You want to play more than Texas Hold’Em? No problem. In fact, if you have dreams of winning big time poker money, you need to make sure that you are trying to get more variants under your belt. The World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour are two poker tournaments that combine multiple types of poker so players win big. You could win a lot of money in the side poker games, like Omaha or Caribbean Stud. There’s also a H.O.R.S.E tournament that combines a bunch of poker variants at once.
But bigger money isn’t the only reason that you should be thinking about this. If you want to sharpen your skills, new poker variants give you the ability to do that as well.
Let’s go over the top variations, shall we?
1. Omaha Hi-Lo
Do you want large pots? Then you definitely want to play Omaha Hi-Lo.
Here’s how it works: every player at the table gets four hole cards. Those are cards unique to you. There’s also five community cards.
Here’s where it gets interesting: even though all the players at the table will use just two cards from the four they were dealt with three from the board, the pot is split. You have to make a high hand and a low hand. That’s where it gets interesting because you need to know not only your poker hands and their rankings, but you need to also think about the lowest. Suddenly, those trash cards from Hold’Em look mighty appealing, wouldn’t you say?
2. Caribbean Stud
Caribbean Stud is one of our favorite variants. It’s pretty easy to remember how to play it, and casinos like it. The odds are traditionally a bit in the casino’s favor than yours, but hey — you wanted a challenge, right?
Here’s how it works: before the cards are dealt to each player, you make your bet. That’s the “ante”. You also have a progressive jackpot that you can bet into. The dealer will wait for the betting round to end, then give you five cards. You look at your cards. Like Hold’Em, youíre either in or out at this point.
If you want to stay in, you have to put down double the ante bet, for the “call”. Once this round is finished, the dealer reveals the four hole cards dealt to him.
If he or she has an A-K (ace-king) or higher, then the dealer will compete with the players. If he or she doesn’t, then the bettors get their money back.
But if he is going to compete, then your hand has to be better than the dealer’s in order to win.
The jackpot game might not be your cup of tea, but it’s fun to see if you get to win it or not. A flush or higher wins the pot!
3. Let it Ride!
This is one that’s pretty fun. We’ve only gotten in a few games, because so few of our online poker buddies want to play. But if you can handle Hold’Em, you can definitely handle Let it Ride.
It’s limited to a few casinos now, as it’s fallen off in popularity but it’s still out there. The way it works is simple: you make three bets, and they all have to be the same size. After you do that, the dealer will give you three cards. You can pull your first bet back, if you change your mind. If you’re feeling dangerous, you can “let it ride”.
The dealer continues this until you have two community cards in the middle. All players use the community cards to make their best hands. The casino will have the pay table to show you how much you get.
Have you played any of these variations? We’d love to hear all about it?
