Different Ways of Playing Poker

Introduction

By now we can state that poker is, and will be, the biggest card game ever played. The many different ways of playing poker have been enjoyed by people for hundreds of years. Card games were invented in Kina and India ant then made its way to Europe, but it’s hard to say where poker games as we play them today have its origin. Surely the card games developed and were altered many times on the long journey from Asia to Europe, what we can state is the poker has been played for many years. There are even people that say that poker was the first car game that ever reached America. It is hard to say if this is true but maybe that’s the explanation for the popularity of poker games in the USA. The most popular poker game even carries the name of one of the states, Texas Hold’em. Poker games come in many categories, and types of games an poker tournaments. Texa Hold’em is probably the most well known game type of them all, who has not heard  of this game, and one of the newer types that developed somewhere on pokers journey to conquer the world. There are other game types that have been played way longer then Texas Hold’em, below we will take a look at the different categories and types of poker games.  

Community Card Poker Games, also called Flop Poker

We begin with this category, as this is the most famous and often played poker games these days. Every player seated at the table is dealt a number of personal cards face down, which is followed by a number of community cards that is dealt face up at the middle of the table. The first set of community cards that is dealt is called the flop; this is followed by a betting round. After the first betting round comes the turn, the next community card is revealed. Another round of betting takes place for player that wants to remain in the game, players that didn’t fold in the first betting round. Now the final and last community card is dealt, the river, and the players have a final betting round. At the showdown the remaining players reveal their best combination of cards, created with personal and community cards, hand ranking then decides the winner of the round. Texas Hold’em and Omaha Poker is the most played community card games played today. 

Stud Poker Games

This category consists of cards dealt face down and cards dealt face up, the aim in stud poker is also to create the best hand with your personal cards and cards on the table. Cards are dealt in rounds followed by betting rounds, as the game proceeds the players decide if they want to fold or stay in the game by calling or raising. This poker types most famous games are “5 card stud” and “7 card stud”, basically the difference is the number of cards that you are being dealt and the number of cards that you should combine to the best hand.

Draw Poker Games

Draw poker games differ from the other types of poker games; in this game you only play the cards on your hand. Usually the game begins with a forced bet that you need place to participate in the game round, the antes. The player then receive their first set of full hand, players have the chance to change the unwanted cards that they have been dealt in rounds. Unwanted cards are given back to the dealer that will receive the same number of cards back. Each number of card dealing rounds is followed by betting rounds, players decide if they want to stay in the game or fold. At showdown all the remaining players hands are revealed and the player with the best hands win, “5 card draw” is the most famous game in this category of poker games.

Poker is a skill game, every betting round that follows the dealing of cards demands strategic thinking. This is what separates poker from other games where the outcome is only decided by chance. If everybody had played the hand that they were dealt from the beginning, without the possibilities to bet or fold, the game would have completely different character. This is surely also contributed to the interest for poker games throughout history and today. People can decide who the luckiest person is in many other ways but it is much more interesting to decide who is the most skilled at something. In poker the person with the strongest hand does not always win, bluffing in poker is part of the strategy to steal the pot from your opponents, this makes it even clearer the this is not just a game of chance.