DRAW POKER
Draw Poker games is the basic form of Poker and the place to start when introducing new players to the game. It`s fairly uncommon these days in the casinos, but it is the form from which all other Poker games are derived.

Drawing : The dealer determines how many cards players will be allowed to draw from the deck, and how many opportunities players will have to draw cards from the deck. "Two draws of two cards", for example, means that players will have two opportunities throughout the course of the game to draw as many as two new cards from the deck each time. "One of three, one of one" would mean that on the first draw, each player can draw as many as three new cards from the deck, and on the second draw, as many as one new card. When determining draws of cards, the dealer must make sure that there will be enough cards in the deck should each player choose to exercise their maximum allowed number of cards on each draw.

Wild cards : The sky is the limit with Draw Poker games. The dealer can designate that any card of his or her choice (before looking at his or her hand, of course) is wild. "Twos and Threes are wild", for example. A player dealt a Two or a Three can make that card any of the 52 cards in the deck he or she chooses. The point to bear in mind is that the more wild cards there are, the better a hand will need to be in order to have a fighting chance in the game. 'Deuces Wild' will produce some fairly modest hands, whereas 'Acey Deucey One-Eyed Jacks, and the Man with the Battleaxe' (count 'em, that's 11 wild cards in total, out of a deck of 52 cards), or worse yet 'Pregnant Threes' (TWELVE wild cards altogether) will produce some very competitive hands where, most likely, nothing less than a four of a kind will cut it. In Roll Your Own, each poker player chooses which card in his or her hand will be wild. In Kings and Little Ones, Kings and the smallest card in each player's hand is wild.

Betting : Typical poker Draw games involve at least two betting rounds, one before and one after each draw. Two draws would involve three rounds of betting, one before the first draw, one between draws, and one after the second draw. There is always one more betting round than there are draws. Because the dealer can call any stipulation he or she likes, some tables play Draw games with only one betting round, after the draw. However, betting rounds are what keep players "honest" and make sure they are paying their dues in order to stay in the game...you can rarely bluff or scare somebody out of a game with one betting round only.

Pay for Your Draw : This is a feature that can be added to any Draw poker game. It helps increase the pot and tends to keep hands lower, which is especially helpful in draw games that include wild cards. When the dealer calls this feature, he or she also calls the price of each card drawn. If, for example, the price of each drawn card is a quarter, and a player decides to draw 3 cards at the appropriate point in the game, then that player would have to throw 75 cents into the pot. A maximum draw can still be called by the dealer, but players must now pay for each card that they wish to draw from the deck.

Roll 'Em : When this feature is added to a Draw poker game, the game is played as normal up until the showdown. At that point, each player lays their hand face-down before them. On the count of three, each player reveals one card of their hand. The highest card showing opens a betting round. On the count of three again, each player reveals a second card from their hand. Best hand showing opens a betting round. This continues for a third and a fourth card, after which the best hand showing opens the fourth and final betting round. In essence, this adds a Stud element to the Draw game. As this adds four betting rounds to the game, it is best used in poker games that do not have enough betting rounds, such as Pass the Trash. One variation of Roll 'Em is that less than the entire hand is rolled off; for example, the dealer may specify that each player only roll off 3 of the 5 cards in their hand. Yet another variation is Seven Card Draw, where each player rolls off five of their seven cards; the cards that they roll off need not necessarily be ones that they use in their five card hand at the showdown.


STUD POKER
In stud poker games, you play with your initially dealt cards, some cards are face down and some are face up, and you bet after each new face up card is dealt and after the last face down card is dealt.

