Poker Rulebook

Traditional Poker Varieties

A guide to the most known forms of poker

No-Limit Hold'em

Objective: Make the best five-card hand using any combination of your two private "hole" cards and the five shared "community" cards.

  • Players: 2-10 players.
  • Hole Cards: Each player is dealt two cards face down.
  • Betting Rounds: Four rounds of betting: Pre-Flop, Flop, Turn, and River.
  • The Flop: Three community cards are dealt face up.
  • The Turn: A fourth community card is dealt face up.
  • The River: A fifth and final community card is dealt face up.
  • Betting Structure: "No-Limit" means players can bet any amount, up to their entire stack, at any time.
  • Showdown: If two or more players remain after the final betting round, the best five-card hand wins the pot.
Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) - 4 Card

Objective: Make the best five-card hand using exactly two of your four hole cards and exactly three of the five community cards.

  • Players: 2-9 players.
  • Hole Cards: Each player is dealt four cards face down.
  • Key Rule: You MUST use 2 of your hole cards and 3 of the community cards. No more, no less.
  • Betting Structure: "Pot-Limit" means the maximum bet or raise is the size of the total pot, including the amount required for the call.
  • Gameplay: Follows the same betting rounds as Hold'em (Pre-Flop, Flop, Turn, River).
Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) - 5 Card

Objective: Similar to 4-Card PLO, but with an extra hole card. Make the best five-card hand using exactly two of your five hole cards and exactly three of the five community cards.

  • Players: 2-8 players.
  • Hole Cards: Each player is dealt five cards face down.
  • Key Rule: The "use exactly two from hand, three from board" rule is the most crucial part of Omaha.
  • Betting Structure: Pot-Limit.
  • Impact: The extra card increases the potential for strong hands, leading to even more action than 4-Card PLO.
Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo (8-or-Better)

Objective: A split-pot game where players aim to win both the "high" hand pot and the "low" hand pot. The pot is divided between the best traditional high hand and the best qualifying "low" hand.

  • Hole Cards: Each player is dealt four cards face down.
  • High Hand: Made using standard poker hand rankings.
  • Low Hand Qualification: To qualify for the low half of the pot, a player must make a five-card hand with all cards being 8 or lower, with no pairs. Aces are considered low. The best possible low hand is A-2-3-4-5 (the "wheel").
  • The "8-or-Better" Rule: A low hand can only be made if there are at least three community cards of rank 8 or lower. If no player can make a qualifying low hand, the entire pot is awarded to the player with the best high hand.
  • Key Construction Rule: Players MUST use exactly two of their four hole cards and exactly three of the five community cards to make both their high hand and their low hand. The cards used can be different for each hand.
  • Scooping: One player can win both the high and low halves of the pot, which is called "scooping the pot."
  • Betting Structure: Pot-Limit.
Short Deck (6+ Hold'em)

Objective: Make the best five-card hand in this action-packed variant played with a stripped-down deck.

  • Deck: Played with a 36-card deck (cards 2 through 5 are removed).
  • Hand Ranking Changes: A Flush beats a Full House. In some variations, Three-of-a-Kind beats a Straight.
  • Ace as High/Low: The Ace can still play as high (part of a T-J-Q-K-A straight) or low (as a "5" to make an A-6-7-8-9 straight).
  • Gameplay: Similar to No-Limit Hold'em but with different odds and hand strengths due to the smaller deck.
7-Card Stud

Objective: Make the best five-card hand from the seven cards you are dealt. There are no community cards.

  • Players: 2-8 players.
  • Initial Deal (Third Street): Each player gets two cards face down (hole cards) and one card face up (the "door card").
  • Betting Rounds: Five rounds of betting (Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Street).
  • Subsequent Deals: On Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth streets, each player receives one card face up. On Seventh Street (the "river"), each player receives a final card face down.
  • Final Hand: Each player ends up with three private down cards and four public up cards. They choose the best five-card combination.
5-Card Stud

Objective: An older variant of Stud poker. Make the best five-card hand from the five cards you are dealt.

  • Players: 2-10 players.
  • Initial Deal: Each player gets one card face down and one card face up.
  • Betting Rounds: Four betting rounds. After each round, another face-up card is dealt to each player until they have five cards total (one down, four up).
  • Gameplay: The player with the low card showing typically starts the betting on the first round, and the player with the high hand showing starts the betting on subsequent rounds.

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