I know the main focus of this blog is No Limit Hold'em but I have recently grown fond of the other, older variations of poker. In the early years of the game, the preferred form of the game was 7 card STUD. A player receives 7 cards 4 of which are open for the table to see, and 3 are face down.
One of my favourites, because of its fast pace and hand strengths is Omaha this is split into Hi and Hi/Lo... Hi being the best hand wins and Lo where the worst possible hand.
This including Hold'em have 3 limits: Pot limit, fix limit and No Limit. Furthermore, the same hand hierarchy is used.
However, there are other variations of the game that use a different form of hand hierarchy. Example being 'Razz', a player receives 7 cards and needs to make the lowest possible hand A,2,3,4 being the best possible hand. This form of the game much like stud a player receives 7cards four of which are face up.
A very similar version of Razz, Badugi, which is a Chinese game also consists of 4 cards and drawing rounds. However the its abit more difficult than Razz becoz the four cards need to be of different suit. Example: Ac.2s.3h.4d. I have really grown to enjoy the challenge and placed 180/4000 in a freeroll on Pokerstars a few nights ago.
The reason I learnt how to play all these different variations is because I read some where that it is important to be able to participate in more than just NLH in the WSOP. An event that I'm focusing on is H.O.R.S.E (holdem, omaha hi/lo, razz, stud and holdem). Owing to the fact that it tests a players skill in all four variations as well as the ability to adjust between required styles.
Professional players like Phil Hellmuth play in all these events at the WSOP. In his book, Play like the Pros he explains strategies for all forms of the game...
So maybe shuffle up and deal a new variation at your next poker night!
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