Texas Hold'em is the best-known poker game, but it is only one of hundreds. Changing the game now and then keeps a regular home game fresh, and "dealer's choice" nights, where each dealer picks the game, are a classic.
This guide covers the main families of poker, how each one plays, and a few home-game favourites. All of them use the standard hand rankings unless stated.
A very short history of poker
Poker grew out of earlier European bluffing games, including the German "Pochen" and the French "Poque". The French game travelled to New Orleans, spread along the Mississippi riverboats in the early nineteenth century and gradually became the game we know. Drawing cards to improve a hand, and then Stud Poker, followed as the game moved west.
The most famous hand in poker history is the dead man's hand: two pair, aces and eights, said to have been held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot during a game in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, in 1876.
The three families of poker
| Family | How it works | Best-known games |
|---|---|---|
| Draw | Each player gets a full hand face down and can swap cards to improve it. | Five Card Draw, Lowball |
| Stud | Each player gets their own mix of face-down and face-up cards, with a round of betting after each new card from the third card onwards. | Five Card Stud, Seven Card Stud, Razz |
| Community card | Players combine private cards with shared cards in the middle of the table. | Texas Hold'em, Omaha |
Five Card Draw
The classic home game. Each player antes and receives five cards face down. After a round of betting, each player still in may discard up to three cards (four if keeping an ace, by common house rule) and receive replacements. A second round of betting follows, then the showdown.
- Jacks or better ("jackpots"): a player needs at least a pair of jacks to open the betting. If nobody can open, everyone antes again and the cards are redealt. The opener must show their openers at the end of the hand.
- Deuces wild: all four 2s are wild and can stand for any card. Five of a kind becomes the top hand.
Seven Card Stud
Before Hold'em took over, this was the most popular game in card rooms. Each player antes and receives two cards face down and one face up. Betting follows, then three more cards are dealt face up one at a time, each followed by betting, and a final card face down. Players make their best five-card hand from their seven. With eight players the deck can run out if everyone stays to the end; if that happens, the final card is dealt face up in the middle as a shared card for everyone.
Five Card Stud is the older, simpler version: one card face down, one face up, then three more face up, with betting after each.
Omaha
Played like Texas Hold'em with the same flop, turn and river, but each player receives four hole cards and must use exactly two of them with exactly three from the board. That one rule catches out every new Omaha player: four hearts in your hand plus one on the board is not a flush. Omaha is usually played pot-limit, often called "PLO".
Lowball and Razz
In lowball games the lowest hand wins. In ace-to-five lowball, the version used in Razz and in split games, straights and flushes do not count and aces are always low, so the best possible hand is 5-4-3-2-A, known as the wheel. Lowball can be played as a draw game; Razz is lowball played as Seven Card Stud. Agree the low-hand rules before you start, as some groups count straights and flushes against a low hand.
High-low split games
In high-low games, the pot is split between the best high hand and the best low hand. Omaha Hi-Lo and Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo are the most common. Most groups use an "eight or better" rule: to qualify for low, a hand must have five different cards ranked eight or below (aces count low). If nobody qualifies, the high hand takes the whole pot.
Dealer's choice favourites
- Indian Poker: each player gets one card and holds it on their forehead without looking, so everyone can see it except them. Bet, then reveal. Highest card wins. Short, silly and very popular late in the evening.
- Spit in the Ocean: a draw game where each player gets four cards and one card is dealt face up in the middle as a shared fifth card, which is wild along with the other three of that rank.
- Baseball: a Seven Card Stud game in which 3s and 9s are wild, and a player dealt a 4 face up receives an extra card.
- Cincinnati: each player gets five cards and five more are dealt face down in the middle, then turned one at a time with betting in between. Players make their best five-card hand from all ten.
- Pineapple: Hold'em where each player gets three hole cards and discards one before the flop.
Squirrel tip: Running a dealer's choice night? Agree a short list of approved games and their wild cards before the first deal, and keep the betting structure the same for every game.
Whichever game you choose, you will need the right number of chips and decks. See our guides on how many poker chips you need and hosting a poker night. If Texas Hold'em is still your main game, the Poker Whizz Wheel is a handy pre-flop strategy guide to keep at the table.
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Related guides: Poker hand rankings | How to play Texas Hold'em | Home poker rules