Rule variations (poker)

Rule variations in poker.

Overview

There are many types of poker games. While poker was originally played with each player receiving five poker cards and only one betting round, it has expanded to include hundreds of variants. Currently, the most popular one is Texas Hold'em, but other variants are very popular.

Here are some common rule variations:

1. High and low hand split the pot. Generally there is a qualifier for the low hand. For example, the low hand must have 5 poker cards with ranks of 8 or less. In most high-low games the usual rank of poker hands is observed, so that an unsuited broken straight (7-5-4-3-2) wins low (see Morehead, Official Rules of Poker card Games). In a variant, based on Lowball, where only the low hand wins, a straight or a flush does not matter for a low hand. So the best poker low hand is 5-4-3-2-A, suited or not.

2. Players can pass poker cards to each other. An example of this would be Anaconda.

3. 'Kill Game'. When a fixed limit game is played and a player wins two pots in a row, the stakes are doubled.

4. Wild poker cards are added. This can range from simply making deuces wild to the wild 7-stud variant of baseball.

5. Players can buy another poker card from the deck. If a player does not like their poker card, they can purchase another one by adding money to the pot. This is sometimes called a "Title."

6. A stripped deck may be used. Poker was first played with only 20 poker cards. In the spirit of poker history, players will sometimes only play with a stripped deck. A popular poker game in Spain is played with poker cards 8-A. It is played similar to hold'em, except that one poker card is dealt at a time and you must use both of your whole poker cards.