Types Of Poker In Vegas

On Friday night we went over to a co-worker's house for a poker game. The host made some fantastic food, supplied some drinks and had invited enough people over that we could put together a 10 person tournament. As you may know, I have a fair bit of experience in running poker tournaments as we had one at our house on a monthly basis for about 4 years. I'm always glad to go to other people's houses to play poker as it's nice not to be the host every time. For all the fun, it is a bit of work.

Different Types Of Poker In Vegas
Types Of Poker In Vegas

We brought over our poker chip set and my laptop which has my Poker Tournament Manager software installed. We arrived right as the game was supposed to be starting, but luckily we weren't the last to arrive, so it wasn't a big deal. We ate some food, had a drink and then set up the game.

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Speed poker is a relatively new format of the game that has been introduced at a number of online poker sites. It’s played primarily using Texas Hold’em or Omaha and be played using either the cash game or tournament format. All the standard rules are basically the same but it’s played at.

Sin City is the top poker destination in the United States. Many of the world’s best poker rooms are located right on the Las Vegas Strip. The greatest poker series in the world – the World Series of Poker – takes place in Las Vegas. And there are other major poker events throughout the year in Vegas such as the World Poker Tour. Play Free Poker on Vegas World. Play free Poker with friends and win big! Have a winning poker hand? Win tons of Coins. Use your Gems to get Good Luck Charms, which boost your coin winnings from playing free Poker in Vegas World. Play multiple rounds of Poker, treat each other to special food and drink Charms, and have fun!

Even though I wasn't hosting, my poker knowledge and the fact that everybody there KNOWS I know how to run a poker tournament automatically puts me in charge. I don't mind, I actually enjoy running the show. But, there are still some things that the host should be making the decisions on, or at least asking about prior to everybody sitting down at the table. For example, the amount of the buy-in, the amount of chips to start, the length of the blind levels and the rules for rebuying. None of these things had been discussed prior to the game so we made some quick decisions and the game was underway. I should also mention that I offered to deal the entire time as I knew it would take FOREVER to pass the deal around the table.

For the first 20 minutes, no real big hands came up and there was a lot of limping in the pot. Any time somebody would raise, at least one person would say, “they are trying to buy the pot.” During the second round I picked up a few hands. A/K, A/Q, 9/9, 8/8 and one hand that I would love to have back where I folded Q/Q pre-flop face up. All these hands I raised with pre-flop. On the hand with Q/Q, here's what happened. With the blinds at 50/100 I raised to 400, it folded around to a player across from me who looks at his hand, he sits back a little and got really silent and then throws out 1600 without saying anything. He never showed his hand, but even if he had A/K there, I didn't really want to race for all my chips, so I decided to fold. I honestly think he had A/A, but we'll never know, I guess. The reason I say I'd like to have those cards back, is I may as well have just got all my money in with Q/Q and felt unlucky to run in to aces as compared to the way I got knocked out (first of course) a few minutes later. I was really steamed at how I got knocked out and gave myself a time-out away from the table so that I could simmer down.

After 10 minutes away, I calmed down and because the rules on rebuys had not been discussed, both myself and another player bought back in right at the end of the rebuy period. I sat back down and started dealing again. About 15 minutes later, I realized that I was an idiot for being steamed about losing. What I failed to do was properly evaluate the type of poker game we were playing. The home tournament that I ran for 4 years would start out as a friendly game with drinks and laughter and people playing a little loose. But, once the rebuy period was over, the game would get serious as people were interested in winning. However, this particular home game was not like that at all. The majority of the players there could care less if they won. They were there for a good time. Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that attitude. It was my attitude that was wrong given the circumstances. Once I realized all of this I switched my way of thinking and the rest of the night was a lot of fun. There was very little “poker” being played, but again, there's nothing wrong with that.

This morning I went to the Cannnery casino to play in the 10am poker tourament. There were 3 tables and a total of about 25 people. I played fairly loose during the first few rounds knowing that I could rebuy if needed before the end of the first hour. On the last hand prior to the cut-off, I got involved with a hand I should have never been in, but I made 2 pair on the turn and was able to double my stack back to almost it's original starting size.

Over the next couple hours I played some pretty decent poker. I stole several pots on the turn and river when I felt my opponent wasn't in a position to call a bet. I also ended up having to show down some hands that I had raised with like 6/8 suited and K/7 suited. As I accumulated chips, that loose play would serve me really well as the tournament went on. I was able to get a guy to move all-in against me after I raised. We turned over the cards and I had Q/Q and he had A/7. He made a flush on that hand. In another hand, against the same guy I made top two pair and he once again made a flush against me. I still had plenty of chips, so even though the second double-up was a decent set-back, I felt it was only a matter of time before I beat this guy because he would never give me credit for a hand. He always thought I was bluffing.

