04 Jan The Most Popular Types of Poker

There are many different types of poker, but today the most popular forms of poker found in casinos are Texas Hold’em, 3 card poker, Caribbean Poker, and Pai Gow, a form of Chinese poker. Each has its advantages and occasionally a disadvantage. Of the four popular types of poker, only Texas Hold’em is played against other players. Meanwhile, Caribbean Poker, 3 card poker, and Pai Gow are played like blackjack against the house dealer. In a few casinos, players take turns dealing the cards in Texas Hold’em, but most casinos have a dealer do all the work in dealing the cards. Since players play against each other in Texas Hold’em, the way the casino makes money is by taking a percentage of the house rake as a player’s commission.

Three card poker

Originally called Brag in Great Britain, the game was developed by an English professional poker player named Del Webb. Webb came to Las Vegas in the 1990s to play poker but thought games such as Texas Holdém and created the game 3-card poker in 1994. Originally played in British Casinos, 3-card poker caught on quickly as a very fast-paced game. What are the rules? To begin, the player puts up an ante wager and an optional pair plus wager that the player will have at least a pair or better. Three cards are then dealt, face down to the player and the dealer. The player may decide to fold, in which case he loses his bet, or to bet a play wager. To play, the dealer’s hand must have a Queen or better. If not, the dealer pays the players at 1 to 1 for their ante wager, and there is no action on the play wagers. If the dealer wins, then the hands are compared and if the player wins, he gets paid 1 to 1 on both his ante and play wagers. In addition to these, there are pair plus wagers which are independent of ante and play bets. pair plus wagers pay as much as 40 to 1. In addition, depending upon casinos, there are high-value jackpots as much as $100,00 if the dealer and players’ cards suit up in a Royal Flush of diamonds. The game is extremely fast-paced, and a typical game can be played in a couple of minutes.

Caribbean Poker

Some say that Caribbean Poker was invented in 1982 by David Skansky who developed the game for cruise ships in Aruba, but others say the game had been around for hundreds of years. Regardless of the true story, Caribbean poker is played now in practically every casino in the world. What are the rules? Players play against the dealer and must put up an ante to play. Then five cards are dealt face down for the player and 4 cards face down and one up for the dealer. For the player to play he must make an extra bet. If he doesn’t he folds and loses his ante. Next, the dealer must qualify, and to qualify, he must have at least an Ace/king. If the dealer fails to qualify, he returns all ante and play wagers to the players. If the dealer qualifies, and he wins, he collects both of the player’s bets. However, if the dealer loses, he pays off the ante at 1 to 1 and the play bet according to a paytable as low as 1 to 1 to as high as 100 to 1. Caribbean poker is also very fast-paced and is played now in casinos everywhere.

Pai Gow

Supposedly devised California casino owner Sam Tinison who failed to get it patented, missing out on perhaps $1 million dollars worth of royalties per year, Tinison supposedly invented the game as an offshoot of a Filipino game played with 13 cards per player. Pai Gow is played with each player and the dealer gets 7 cards face down, and upon being dealt the cards the seven cards are arranged into two hands, one of five cards and one of two. If only one of your hands loses it is a tie. If both hands lose, you lose. As you can imagine, there are a lot of ties in Pai Gow, so it’s an easy game for players on a budget. The only basic rule is that your 5 card hand must be higher than your two-card hand. Study this carefully, because if you mess it up you foul out, and you lose. The strategy of Pai Gow is to have a very strong hand with your 2-card hand because if you win even one of the two hands against the dealer you do not lose any money. The house edge is fairly low in Pai Gow, although you do lose on exact ties that make up most of the house edge as well as paying a commission on winnings.

Texas Hold’em

The grandaddy of poker is Texas Hold’em. A very old game, Texas Hold’em took off like a rocket ship when million dollar poker games began featured on television with the World Series of Poker. People became hooked. Texas Hold’em is popular because there are 4 rounds of betting. It all starts when two players put in the big blind and the small blind. Then each player is given two hole cards. A series of betting takes place where players can check, raise or fold. Then a series of three community cards are dealt. Then another round of betting takes place before another community card is revealed. There is then another round of betting, and then a final community card. Then one more series of betting. The fact that there are 4 levels of betting is what makes the game so exciting, with people betting, raising, and bluffing. It’s also what makes the game a bit slower than other forms of poker. Concerning playing online in particular, one thing is that you never know what strength of players your opponents are in the game, so in a medium stakes game, you could be playing against a world-class opponent. Be sure then, to only play in games that do not have too high a stakes, as separating the sheep from the wolves is a common expression in Texas Hodeém.