Best Alternatives To Texas Holdem

Here I Look At Some Cool Alternatives To Texas Holdem Poker

Texas Holdem is the most popular format for online poker by a long way. The No-limit format alone accounts for more than 75% of hands played, and when you add ‘pot-limit’ and ‘fixed-limit’ variations, this figure is closer to 80%. Texas Holdem is big enough to have spawned sub-industries all of its own including training sites and dedicated Texas Holdem Software too. While there is little doubt that this is a great format, there are several more games which every online poker fan should try. After all, variety can keep your mind fresh and help you understand the fundamentals of the game better than ever.

Variation #1 – Pot-Limit Omaha

Omaha is similar in format to Holdem, with a flop, turn and river. There are two key differences which make this a wild game compared with the standard tables. Firstly, each player is dealt 4 of their own cards – two of which should be used from your hand along with 3 of the community cards. Second, betting is in ‘pot-limit’ format, meaning you can only bet up to the size of the current pot. This stops players going all-in too easily and makes the game more strategic.

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Variation #2 – Omaha Hi-Lo

I am covering this game separately from the high-only PLO, as there is a whole new dimension to this online poker game which you will need to master. At showdown, the pot is split between the highest poker hand, and the lowest – as decided by 5 different low cards (ace being counting as a low for this side of the pot and a high for the other side). This game can either be played with pot-limit betting or with fixed limit – while no-limit Omaha high low does run, this is the least popular format, since the games get too crazy too fast!

Variation #3 – 7 Card Stud (+ variations)

Stud is one of the oldest forms of poker, each player is dealt their own 7-cards. In this form of the game 4 cards are showing (the 3rd to 6th cards dealt) for all to see… making it possible to tell a story about what kind of hand you have with your betting. There are several sub-types of this game including high-only, high-low split and low only (the low game is called Razz). There is one extra betting round compared with Holdem games, which often results in big pots.

Variation #4 – Draw Poker

Draw evokes pictures of the wild west, and is one of the oldest formats of all. Here none of the cards are seen, you only have your opponents tendencies and betting styles to judge their hands by. There are many entertaining variations of draw poker, including high-only, lowball (low only), 2-7 triple-draw (fixed limit) and single draw (no-limit) and even quirky variations like Badugi.

If you are unsure of which game to try, you can even play them all at the same time – Pokerstars run a game called ‘8-game’ which sees 6 hands of each of 2-7 Triple Draw, Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Stud High, Stud Hi-Lo, NL Holdem and Pot Limit Omaha – these games are not only great fun, they attract recreational players, which makes them easy to beat too.

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