Poker is unique amongst casino games for its huge variety of formats and rules. But, whether you are playing table poker or online poker there will always be a certain amount of continuity in the operation of each game. The game of poker is played from a 52-card deck with multiple betting options and a hand hierarchy that remains quite consistent no matter what style of poker is played.
Before the player is allowed to see their cards one or more players will be required to place a small bet referred to as the ante. After which a number of cards will be dealt dependent on the rules of the game. From here players will place new bets based upon the cards they have or they will fold their hand thereby ending their participation in that hand. Betting is generally based upon each player’s belief that their final hand will beat that of the dealer or other participants. It is quite common for a minimum bet to be enforced matching the ante or with some relation to the pot size. Often there will be multiple rounds of betting and new cards dealt after each betting sequence, but this is totally dependent on the rules of each game.
While Texas Hold’em Poker and Omaha Poker are probably the two most popular poker games, popular online variants include Tri-Card Poker, Caribbean Stud Poker and Mulligan Poker. The three most common families of poker games are Stud, Draw and Community. Under Stud rules each player will receive some cards face down to begin, then more new cards face up once a round; highest finishing hand wins. Draw poker provides each player with a number of cards face down and each round the players can switch some of their cards for new cards; best hand wins. Community poker deals each player a set of cards face down, each round a new card is dealt face up and is available for all players; best hand built from private cards and community cards wins.