Online Poker

Poker Rules

Texas Hold'Em is the favorite of professional Poker players. It's an aggressive, flashy, excited and unpredictable game that gets the dollars on the table and changing hands like no other form of Poker. Some of the old hard-nut players prefer 7-Card Stud but everyone else is in love with Hold'Em. It is the game that players at the World Series of Poker play to determine who takes home $1,000,000 and the champion's custom 14-karat gold bracelet.

In Hold'Em players form a five-card hand from seven available cards. Only two cards are actually held by the player as pocket cards. The other five are open, dealt to the middle of the table and shared by all players. This means there are less cards in play, which is why Hold'Em typically seats nine or more players at the table.

The Seats
The dealer is marked by a disk called the button. For each hand the button rotates to the left. Players are identified by their seat position. The dealer is seat one, the player to the dealer's left is seat two and so on, clockwise around the table to the player on the dealer's right.

Casino Hold'Em has a fixed dealer and the button rotates around the table simply to mark the rotation of theoretical dealer. Betting position significantly affects a player's opportunities so the button's position in not simply symbolic.

Beginner Hold'Em games typically starts with $1-$2 or $2-$4, but the highest can be as much as $500-$1000 or even more. Instead of a small ante in 7-Stud, Hold'Em uses two forced bets, the blinds, to get Bets on the table right from the beginning of the game.

The Open
The first player to the dealer's left - seat two - is the small blind and must kick in half the lower limit, $5 in a $10-$20 game. Seat three is the big blind and must kick in the full value of the lower limit or $10 in a $10-$20 game.

The deal rotates clockwise around the table beginning with the player to the big blind's left. Each player is dealt their first card in turn, then their second, and so on.

Since the blinds opened with their forced bets, seat four, the player to the big blind's right, bets first. They Call by matching the big blind ($10, the lower limit) and may also Raise by kicking in the big limit, $20 in the $10-$20 example game. In this round Checking is not permitted. The blinds in Hold'Em are live in that they can Call, Raise or Fold.

The Flop
Once the first betting round has completed, the dealer lays out the first three community cards in the center of the table. This is called the flop. This betting round begins with the blinds, or the first remaining seat on the dealer's left. Checking is permitted now and for the rest of the hand. Bets are placed at the lower limit ($10).

A fourth community card it dealt onto the table. Betting begins with the blinds, as before. Now, and for the rest of this game, Bets and Raises are at the high limit ($20). The turn becomes the first expensive street.

The fifth and final community card is dealt. This is also an expensive street: Bets and Raises are all at the high limit ($20).

The Showdown
As in 7 Card Stud, the best 5 card hand wins. Players may form their final hands from any combination of the table cards and their own pocket cards, even ignoring the pocket cards and using only the table cards.

In Hold'Em any player has option to see another player's pocket cards once they've been mucked. Provided the requesting player has Called or Raised the last Bet made, they simply ask the dealer and the mucked cards will be retrieved and shown.

Omaha Poker: Omaha poker is a variant of Texas hold'em poker. It is a popular and complex poker game. Briefly, each player is dealt four cards to his private hand instead of two. The betting rounds and layout of community cards are identical. At showdown, each player's poker hand is the best five-card hand he can make from exactly three of the five cards on the board, plus exactly two of his own cards. Unlike Texas hold'em, a player cannot play only one of his cards with four of the board, nor can he play the board, nor play three from his hand and two from the board, or any other combination. Each player must play exactly two of his own cards with exactly three of the community cards.

Omaha poker was originally created as a high-hand only game, but the high-low split variant called Omaha 8 or better has become so popular that the unadorned term Omaha usually now refers to that, while the original poker game is more commonly known by the phrase Omaha High. It plays best with 5 to 10 players.

In Omaha 8 or better, or just Omaha 8, each player makes a separate five-card high poker hand and five-card ace-to-five low hand, and the pot is split between the high and low (which may be the same player) hands. To qualify for low, a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 hand or lower. A few casinos play with a 9-low qualifier instead, but this is rare. This poker game is generally played at a fixed limit.

When high poker hands only are used, the game is generally called Omaha high to avoid ambiguity. This game plays particularly well at pot limit.

