There are more than 100 million online poker players around the world, with around 60 million in the United States alone. In recent years these numbers have steadily grown with even better access to online casinos via smartphones with excellent user experiences and variation.
Players can log into their desired online casino and play on a smartphone or laptop at any time or place. The instant access and ability to join live-dealer rooms have helped bridge the gap between visiting a casino and playing online.
You can find a huge range of variations of poker with different buy-in levels to help you find the right level for your ability and understanding of the game.
For those new to poker, there are a number of different variations to learn and choose from.
Texas Hold’em
One of the best-known forms of the game, and it is also the format used in the World Series of Poker, which has only strengthened its popularity.
Texas Hold’em sees players receive two pocket cards after anteing up. This means meeting the minimum amount of money required to play. The dealer then places five community cards face down on the table, and a round of betting begins.
The dealer then turns three of the community cards, which is called the flop, to begin another round of betting. Then the fourth card (the turn) is turned over for another round of betting before the final card, the river card, is turned, and a final round of betting commences.
Each player then folds or takes place in the showdown using their pocket cards to see who forms the highest-ranked card and wins the jackpot.
2-7 Triple Draw
In this version, the dealer places five cards, face down, before a betting round starts. Then, the first three cards are turned over, and players are then given the chance to swap from their existing hand with the dealer.
A second round of betting commences before a second drawing round with one more card turned, followed by a third round of each to finally reveal all the cards. The highest-ranked cards will win, or in the “lowball” version of this game, the lowest-ranked cards win.
5-card Draw
The dealer will issue five cards to each player to begin the game. Each player can then, in turn, trade in up to three of their cards for new ones from the dealer. At the end of this round of exchanges, the cards are shown, and the winner is declared. Betting will commence after the first five cards are issued, as well as after the round of trading in cards.
7-card Stud
Like the 5-card Draw game, this one, as you can imagine, includes seven cards. 7-card Stud used to be the most popular form of poker before Texas Hold’em rose to prominence in 1970.
Three cards are turned like in a 5-card Draw, and the betting continues identically. The difference comes with how you work out the winner. You must create the highest-ranking hand from five of the seven cards on offer. The player with the highest hand wins.
Badugi
This version of poker sees the Ace card flipped from being the highest-ranked card to the lowest. The dealer issues four cards instead of five for the betting round to them begin.
When the first round begins, players can draw up to four cards at a time before a second betting round begins before a second round of betting followed by a third. This happens four times before the showdown, and the player with the best hand from their four cards wins.
Chinese Poker
This is a game for two to four players, where each player has 13 cards. Each player splits their cards into three hands, two of five cards and one of three cards. The hand of three cards is called The Front, and the two hands of five are The Middle and The Back.
The goal is to have your front hand as the lowest-ranking hand with the back as the highest. All the cards in their hands are placed face down, with the front furthest from the player. Each player receives points based on the hands they reveal, and the winner collects royalty units.
Stud
This is a variation of the standard poker game when players must put together the best hand they can from the cards issued to them by the dealer. There is no card swapping in a stud game which usually consists of five or seven cards per hand.
Razz
A razz poker game is a form where the player with the lowest ranking hand wins. The Ace card is given the lowest value, and players look to hold the lowest-ranked hand. Razz follows a stud format, which means that players do not have the opportunity to swap their cards.