When we were down to 4 players the guy I doubled-up twice had the chip lead. I was dealt A/A on the button. The lady before me folded and with the blinds at 800/1600, I decided to min-raise to see what would happen. The lady in the small blind had only 3400, so I figured it wouldn't take very much for her to get all her chips in on this hand. And, I was really hoping that if she called or pushed all-in, the buy in the BB might push all-in with a marginal hand in order to get me to fold and play against only the lady. The lady just called leaving only 200 chips in her stack. The guy thought about it for a short time and throws in the additional 1600 as well. The flop came Q/6/2 but had 2 spades. The lady throws in her remaining 200, the guy calls the 200 and I push all-in. He has me covered in chips, but not by much. He decides to call and shows Q/K. The lady had A/7 with only one spade. I was in really good shape here. I just needed to avoid a K or a Q basically. The turn was a 7 and the river was a 10. I knocked out the lady and left the guy with only 800 chips. He went broke on the very next hand. And I know had a HUGE chip lead against the other player. We put all the money in blind on the very next hand and I won the tournament.

Winning a tournament always feels good. But, I think this win felt especially good after how crazy the poker play was on Friday night. I was able to bluff at pots in certain spots today that would have NEVER worked on Friday.

I learned a valuable lesson at Friday night's game that I will carry with me from now on. Be mindful of the type of game you are playing in. If the majority of the players are just there to have some fun and hang out with friends, do not expect them to make logical poker decisions. Had I realized that earlier in the evening on Friday, I would have saved myself some unnecessary aggravation.

BTW – If you are interested in running a home poker tournament, I wrote a guide that has some helpful information. I hope it helps.

The card game of poker has many variations, most of which were created in the United States in the mid-1900s. The standard order of play applies to most of these games, but to fully specify a poker game requires details about which hand values are used, the number of betting rounds, and exactly what cards are dealt and what other actions are taken between rounds.

Popular poker variants[edit]

The three most popular poker variants are spread in casinos and poker rooms worldwide and can be divided into the following groups:

Draw poker: Games in which players are dealt a complete hand, hidden, and then improve it by replacing cards. The most common of these is five-card draw.
Stud poker: Games in which each player receives a combination of face-up cards and face-down cards in multiple betting rounds. The most common of these are five-card stud and seven-card stud. These two variants are further played in other different formats.
Community card poker: Games in which each player's incomplete hidden hand is combined with shared face-up cards. The most common of these are Texas hold 'em and Omaha hold 'em.

Here are more common rule variations:

Lowball: The lowest hand wins the pot. There are different rules about whether or not aces count as low, and the effects of straights and flushes. The most common variants are Razz and 2-7 Triple Draw
High-low split: the highest and lowest hands split the pot. Generally there is a qualifier for the low hand. For example, the low hand must have 5 cards with ranks of 8 or less. In most high-low games the usual rank of poker hands is observed, so that an unsuited broken straight (7-5-4-3-2) wins low (see Morehead, Official Rules of Card Games). In a variant, based on Lowball, where only the low hand wins, a straight or a flush does not matter for a low hand. So the best low hand is 5-4-3-2-A, suited or not.
Players can pass cards to each other. An example of this would be Anaconda.
Kill game: When a fixed limit game is played and a player wins two pots in a row, the stakes are doubled. In some split-pot games, a player winning both halves of the pot may also cause a kill. In some variants of Lowball, a player may choose to kill by placing a double bet after seeing his first two cards.
Wild cards are added. This can range from simply making deuces wild to the 7-card stud variant named baseball.
A twist round in which players can buy another card from the deck. If a player does not like the purchased card, the player can purchase another one by adding money to the pot. This is sometimes called a 'tittle.'
A stripped deck may be used. Poker was first played with only 20 cards. In the spirit of poker history, players will sometimes only play with a stripped deck. A popular poker game in Spain is played with cards 8-A. It is played similar to hold'em, except that one card is dealt at a time and a player must use both hole cards.
Roll your own is played in stud games, and allows the player to determine which of his or her cards are turned up and visible to the other players. In a game like Seven-card Stud, the 'roll' action only applies to the first 3 cards, all of which are dealt face down. Each player then determines which card to expose. Play then continues as with regular Seven-card Stud. But a game like Mexican stud applies the roll option throughout the game. Two cards are dealt face down, and the players roll one card up. The game continues just as in Five-card Stud, except the cards are dealt face down, and each player then decides which of the two down cards is exposed.^[1]

Mixed poker games[edit]

Poker can be played in a mixed game format, for example one half-hour of Texas hold 'em followed by one half-hour of Seven-card stud. There are many types of mixed poker games. The most notable mixed poker variation is H.O.R.S.E. poker. H.O.R.S.E. is a mix of Texas hold 'em, Omaha high-low, Razz, Seven-card stud and Seven-card stud Eight-or-better. Each game will usually be played for a fixed number of hands or time and then the players will move on to the next game.