Omaha is similar to hold’em in using a three-card flop on the board, a fourth boardcard, and then a fifth boardcard. Each player is dealt four holecards (instead of two) at the start. In order to make a hand, a player must use precisely two holecards with three boardcards. 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

1.The dealer deals each player their own four cards face-down (pocket cards)
2.1st betting round
3.The dealer burns a card then turns over three community cards face-up
(the flop)
4.2nd betting round
5.The dealer burns another card then turns over 1 more community card (the turn,4th street)
6.3rd betting round
7.The dealer burns another card then turns over 1 final community card (the river,5th street )
8.Last betting round
9.Showdown (Every remaining player shows hand with bettor showing first)

All remaining players must use their two pocket cards and the three boardcards.

RULES OF OMAHA

1. 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 may use any combination of two holecards and three boardcards for the high hand and another (or the same) combination of two holecards and three boardcards for the low hand.

RULES OF OMAHA HIGH-LOW

1. All the rules of Omaha apply to Omaha high-low split except as below.

2. 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.

7 Card Stud: 7 Card Stud is the game for professional poker players. Stud demands skill and it takes a lot of play to develop the winner's edge. Top players are few but they have one thing in common with the rookies: every player of the game is still learning, even the masters.

Stud games are defined by their betting limits. The low stakes online games are usually $2-$4 while the higher games are typically $10-$20. The game's betting limits tell the Stud player pretty much everything they need to know about the nature of the game, the expectations of the players, and the size of the bankroll you should have before you sit in.

The minimum Stud Buy-In is typically 10-times the low limit, or $20 for a $2-$4 game. But playing with the minimum is not recommended (see strategy). Anything below the $10-$20 level is generally considered a beginner's game. The skill and strategy levels required in the higher games are substantial and such games generally do not provide a friendly environment for a beginner.

The Ante
Ante in Stud is mandatory and changes depending on the betting limits. The low games usually require a 10% Ante, so a $2-$4 game will have a $0.20 Ante. The high limit games get up to 25% on the Ante: e.g. $25 on a $100-$200 game. The percentages may vary and 10% is a minimum.

The dealer deals clockwise starting on their immediate left. They deal one card at a time around the table until each player has two pocket cards (face down) and a single up (the door card).

At this point the dealer indicates which player will open the betting, determined by the lowest door card. If there's a tie for low door, suit resolves it: spades over hearts, followed by diamonds, and finally clubs is the lowest.

Betting
Once the initial cards have been dealt, the game begins. At this point we've got three cards on the table per player and that's called Third Street.

The player holding the lowest door card must bring it in by opening with a bet equal to twice the ante ($2 in our example game). If the low door player doesn't make this bet, they're forced to Fold and the opener passes to the player on their left.

The next player clockwise from the opener can Call by matching the opener, Raise by betting the low betting limit ($10) or Fold. Throughout third street all Bets and Raises are fixed at the low betting limit ($10).

Fourth Street
The dealer gives each player another open (up) card. Unlike third street, the opener in the fourth and remaining streets is the high hand as determined by the open cards. They may Check (Pass) or Bet. It they Bet it's at the low limit ($10) and that fixes all raises in this round to the same.

If the high hand is an open pair, the opener can Bet at the upper limit ($20) and this fixes all Raises in the round to the same.

Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Street
Again, the card is dealt up and high hand opens. All Bets and Raises are at the upper limit ($20). The last card, called the river, is another pocket card (face down). All bets and raises are at the high limit ($20).

Showdown
After the Bets and Raises have been resolved, the remaining players enter the Showdown. The opener reveals his pocket cards. If a player wishes to compete with this hand they too reveal their pocket cards, or they can yield and muck out (Fold).

At the casino it's the dealer's responsibility to call the winner, as determined by the best 5-card hand under normal Poker rules. In online games, the software will designate the winner and the pot will be passed to them. It is any player's right to request to see any final hand that has been mucked, though this is primarily intended for casino play.

It's true with all the Poker games, but never truer than with 7-Card Stud: the rules are barely the beginning. It's the strategy and gaming skills that make the game.