1. Right now, this is America’s most commonly played poker game. Players each get.
2. The general rules of poker vary for the different types of poker variants like the number of cards dealt, the number of betting rounds, wagering over the lowest hand, high hand, best hand, etc. And, apart from.

1. Forms Of Poker
2. What Are The Forms Of Poker
3. What Are The Types Of Poker
4. How Many Types Of Poker Are There

Lowball poker is a fun variant of poker where the lowest hand wins. It is essentially poker in reverse. For those looking to play something a little different than Texas Hold’em or Omaha Poker, this could be a fun diversion.

Today, we will go over the five most common forms of lowball poker you will find at live and online casinos. We are going to focus on games you will have a chance of seeing in both cash games and poker tournament formats.

The most common forms are Five Card Stud Poker and Seven Card Stud Poker.

Kansas City Lowball

Unless you’re an old-school poker player, you may not have heard the term Kansas City Lowball thrown around too much. Instead, you know it by its traditional name, 2-7 Lowball. In 2-7 Lowball, you make your worst five-card hand but straights and flushes count against you. This means that the lowest hand is 7-5-4-3-2, also known as a #1.

Generally, this game is played in Triple Draw format and with limit betting. It is an action game that can be very swingy depending on your strategy. It is played much more in cash game settings than in poker tournaments.

California Lowball

California Lowball is also known as Ace to Five Lowball. This game uses the same rules as Razz for low. This means that the lowest hand is the A-5 wheel. Also, flushes do not count against you. If you want, you can call this Five Card Draw Razz.

This is another game that’s played in Triple Draw format with limit betting. Unless you’re playing Dealer’s Choice or some form of Mixed Lowball tournament, you are almost always playing this in poker cash games.

Badugi

Up to this point, we have focused exclusively on five-card games. Badugi is a four-car lowball game where the object is to make a hand with one of each suit. Yes, that means the best hand has one diamond, one heart, one club, and one spade. A hand with all four suits is called a Badugi.

This is a solid starting hand in badugi.

This game is a bit different in that if only one person has a Badugi hand at showdown, they are an automatic winner. If more than one player has a Badugi, then the lower Badugi wins. This game uses Razz rules, so an A-2-3-4 Badugi is best.

This game lends itself to both cash games and tournaments online. However, in live settings, you will generally only see it in cash games. Sometimes you will see it offered in mixed games. This is one game that I wish that the World Series of Poker would add as a standalone game.

NL 2-7 Lowball

This game is much more conducive for poker tournaments. Unlike traditional 2-7 Lowball, this game allows for only one draw. Also, it offers NL betting. This allows players to transfer concepts of NL Hold’em to Lowball poker. This game is found more often in poker tournaments than cash games, especially at the World Series of Poker.

Razz

This is perhaps the most hated form of lowball poker in the world. Razz is Seven Card Stud played for low. The game only counts the rank of cards and the lowest hand is A-2-3-4-5, also known as a wheel. It also has a couple of different rules from standard Stud games.

First, the high card is the bring-in on Third Street rather than the low card. Next, action is opened on subsequent streets by the low hand. There are also no double bets on fourth street, similar to what you see in Stud Hi-Lo.

This game is generally spread in mixed cash games and tournaments like HORSE or 8-Game. On occasion, you will find some Razz tournaments, but it is almost exclusively in mixed poker games.

Forms Of Poker

The history of poker has been difficult to track, because of the way the game has evolved over the centuries. It bears a resemblance to early games from both China and Persia, but it is commonly accepted that its closest relative is the 17th-century French game Poque. Featuring three card hands and a heavy reliance on bluffing, Poque was brought to America by French colonists where it became a favorite form of entertainment in the French colonies around New Orleans. The game continued to evolve with influence from the English colonists, becoming more recognizable in its modern form with five-card hands and a 52 card deck.
Poker made its way around America, played by railway and riverboat workers and Civil War Soldiers.

The ease with which it could be picked up and the fact that very little equipment was needed to play it, made it the perfect game to play on the move. It was brought to Britain at the end of the 19th century, and gained further popularity across Europe during World War 1, thanks to the influx of American soldiers who brought it with them during their tours of duty. Modern poker gained worldwide popularity during the poker boom of the 2000s. Along the way, several variants of the game have emerged, varying in difficulty and popularity. Here are some of the most common games you will come across.

Texas Hold ‘Em

The most popular form of poker at 888Poker is Texas Holdem which is also the most commonly played game of poker in tournaments of all sizes, including the World Series of Poker. The game is fairly straightforward to learn, however, the difficulty in winning comes from reading the players and the table and calculating your chances. Often played without a limit, it’s the poker form that gives you the highest chances of winning big.

Players are dealt two face-down hole cards before the initial round of betting. Two players are designated ‘the blinds’ and must ante up, but others can then choose to raise, call, or fold. Three community cards – the ‘flop’ – are dealt before another round of bets, then a fourth (the ‘turn’) and a fifth (the ‘river’), with more opportunity to bet after each additional card. Players must make the best five-card poker hand using any combination of the five community cards and their two hole cards. Texas Hold ‘Em gives players plenty of chances to reassess the situation and fold a losing hand. Typically pairs and suited or big unsuited connectors are worth carrying into the flop, and if nothing useful comes up you can duck out before becoming pot committed. Because of its popularity, there are plenty of strategy guides for Texas Hold ‘Em, so learning the basics is fairly easy to do.

Omaha

Omaha comes in two main variations; Omaha High and Omaha High-Low, and both follow a similar set up to Texas Hold ‘Em. The difference being that players are dealt four hole cards, and must use exactly two of them when combining with the community cards to make the best hand. Because your hand possibilities are increased through the extra hole cards, making it easier to form a good hand, winning Omaha hands tend to be higher than in Texas Hold ‘Em. Bluffing also plays a smaller part in the game, so if that’s your weakness, this could be a good variant for you.

The difference between High and High-Low versions comes when revealing the hands of the winning. Omaha High pays the entire pot to the highest hand, but Omaha High-Low splits the winnings between the highest and the lowest hands, giving players an alternative strategy if their initial cards are disappointing. You might also find casinos offering 5-card Omaha, where you have an extra hole card.

What Are The Forms Of Poker

Stud Poker

Whether 5-card or 7-card, Stud poker is played without community cards. Players are dealt with their own individual hands, usually with some of the cards being private and others being face-up on the table. You will still need to make the best 5-card poker hand, with rounds of betting happening after each new card is dealt, but you will have more information on what cards are being held by your opponents, making it easier to work out what hands they might be able to make. If you like your poker games to be open, with plenty of information to work with, stud poker may well be the variant for you.

Chinese Poker

What Are The Types Of Poker

Not one of the most well-known forms of poker, but no less fun than the traditional formats. Chinese Poker is played with 2-4 players and it is slightly different from the others, for a start, there are no chips involved like there is in all three of the other variants we’ve looked at so far. Instead of chips, players play for units or points. The idea is to arrange your cards into three rows, with the intention of beating your opponent’s corresponding row. You win points when your row is stronger.

How Many Types Of Poker Are There

To begin, players arrange their 13 cards into three rows, with three cards on the top, five in the middle and five on the bottom. The bottom row must be stronger than the middle row and the middle row must be stronger than the top row in order for the game to begin. If the hand doesn’t qualify, the opponent wins. The rows are matched up against your opponent’s rows, with each row being worth one point, although three points are awarded if one player comes out on top in all three rows!

There are many more forms of poker than are mentioned here, including some more modern versions that you will only find online. Be sure to try a few in order to find the one that suits your play style best.