Pokerzin"Poker" is not a single game, it is a family of games. They all use the same hand rankings and the same idea of betting in rounds, but they differ in the number of cards, which cards you may use and how much you can bet. This guide covers the most played variants and explains why Texas Hold'em became the standard.
Texas Hold'em
The most played poker in the world and the one you find on Pokerzin. Each player gets two face-down cards, and five community cards are dealt face up in three stages: the flop (three cards), the turn (one) and the river (one). The best five-card hand made from any combination of the seven available cards wins.
Hold'em is easy to learn (you can get the rules in one hand) and hard to master, because almost all the information is public and the difference lies in the decisions. The full rules are in the guide on how to play Texas Hold'em.
Omaha
The second most popular. The structure is the same as Hold'em (flop, turn, river), but each player gets four cards and must use exactly two of them with exactly three from the board. This rule confuses Hold'em players: with four hearts on the board and a single heart in your hand, you don't have a flush in Omaha.
Since everyone has many more combinations, winning hands are stronger. A flush or straight that would win in Hold'em often loses in Omaha. It is almost always played as Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO), where the maximum bet is the size of the pot.
Short Deck (6+ Hold'em)
Hold'em with the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s removed (36 cards). With fewer cards, big hands come more often and the rankings change: in most rooms a flush beats a full house, because it becomes harder to make. The Ace can complete the low straight A-6-7-8-9.
Seven Card Stud
It was the most played poker before Hold'em. There are no community cards: each player gets seven cards over the hand, some face up and some face down, and makes the best five-card hand. Since everyone's face-up cards are visible, remembering what has already appeared is an important part of the game.
Five Card Draw
The "movie" poker. Each player gets five face-down cards, there is a betting round, each player swaps as many cards as they want and there is a final round. It is the simplest of all and the most common in home games.
Limit, Pot-Limit and No-Limit
Any variant can be played with different rules for bet sizes:
| Format | How much you can bet |
|---|---|
| Limit | Fixed amounts in each round, with a maximum number of raises |
| Pot-Limit | From one big blind up to the size of the pot |
| No-Limit | From one big blind up to all your chips (all-in) |
No-Limit Texas Hold'em is the most famous form, the one in the big televised tournaments. It is also Pokerzin's: at any moment any player can push all their chips in, and that changes strategy a lot.
Cash game, tournament and sit & go
Besides the variant, the format of the game changes too:
- Cash game (open table): you sit with as many chips as you want within a limit, every chip on the table is yours and you can leave whenever you want, taking what you have. Blinds don't go up. Pokerzin tables work this way, with virtual chips.
- Tournament: everyone starts with the same number of chips, the blinds rise every so often and play goes on until one player has everything. Prizes go to the top finishers.
- Sit & go: a small tournament that starts as soon as the seats at one table fill up.
For learning, cash games are the best starting point: the blinds stay put, each hand stands on its own and you can study the same spot many times.
Summary: Hold'em has two cards in hand and five on the board; Omaha has four in hand and forces you to use two; Stud and Draw have no community cards. No-Limit lets you bet everything, and the cash game is the format where the chips on the table are yours.