Other mixed games include:

H.O.S.E. – same as H.O.R.S.E., except without Razz.
H.O.E. – same as H.O.R.S.E, except no Razz or Seven-card stud.
H.O. – Texas hold 'em and Omaha high-low
O.E. – Omaha high-low and Seven-card Stud Eight or better.
H.A. – Pot limit Texas hold 'em and pot limit Omaha.
Omaha High-low Mixed – Fixed limit Omaha and pot limit Omaha high-low
Holdem Mixed – Fixed limit and no limit Texas hold 'em.
Eight Game Mix – Fixed limit 2-7 Triple Draw, fixed limit Texas hold 'em, fixed limit Omaha Hi-Low Eight or better, Razz, fixed limit Seven-card stud, fixed limit Seven-card stud Hi-Low eight or better, no limit Texas hold 'em and pot limit Omaha.
Ten Game Mix (introduced at 2011 World Series of Poker) – No limit Hold'em, fixed limit Seven-card Razz, fixed limit Hold'em, fixed limit Badugi, fixed limit Seven-card Stud, no limit 2-7 Single Draw, fixed limit Omaha Hi-Low eight or better, pot limit Omaha, fixed limit 2-7 Triple Draw and fixed limit Seven-card stud Hi-Low eight or better (played with 6 players on a table).

Specific poker variant games[edit]

Some poker games don't fit neatly into the above categories, and some have features of more than one of these categories. These variants are most often played in home games, usually as part of a dealer's choice format.

High Chicago or Low Chicago[edit]

Either of these two versions can be played in any stud high game. In High Chicago, or sometimes simply called Chicago, the player with the highest spade face down (referred to as in the hole) receives half the pot. In Low Chicago, the player with the lowest spade in the hole receives half of the pot, with the A♠ being the lowest. If the player with the highest hand also has the highest/lowest spade in the hole, then that player receives the entire pot - having won both sides of the bet.

Follow the Queen[edit]

This 7-card stud game uses a wild-card designated as whichever card is immediately dealt (exposed, or face-up) after any queen previously dealt (exposed). In the event that the final card dealt (exposed) is itself a queen, then all queens are wild. If no queens are dealt (exposed), then there are no wilds for that hand. Betting is the same as in normal 7-card stud games. Follow the Queen is a typical game variant in Dealer's Choice poker games.^[2]^[3]

Countdown[edit]

In this 5-card game, the dealer gives each player 5 cards face down. After the first round of betting, each player may choose to replace zero to three cards. A second round of betting follows and then players may opt to replace zero to two cards. Upon completing another round of betting, each player may replace one card of the cards in their hand. After a final round of betting, any remaining players show their hands, and the highest 5 card hand wins. The cost of cards doubles each round. For example, if the dealer says each replacement card costs $10 in the first round, then each card costs $20 in the second round, and $40 in the final round. When players purchase cards to replace ones in their hand, they put the cost of the cards in the pot.^[4]

This game will only work with 4 players (or fewer) otherwise you will run out of cards.

Billabong and Shanghai[edit]

Just as Oxford stud is a mixed stud/community card version of Texas hold 'em, Billabong is a mixed version of Manila. Each player is dealt two down-cards and one up-card. Low up-card starts the betting with a Bring-in if you are playing with one, otherwise high card starts the betting. Next, two community cards are dealt, followed by a second betting round, beginning with the player with the best exposed partial poker hand (counting the community cards, as in Oxford stud). Then a third community card is dealt, followed by a third betting round. Finally a fourth community card is dealt, followed by a fourth betting round and showdown. Each player plays the best five-card hand he can make from the three in his hand plus the four on the board in any combination.

Shanghai is the same game with an extra hole card, but no more than two hole cards play. That is, the game begins with each player being dealt three down-cards and one up-card; each player must discard one of his hole cards at some point during the game as determined ahead of time. The most common variation is to discard immediately as in Pineapple; the second most common is to discard just before showdown as in Tahoe.

Guts[edit]

Guts is a family of games that are cousins of poker rather than poker variants. They usually involve hands of 3 or fewer cards, ranked similarly to hands in poker, and multiple successive rounds of betting each of which consist of the decision to be 'in' or 'out', and each with its own showdown. The losers of rounds of guts generally match or double the pot, which grows rapidly.

Five-O poker[edit]

Five-O Poker is a heads-up poker variant in which both players must play five hands of five cards simultaneously. Four of the five cards in each hand are face-up. Once all five hands are down, there is a single round of betting. The winner is determined by matching each hand to the corresponding hand of the opponent. The player with the stronger poker hand in three (or more) out of the five columns, wins, unless a player folds on a bet that was made. If a player beats their opponent with all five hands, this is called a “Five-O” win.

Chinese poker[edit]

Chinese poker is a 2-4 player poker game with thirteen cards. The idea is to make three poker hands with increasing rank : two with five cards and one with three cards. If one of the hands does not adhere to increasing rank (i.e. is mis-set), the hand is declared dead and results in some sort of penalty.

Kuhn poker[edit]

Kuhn poker, using a three card deck, is more of game theory problem than an actual game people play, but it can be played by two players.^[5]

References[edit]

Different Types Of Poker In Vegas

^Pagat.com: Roll Your Own
^Pokernews.com: Fun Home Poker Game Rules - Follow the Queen
^Pokerrules.net: How to Play Follow the Queen
^Pokerrules.net: How to Play Countdown Poker
^'A Parameterized Family of Equilibrium Profiles for Three-Player Kuhn Poker'(PDF).