Typical Stud : Stud poker games are normally played with either five or seven cards. In typical Seven Card Stud, as mentioned above, the cards in each player's hand end up being two face-down, four face-up, and one face-down. In typical Five Card Stud, the cards in each player's hand end up being one face-down, and four face-up. Of course, variations are endless.
Wild Cards : It is rare that the dealer calls a wild card flat-out. "Kings are wild", for example, would mean that if a player is dealt a King face-up, everybody can see it and be discouraged by it. Stipulations are almost always involved. For example, "Kings are wild if you get one dealt face-down" or otherwise said, "Kings are wild in the hole". Common exceptions are Kings and Little Ones and Follow the Queen. Other stipulations could involve a player's lowest card dealt face-down is wild, in which case if a player's lowest card in the hole is a Three, and he also has a Three among his face-up cards, both Threes are wild. Again, it is best when a player's wild cards require that they be face-down. That way, nobody knows who has a wild card in their hand until all is said and done.

High / Low : This is very common in Stud poker games. At the end of a High/Low game, the pot is split between the player with the best hand at the table and the player with the worst hand. This is a feature that can be added to just about any Stud poker games, in addition to a game's other rules. It encourages more players to stay in the game longer, although the pot gets split two ways. Players also have the option of calling "pig", that is presenting two different five card hands with their seven cards to attempt to win both High and Low. A player calling "pig" must have both the High and the Low or wins nothing; if, for example, a player wins the Low, but not the High, then that player wins nothing and the next best Low hand wins that half of the pot. The player who calls "pig" and wins both wins the entire pot.

Lowball : The lowest hand at the table wins the pot. Depending on the House Rule where you're playing, the perfect low hand varies. Some tables play that Straights and Flushes count against you (with the logic that a Straight or a Flush is a good regular poker hand, and therefore, a bad Lowball hand), other tables play that Aces cannot be low, while still other tables play that Straights and Flushes do not count against you, and Aces can be low. This would need to be established before the deal, either by the dealer or prevalent House Rule. If Straights do not count against you, then the perfect low would be a A-2-3-4-5. If Straights do count against you and Aces can be low, then the perfect low would be an A-2-3-4-6. If Straights do count against you and Aces cannot be low, then you're playing a game called Kansas City Lowball, and the perfect low would be a 2-3-4-5-7. It is found that the most common form of Lowball involves the A-2-3-4-6 as the best low hand.

New York Stud : This variation, which can be added to any Stud poker games, adds the stipulation that an outside straight beats a pair. An outside straight being four of a player's cards in numerical sequence, or four cards to a straight, this stipulation adds a new rank to the what-beats-what table. The outside straight beats a Pair, but loses to Two Pair. If, through the course of the game, a player has the outside straight showing face-up, that player bets over one who only has a pair showing.

Canadian Stud : This variation plays just like New York Stud, on top of which a fourflush beats an outside straight. A fourflush being four of a player's cards of the same suit, or four cards to a flush, this stipulation adds two new ranks to the what-beats-what table. The outside straight beats a Pair, the fourflush beats an outside straight, but Two Pair beats a fourflush. A player with a fourflush showing bets over a player with an outside straight showing, who bets over a player with a Pair showing. Note: four cards to a Straight Flush is no better than a fourflush; in fact, it is nothing more than a fourflush.

Spanish Stud : This variation can also be added to any Stud game. To play Spanish poker, all of the Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives, and Sixes are removed from the deck. This is a total of 20 cards removed, leaving 32 cards that are played. Spanish five-card stud poker could be played at six people, but Spanish seven-card stud poker could be played by no more than four players, if only one deck is used.

Bet or Drop : This variation can also be added to any Stud game. The stipulation that it adds is that the player who opens the betting round by having the best hand showing, must open with at least the table's minimum bet or fold. The option to 'check' or 'pass' is removed, as that player is required to open with at least a minimum bet. Typically, the dealer will announce a slight increase in the table's minimum bet for purposes of this variation.
Cold Hands : Also called Showdown, a less popular variation where ante is significantly higher, as there are no betting rounds. All cards are dealt face-up in sequence. The best hand wins. Typically used, on top of winning a set pot, to determine the first dealer of the night, or as a final quick game.


