Types of Poker – Top 10 Poker Variants You Must Play

Cash Games

Cash games don’t have start or end times. A cash game only stops if all poker players leave the table. Unlike tournaments, chips in a cash game have a value. For example, if someone sits down with $100 worth of poker chips, their stack is worth $100.

Like other types of poker games, the aim is to win chips from your opponent. However, your cash game strategy differs from a tournament because the blinds don’t increase. There tends to be less aggressive plays pre-flop.

Sit & Gos

Sit & Gos (SNGs) are mini-tournaments. They don’t have set start times. Instead, a game begins once the table is full. After this, play continues until someone has all the chips. The top performers win a share of the prize pool, with the winner getting the most money.

Freerolls

Freerolls are tournaments that carry no entry fee. The beauty of freerolls is that you can win cash prizes donated by the poker room. There is zero risk, but you might have to play your way through thousands of players to get to the money places.

The average skill level in freerolls is low, so they’re a good way to make money for nothing. Our top-rated poker sites give new customers entry to freerolls. You can also get entry to exclusive freerolls by earning reward points.

Satellites

Satellites are also known as “qualifiers”. Winning a satellite earns you entry into a more expensive tournament. This may be a larger satellite, an online championship final, or even a major live event.

Typically, satellites guarantee a certain number of seats or travel packages. Satellites play down to a few remaining players to determine who bags themselves a seat.

2003 World Champion Chris Moneymaker won his way into the $10,000 WSOP Main Event via a $39 satellite. He went on to win the tournament for $1.5 million.

Omaha Hi

Omaha Hi, commonly referred to as Omaha, is almost identical to Texas Hold’em. It’s a community card game in which betting takes place pre-flop and subsequently on the flop, turn, and river. There are several different types of poker tournaments and cash games for Omaha, but it is most commonly found in the Pot-limit format.

The fundamental difference between Omaha and Hold’em is that players receive four hole cards. Importantly, a player must use two of their hole cards. Omaha is commonly played as a

Joe Yarnold

Casino & Betting Expert

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Expert Insight

Hand strength is very different in Omaha compared to Hold’em. In Texas Hold’em, two pair or a strong top pair can often be enough to win the pot. In Omaha, however, these hands are rarely good by the river, as the four hole cards and more draw possibilities mean straights, flushes, and even full houses are far more common.

Omaha Hi-Lo/Omaha 8

Omaha Hi-Lo is a split-pot game. Like other variants of poker with split-pot rules, there can be two winners: the person with the best high-value hand and the person with the best low-value hand.

It’s also possible for players to scoop both parts of the pot. A high-value hand follows the same rankings as common poker games such as Hold’em, i.e. a high card is the worst hand, and a royal flush is the best.

A low-value hand is defined by the same rankings as you’ll find in other lowball poker variants. That means a hand’s value is defined by its highest card. The best possible lowball hand is A-2-3-4-5 (aces are low).

Straights and flushes don’t count when you’re ranking low hands, but pairs do. Apart from the split-pot rule, Omaha Hi-Lo games play out in the same way as Omaha Hi games.

Joe Yarnold

Casino & Betting Expert

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Expert Insight

Bluffing is much harder in Omaha Hi-Lo because it’s primarily a value game, and there’s often at least one player holding a strong high or low hand. That said, bluffing can work in specific situations — for example, in a heads-up pot when the board suggests a strong high hand and you don’t believe your opponent has it. However, overall, you should bluff far less frequently than in Hold’em, as players are more likely to have hands worth calling with.

7-Card Stud/5-Card Stud

No poker games list would be complete without Stud. Typically played with seven cards but also available in five-card variants, this game doesn’t involve community cards. Instead, everyone receives their own card from which they have to make a ranked five-card hand.

To help you determine what other hands people might have, the rules of Stud dictate that some cards are dealt face up and some face down. So, in 7-Card Stud, three cards are dealt face down, and four are dealt face up.

In 5-Card Stud, meanwhile, you receive one face-down card to begin with, followed by three up-cards, and a final down-card.

Joe Yarnold

Casino & Betting Expert

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Expert Insight

In Stud Poker,, you get valuable information from the cards other players have showing. Always assess your hand strength, relative to others. Pay attention not only to active players’ upcards but also to the cards that have been folded. Knowing which cards are no longer in play can help you calculate your odds of hitting the card you need.

Razz

Razz is a lowball variant of Stud. Based on what we’ve described already, Razz is a combination of Omaha Hi-Lo and 7-Card Stud. That means you receive seven cards, and the aim is to make the best low hand (i.e., a hand that is defined by its highest-value card).

Joe Yarnold

Casino & Betting Expert

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Expert Insight

If your starting hand includes a pair or a card ranked 9 or higher, you should fold. You're already at a clear disadvantage, and it’s better to play tight and conserve your chips rather than hoping to improve a weak hand.

