As I mentioned in my previous post, I would like to make you familiar with poker games that most of you might not have heard of. If someone tells you "I know how to play Texas Hold'em, and I don't need to know about other games", he is probably a narrow-minded fool. Everyone needs to know how to play different games in order to improve his skills. That helps you look at the game from different perspective which is always an eye-opening experience.
In my last post I didn't talk about the oldest version of poker - 5 Card Draw. That is the first poker game I learned about 12-13 years ago. It is actually very simple - every player is dealt 5 hole cards, visible only for him, and after that there is a betting round. Then the players that continue in the hand (that haven't folded) can choose how many and which of their hole cards they want to throw away and replace them with new cards from the dealer. There is a final betting round after that and the best hand wins. This game becomes less and less popular as time goes by maybe because there are only 2 betting rounds and only 1 draw when you can exchange cards - that makes it a perfect game for a beginner player but is not as exciting as Omaha for example.
Another poker game that I really like (but unfortunately I'm not very good at) has some variations and is called Stud in some places and Razz in others. I won't go into further detail how are they different because I want to focus on the main rules of the game. Every player is dealt three cards, two hidden and one face up. After a betting round, the remaining players receive 1 more face up card. That procedure repeats until every player has a total of 2 face down and 4 face up cards. Then there is a betting round after which players receive one final face down card. From these 3 "dowcards" and 4 "upcards" every player makes his best 5 card hand and the best hand wins. Razz is unique because the winning player is the one, who has the lowest hand - for example the best hand is "A 2 3 4 5" because ace is counted as low, and the straights or flushes doesn't matter.
I hope you will enjoy playing these exciting poker games. It will help you develop a more complex view of the poker as a variety of games, all of which offer you a unique and unforgettable experience. I wish you good luck and I will see you at the tables!
Five-card draw was the first poker game I learned as a child as well. Do you play that insanely stupid game where you put a card on your forehead and everyone else can see it but not you?
ReplyDeleteI think you talk about a so called "Indian" poker :) You are dealt 2 cards, which you put on your forehead and thus you can only see the cards of everyone else except yours. And I find it really enjoyable.
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