TEXAS HOLDEM POKER
The game of Texas Holdem poker is one of strategy and skill. Playing well requires solid knowledge of the poker odds, the ranking of poker hands, probability and of course being able to bluff your opponents. Hold 'Em Poker is a combination of Community Poker and the use of blind bets in place of antes.  A well seasoned texas hold em poker player takes the above mentioned factors and more into account when making a decision to fold, check or raise their bet. One of the most critical factors in poker is being able to read your players and identify patterns in their betting, this way you have a chance of determining whether the player is bluffing or isn`t. Reading players is most easily done by analyzing their eyes as the old saying goes ... "the eye`s never lie", actually holds true in poker. The only down side to this is that many professional players have perfected their poker face and it`s very difficult to pick out a bluff. Other poker players both amateur and professional wear sunglasses so other players can`t read their eyes.


FIVE CARD STUD POKER   
Five card draw is the game many people grew up playing around the kitchen table. In this game, your goal is to make the best five-card hand after one draw. Like hold`em, it`s a game that`s easy to learn, but takes a long time to master.

Five-card draw poker was once the poker game that everyone and his mother knew how to play.  It’s the game you’ll see in numerous poker scenes in old westerns, the game that many of us first learned, a game to feel nostalgic about.  But in recent years, the game has almost vanished.  Among the numerous events at the World Series of Poker, there is no five-card draw event.  Want to play it in a casino? No problem if you live in California, own a time machine and can go back to 1978.  Good luck finding it today in a public card room.


SEVEN CARD STUD POKER
Seven-card stud is played with two downcards and one upcard dealt before the first betting round, followed by three more upcards (with a betting round after each card). After the last downcard is dealt, there is a final round of betting. The best five-card poker hand wins the pot. In all fixed-limit games, the smaller bet is wagered on the first two betting rounds, and the larger bet is wagered after the betting rounds on the fifth, sixth, and seventh cards. If there is an open pair on the fourth card, any player has the option of making the smaller or larger bet. Deliberately changing the order of your upcards in a stud game is improper because it unfairly misleads the other players.


SEVEN STUD HI LO POKER
There can be a maximum of 8 players at a 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo poker game table. There are five betting rounds in a complete game of Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo, not including the ante. Each poker player is dealt 2 cards face down, then 4 cards face up and the final river card is dealt face down.

7 card stud hi lo is a technically demanding poker game where the best poker hands for the high and low split the pot at showdown. In 7 card stud hi lo poker, players are dealt 7 cards throughout the course of the hand, but only the best five-card hand possible for each player is used to determine the winner. Visit  poker hand rankings page to see the ranking of hands for 7 card stud hi lo. Note that 7 card stud hi lo is played with an "8 or better" qualifier, which means that a hand must be, at worst, an 8 for low to be eligible to win the low portion of the pot.


OMAHA HOLD`EM POKER
Omaha is similar to hold�em in using a three-card flop on the board, a fourth boardcard, and then a fifth boardcard. Each player is dealt four holecards (instead of two) at the start. In order to make a hand, a player must use precisely two holecards with three boardcards. The betting is the same as in hold`em. At the showdown, the entire four-card hand should be shown to receive the pot.

Omaha hold `em (or Omaha holdem or simply Omaha) is a community card poker game (often referred to as a "flop game") similar to Texas hold `em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make his best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five community cards.


OMAHA HI LO POKER
In Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or better (Omaha Hi/Lo) the pot is split 50-50 between the best High Hand and the best qualifying Low Hand. Omaha Hi/Lo requires a lot of skill and usually takes a little practice to understand the intricacies of the game.

Omaha Hi/Lo is structurally played the same as Omaha High except that the highest hand wins 50% of the pot and the lowest qualifying hand wins 50% of the pot. A Low hand must be high card "8 or better" to qualify. To be eligible to win the Low, the highest card must be a 5, 6, 7, or 8. The winning Low Hand (8 or better) is determined firstly by the player with the lowest High card. Upon a tie with the High card, the hand goes to the player with the next lowest High card. Any hand that is high card 9 or higher can NOT qualify as a Low Hand.