5-Card Draw

Draw poker is one where you’re the only person who gets to see your hole cards unless there’s a showdown. A round starts with players putting in an ante. After that, everyone gets five cards dealt face down.

You then assess the value of your cards and decide whether you want to play or fold. If you play, you’ll have the opportunity to hold or exchange as many cards as you like.

Finally, if two or more players are active after the draw, a showdown takes place, and the ranked poker hand wins. Most casino poker variations, including Ultimate Texas Hold’em and Caribbean Stud, use the 5-card draw format.

Joe Yarnold

Casino & Betting Expert

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Expert Insight

Although you can’t see your opponents’ cards in 5-Card Draw, you can still gain valuable information based on how many cards they draw. Generally, the fewer cards they draw, the stronger their hand is likely to be. If a player stands pat (doesn’t draw any cards), they probably already have a strong hand. Drawing just one card usually means they’re trying to improve an already solid hand, like two pair or trips. If they draw two or more cards, it’s a sign they’re likely chasing a weak hand or trying to complete a draw.

H.O.R.S.E

H.O.R.S.E is a mixed game made up of five different types of poker: Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, 7-Card Stud, and 7-Card Stud Eight or Better. It’s known as a mixed game because the variant changes after each orbit of the button. Many pros consider H.O.R.S.E the ultimate test of skill because you have to be proficient in the most popular poker games.

Joe Yarnold

Casino & Betting Expert

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Expert Insight

Many players struggle in H.O.R.S.E. because they fail to adjust their playstyle. You need to adapt your playstyle based on the game. For example, In Texas Hold’em, aggression is often rewarded, while Razz favors a more conservative approach. Play to your strengths—if you're less skilled in certain games, avoid high-risk plays and conserve your chips for formats where you excel.

2-7 Triple Draw

2-7 Triple Draw is a 5-card game that’s similar to the lowball poker variants we’ve already described. That means the lowest-value hand wins, and, as before, the value of a hand is determined by its highest card.

In 2-7 Draw, each player is dealt five face-down cards. After the first round of betting, players can choose to discard and redraw any number of cards from their hand. This redraw phase happens two more times (for a total of three redraws), with a round of betting occurring after each redraw.

However, while the overarching premise of 2-7 Triple Draw is the same as Razz and the low portion of Omaha Hi-Lo, there are some differences. Specifically, straights and flushes count against your hand. They don’t in Razz, for example. Additionally, aces are high cards. This means the best 2-7 Triple Draw hand is 2-3-4-5-7.

Joe Yarnold

Casino & Betting Expert

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Expert Insight

Pay attention to drawing patterns in 2-7. Players can draw up to three times, and the way they handle each draw can reveal a lot about their hand. If a player draws two or three cards on the first draw and then stands pat on the second, it's a strong indicator they've likely improved to a very powerful hand. In this case, if you still need one or two cards to make a strong hand, it's often best to fold rather than hope to hit something on your final draw.

Short Deck Hold’em

Short Deck Hold’em, or 6+ Hold’em, is a version of Texas Hold’em where all cards lower than a 6 are removed from the deck. The action plays out the same as Hold’em, and you’ll only notice a difference when hands go to a showdown.

The hand rankings for Short Deck Hold’em invert the value of full houses and flushes, i.e. flushes are ranked higher than full houses. That’s because flushes are harder to make.

Joe Yarnold

Casino & Betting Expert

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Expert Insight

With fewer cards in play, strong hands occur more frequently in Short Deck Hold’em, allowing you to widen your starting hand range. Suited connectors and Broadway cards (10 through A) gain significant value, making them more playable. However, low pocket pairs like 6s, 7s, or 8s, which are solid in standard Hold’em, often get outdrawn in Short Deck, so they shouldn't be overvalued.

Chinese Poker

Of all the different types of poker you can play, Chinese is something of an outlier. That’s because it’s more of a side game that people play while they’re on a tournament break.

Up to four players can play Chinese Poker because everyone gets 13 cards. The aim is to arrange those 13 cards into three hands. Two hands contain five cards, and the last has three cards.

Hands must be arranged from strongest (on the bottom) to weakest (on the top). In standard Chinese poker, you arrange all 13 cards at once so this isn’t too difficult but in open-faced Chinese poker you start with 5 cards and are then dealt one face card up at a time and must decide where to put it. You can not move the cards once they are placed so you must plan carefully where to place each card.

Players get a point for each hand they win, and, in general, points have a cash value. The player with the most points at the end of a game makes a profit.

Joe Yarnold

Casino & Betting Expert

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Expert Insight

A common mistake among beginners in Chinese Poker (especially open-faced Chinese poker) is fouling, which occurs when you fail to properly arrange your three hands with the strongest in the back (bottom), the medium-strength hand in the middle, and the weakest in the front (top). If you foul by misordering your hands, you immediately lose the round, and your opponent will scoop the entire pot.