets then naturally the other players must either call, raise or fold. There is a maximum of 4 bets (1 bet and 3 raises) in each round. After this initial round is completed each player still in the hand is dealt another face up card. The betting round begins again but is now started by the player with the strongest poker hand showing. For example, if a player has a pair of 2's showing then he opens the betting round. Each round continues this way until the seventh card, the seventh card is dealt face down and is the last card dealt. After the last card is dealt face down the final better round begins and the player with the best hand wins. Standard Texas Holdem hand rankings apply to this game. There are a couple variations of 7-card stud, including 7-card stud Hi/Lo, and 5-card stud.

Razz is a game almost identical to 7-card stud, the only difference is that players are competing for the best low hand instead of the normal Texas Holdem hand ranking. The lowest possible poker hand is A-2-3-4-5. Ace counts as a low card in Razz.

Draw is a game with many variants. There is 5 card draw, in which you are dealt 5 cards and you can discard as many as you like looking to improve your hand. There is also 2-7 single draw, which is played the same as 5 card draw yet you are trying to complete the lowest hand possible, similar to razz. There is also 2-7 triple draw, which is played the same as single draw but with 2 more drawing rounds.

Mixed games are a combination of some or all of the above mentioned games, mixed games include H.O.R.S.E which is Holdem, Omaha, Razz, Stud, and Stud 8 or better. H.O.E which is the same as H.O.R.S.E, except no Razz or Seven-card stud. H.O, Texas hold 'em and Omaha high-low. O.E which consists of Omaha high-low and Seven-card Stud Eight or better. H.A, Pot limit Texas hold 'em and pot limit Omaha, And Eight Game Mix. Eight Game Mix is Fixed limit 2-7 Triple Draw, fixed limit Texas hold 'em, fixed limit Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, fixed limit Seven-card stud, fixed limit Seven-card stud Eight or better, no limit Texas hold 'em and pot limit Omaha.

These are some of the many types of poker games available online and live, learning these games while Texas Holdem is still peaking at its popularity is a great idea if you wish to continue to be profitable in the future. Eventually players will burn out on Holdem and wish to try something knew, if you already have the knowledge of these game variants you will find it easier to beat these players and be more successful in your poker career.