Versions of Poker

The game of Poker has been around for a very long time. In the western movies, we see the people sitting around a table playing Poker. I don’t think I have seen a western without that scene in it. Over the years, Poker has branched out into other forms or versions of Poker, each version with its own type of strategy. Which form or version of Poker do you like to play? I know some of the versions, but I am sure you know a couple that I don’t know.

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5 card draw
5 card stud
7 card stud
Razz
2-7 Triple Draw
Omaha
Omaha High Lo
Anaconda
Kill Game
Twist
HORSE
Hi/Lo Chicago
Follow the Queen
Countdown
Guts
Five-O Poker
Chinese Poker
2 player Kuhn Poker
Wall Street Poker

That’s all I got for now

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I like Holdem best, but have recently enjoyed Omaha hi/low and 7 card Stud. Craig has listed other forms of poker, but it would be great if someone would explain the variations of the ones in the list as I have no knowledge of most of them. How many are in general use now, for instance?

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I did not realize there were that many versions and I don’t know a lot of them on that list. Thank you for sharing.

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All of them !

It would take me weeks to text all of the elements of each game but perhaps in your free time you can Google each one.

Your welcome. There are more variations but most use wild cards and there are more Chinese variations.

There’s a “new” game out there that I would like to try, but I forget what it’s called.

In this game, you get 6 hole cards, then separate them into a 2 card holdem hand and a 4 card Omaha H/L hand. The dealer then deals 2 different boards, one for the holdem hands, one for the Omaha hands.

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Ah yes, the “ new “ Buffet Poker .

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Badugi is a fun, interesting one. It’s 4-card triple-draw lowball where you need all 4 cards to be different suits.

Pairs work against you, as do matched suits.

Deal 4 cards. Bet.
Draw. Bet.
Draw. Bet.
Draw. Bet.
Showdown.

A234 all 4 suits is the best hand possible. KKKK is worst hand possible.

Disregard paired cards, so TJQK would beat A233 since it plays as a three-card A23.

Disregard matched suits, so Th Js Qd Kc beats As 2h 3d 4d since it would play as a 3-card A23.

No preference between paired cards and matched suits, so A233 and As 2d 3c 4c would both split the pot as A23.

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Pinochle poker (similar to Royal here, in that it uses a pinochle deck, 9 through A, 2 of each suit, 48 cards total).

Pineapple (Hold’em with 3 hole cards, discard one before the flop).

Crazy Pineapple (same, but discard is after the flop).

Lazy Pineapple (same, but discard is at the showdown–use your two best hole cards and the board).

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I started as a child playing 5 card draw with my younger brother and some friends. When we got close to our teen years, we switched to playing 7 card stud some of the time, as that was the “big game” that all of our uncles played. Texas Hold’em came around more recently.

5 card draw is for me a game with too little information. We also when young often played what we called Indian poker at the time, where we would put a card face up on our foreheads, so that everyone else could see it, and only the card holder didn’t know what they had. Even this game provided more information that 5 card draw, where your only information was the amount of chips people bet, and the number of cards they chose to draw. To me, both of these games provide too little information for complex strategies and tactics to emerge.

7 card stud is an example of a poker variant on the opposite end of the spectrum, with too much information. Too many streets of betting, and too many of the deck’s cards revealed. This glut of information puts a premium on the ability to memorize every card shown, and to be able to adjust the odds in a variety of situations based on those revealed cards. While this certainly requires considerable skill, it ends up dominating the game, and reduces the importance of many other strategic and tactical aspects.

No Limit Hold’em strikes me as a wonderful balance of information and uncertainty, and is my favorite variant of poker, though there is a time and a place to enjoy many others.

We used to play a game called Anaconda.

Each player is dealt 7 cards. one at a time face down. You then examine your cards, followed by a round of betting.

You then pass 3 cards to the player on your left, followed by betting.

The pass 2 to your left, and yes, more betting.

Next pass 1 to your left, and yes, even more betting!

That wasn’t quite enough betting for us, so we usually added a Mexican Rollover…

Each player discards 2 cards and keeps their best 5 card hand. Then each slides one card towards the middle, face down. Once each player has committed a card, they all get flipped up at the same time. Follow this with some betting. (Current high hand goes first betting from here on)

Then just keep doing that until all but 1 player folds or all your cards are exposed, at which point the best hand wins.

Anaconda is a crazy game… crazy fun!

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Nice :+1:t2:

Wow!

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Family poker games used to be ‘dealers choice’ and everyone had their favorite. Can’t remember all of them, but a few come to mind. One-eyed jacks and king with an axe wild, pair of sevens take all - seven cards, two down, four up and last one down. Low in the Hole - same layout of seven cards, two down, four up, etc., low card in the hole wild, i.e. hole cards are 67 means all sixes in your hand are wild, so your wild card could change on the last card. Take it or Leave it - six cards, two down and four up. You could chose the first card dealt to you or the next. If you took the next card then the following player had the choice of what you left behind or the next card in the deck. Sometimes, you would take the first card, not because you needed it, but rather, to keep another player from getting it.

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Yeah, I played in a dealer’s choice home game for over a decade. None of us had the slightest idea what we were doing, but we got drunk, had fun, the girlfriends made snacks (and a few played now and then), and a good time was had by most, if not all.

We sometimes played a version of 7 stud that I hated, even then… Baseball.

In Baseball, 3’s and 9’s are wild, and if you expose a 4, you can buy another card, for reasons known only to Satan and his demonic horde.

But wait, there’s more… an even more sinister version involves “night games,” played as 7 card no-peek. You get 7 cards, and can’t even look at them, LOL.

The dealer flips up a starter card, then the next player flips one card at a time until he beats the starter or busts. There’s a round of betting either way, then the next in line has to beat the current high hand. And yes, 3s and 9s are wild, and you can buy a card with an exposed 4.

Good times playing really sick games.

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Ha, I remember baseball - 3 strikes, 9 innings, 4’s a walk!
Or it’s variation, Pregnant 3’s - 3, 6 and 9’s wild! And that reminds me of Ladies Day at Woolworth’s. Lol. 5, 10 and Q’s wild. Ladies at the 5 and dime:)

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Over the years, (too many to mention), as the games have evolved, so has my choice of many games. My all time favorite is Omaha Hi - Lo, followed closely by Texas Hold-em. Also Love Badugi, and 2 - 7 Triple draw. Never have cared much for the wild card games.

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I’ve always only ever played Texas Holdem. About 3 weeks ago I reached 83 million chips, was really chuffed with myself but then I suffered an extended run of bad luck and a drawdown back to 20 million. I was so peeved that i decided to give Hold’em up for a while, and instead learned how to play Omaha Hi/Lo.

And I must say I have been pleasantly surprised. I think I might even venture to say that I now prefer Hi/Lo to Hold’em.

Why, I’m not quite sure, I think there are a number of factors. Less shoving pre flop with premium pairs and overall less outright bluffing with Hi/Lo so less opportunity for outright maniacs. The rules make the card skill element of Hi/Lo more prominent than Holdem.

Just wondering what everyone else’s experiences and preferences are when they compare these two styles of poker. Do people tend to play exclusively one or the other.

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I enjoy both games. For me, variety is what draws me to Omaha Hi Lo (not so much plain Omaha). Boredom sets in after a while–patterns develop and repeat themselves–so stepping away refreshes my appetite for poker. Wishing you well at the tables, SoupChicken, and congrats on reaching 83 million chips. (Also, good for you for going out and using them, even if it resulted in losing a whole bunch of them!)

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