Texas Hold'em
Hold 'em is probably the best known and most popular form of poker today. Each player starts with two hole cards.
There are three rounds of community cards. These are dealt face up, for every player to use, with betting after each round. The best 5-card hand using any combination of the five community cards and two hole cards wins.
Omaha
Omaha is a variation of Hold 'em played with four hole cards instead of two. At showdown, the best five-card hand using exactly two of your hole cards and three cards from the board wins. Unlike Hold 'em, you may not use more than three cards from the board. The betting and blinds are exactly the same as in Hold 'em.
Razz
Did you ever wish your "bad" hands could make you money? Then Razz could be the game for you. Part lowball, part 7-card stud, the goal is to make the best five-card low hand from seven cards.
Each player starts with two hole cards and one upcard; there are then three more rounds of upcards, with betting after each card, and a final downcard, just as in stud. Each player ends up with seven cards: four face up and three face down.
The player holding the best low hand using any five of their cards wins the pot. Aces are always low, and flushes and straights have no effect on the value of a hand. Also, it's good to remember that drawing a pair will not hurt your hand. The best possible hand is A-2-3-4-5.
Each new hand begins with every player putting an ante into the pot. For example, in a $2/$4 limit game, each player would ante 40 cents. The ante is not like a blind, and does not count toward any future bets.
7 Card Stud
Long before Hold 'em became "the game", 7-Card Stud was what you played when poker night came around. One part skill, one part memory, one part strategy, no parts boring.
Each player starts with two hole cards and one upcard; there are then three more rounds of upcards, with betting after each card, and a final downcard, followed by a final betting round. Each player ends up with seven cards: four face up and three face down. The player holding the best hand using any five of their cards wins the pot. As in Hold 'em, aces play both high and low. |
Ante
A payment into the pot by each poker player before cards are dealt for the purpose of stimulating action. Usually forms of seven-card stud have antes. Big Blind
Prior to cards being distributed, the poker player to the left of the small blind puts in chips equal to the minimum bet for the game. These chips considered as a group are called the big blind.
Button
The disk or other marker that indicates the dealer position in a game dealt by a house dealer. Also known as dealer button.
Flop
In hold'em-style games, the three community cards turned face up after the first round of betting.
Limit Poker
A form of poker in which all bets are in increments of the betting limit. That is, in a $2-$4 limit game, players can bet or raise only $2 at a time in early rounds (see betting round) and $4 at a time in late rounds.
No-Limit
The form of poker in which, on his turn, a player can bet any amount from the minimum to all of his chips (or of his opponent's, if the bettor has more), as opposed to a limit game, in which all bets and raises are in multiples of the betting limit. The only restriction on a raise is that it must either equal or exceed the previous bet or raise. The size of a no-limit game is usually expressed as two numbers that represent the sizes of the two blinds.
Pot
The chips in play on a particular hand. "They both had straight flushes and the pot was over $1000." 2. The interval of time from the deal of cards until the showdown. "I was able to play in only three pots all night, and both of those were small."
River
River card. "I spiked an ace on the river." 2. (v) To have that card affect a particular player. For example, if you start with two hearts in the hole, the flop includes two hearts (and one non-heart), the turn a non-heart, and the river is a heart, you are said to have rivered a flush.
Sit-n-Go
A special one-table tournament, which starts as soon as a full table of players are seated. Called sit-and-go because you sit down at an empty seat in such a tournament and wait for the table to fill. Also sit-n-go tournament or simply sit-n-go.
Turn
Turn card. "I spiked an ace on the turn." 2. (v) To have that card affect a particular player. For example, if you start with two hearts in the hole, the flop includes two hearts (and one non-heart), and the turn is a heart, you are said to have turned a flush
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