Hold’Em Games and Variations

Texas Hold’em poker is probably the most popular form of poker being played today, both in online poker rooms and at live poker tables.  But did you know that there are other variations of Hold’em style games that have branched off Texas Hold’em?  The basic concept that runs through all of the Hold’em variations is the fact that the game is played with a combination of community cards, players’ hands, and blind bets instead of antes.  Let’s take a look at a few of the variations. 

In order to understand the variations, you need to understand the basic concepts of Texas Hold’em.  In this game, the highest hand wins the round.  Players can make up their winning hand by using one, both, or neither of their hole cards to create their high hand.  Aces can be played as high or low in straights, and play goes clockwise from the dealer.  Within the deal, blind bets and flops are established. 

 Crazy Pineapple is played the same way as Texas.  The difference between the two is in Crazy Pineapple each player is dealt three cards in which one must be discarded after the flop.  Irish Hold’em starts with the players receiving four cards and discarding two of their cards after the flop.  Irish Hold’em is more similar to Omaha than true Texas Hold’em.   

 Manila Hold’em is played with a deck that is stripped of every card below the seven.  The game is then played with the remaining thirty-two cards.  Two hole cards are dealt to every player and the five community cards are dealt one at a time followed with a round of betting.  The showdown is played closer to the showdown in Omaha where each player makes their best hand from their two cards and only three of the community cards.  Flushes beat full houses, and aces can only be played as high in a straight. 

 In the Pyramid version of Hold’em, once again the highest hand wins.  Aces can be played as both high and low, and play is clockwise from the dealer.  In this game, players are dealt four cards face down.  Betting then goes around the table and the community cards are then laid face down in the centre of the table in a pyramid shape - hence the name.  The dealer then turns over one card, betting commences and then another card is revealed.  This continues until all six community cards are turned over and the showdown begins.  Five card hands are built from the player’s four cards, the peak card of the pyramid, one of the two centre cards, and one of the three bottom cards. 

 There are other forms of Hold’em games that can be learned but many of them are not seen in the online poker rooms.  Most of the variations can be found in live table play, but Texas Hold’em is still the most popular and widely played version of the game.  If you play live poker with buddies, why not try one of the variations for fun?  It could prove very interesting.