10+ Types of Poker: The Most Popular to The Easiest to Play

As a card game, there are many types of poker you should know before playing it. You might have heard about Texas Hold’em poker before, but it is not the only poker game in the industry. 

Nowadays, there are many more variations that players can choose to play at an online casino in Malaysia. Therefore, in this article, we will explain some poker forms. After that, you can choose what the best types to play. 

Types of Poker from The Most Popular to The Easiest to Play

Among the different types of poker in the industry, the game can change based on the variables that can include rules, wildcards, that hand is the lowest hand, and which card is designated as the high card. And some of popular poker types are:

1. Texas Hold’em Poker

Texas Holdem Poker is the most popular types of poker. If you find a card room or an online casino that offers poker games, this variant will almost surely be the featured game with a number of selection of tables and stakes for players to choose from. 

• 🔥Popularity: 10/10
• 📖Easy of Learning: 8/10
• 🃏How to Play:

In this one of types of poker, the two players to the left of the button put forward forced bets and are called “blinds”.

After two hold cards have been dealt to every player, the action will start with the player to the left of the big blind and continue clockwise (players will either call, raise, or even fold). After the first betting round, 3 cards were dealt onto the table and it was called the flop. 

Pros	Cons
✅Easy to find this game at any gambling platforms	❌ Because it has boom 15+ years ago led to many resources and articles that made learning faster. This reduced the skill gap between pros and amateurs

2. Omaha Hi Poker

Another types of poker is Omaha Hi. In this game, the word “hi” refers to the highest hand being rewarded the entirety of the pot at showdown. This game is usually played as a pot-limit game, that is more commonly called Pot-Limit Omaha or PLO. 

• 🔥Popularity: 8.5/10
• 📖Easy of Learning: 8/10
• 🃏How to Play:

Similar to Texas Hold’em, the action proceeds two distinct differences: 1. Players are dealt 4 hole cards instead of two, 2. The sizes of bets and raises are commonly capped at the size of the pot.

Pros	Cons
✅Having more cards dealt makes it simpler to build a strong hand	❌Omaha Hi has higher variance as hand equities tend to be closer compared to Texas Hold’em. Players use the various hole card combinations to enhance their hand strength

3. Omaha Hi-Lo Poker

The next types of poker is Omaha Hi-Lo. It is also known as Omaha 8-or-Better as a type similar to Omaha Hi, excluding the pot at showdown is separated equally in two between the highest-ranked 5-card poker hand and the lowest. 

Different combinations of the hole cards may be used to make both the high and low hands. However, you must remember that several conditions must be met for the “low” half of the pot to be awarded. 

• 🔥Popularity: 5/10
• 📖Easy of Learning: 4/10
• 🃏How to Play:

In this types of poker, the 5 community cards being dealt and multiple betting rounds will take place during the hand – before the flop, after the flop, after the turn, and also after the river. At the showdown the pot will be divided equally between the highest and the lowest hands. If there is no good low hand, the highest hand will scoop the entire pot.

Pros	Cons
✅Dividing the pot between the highest and lowest hands makes it comparatively easier to win a share of the pot in each hand	❌Bluffing plays a role in the game because players aim for either the highest or lowest hand (or both). Consequently, more players stay in until showdown, placing greater importance on selecting hands that place to both low and high cards rather than focusing on strategic bluffs

4. 7-Card Stud Poker

Before Texas Hold’em Poker became the most popular types of poker, Stud poker used to hold the grounds as the most common type. Very different from the previously mentioned game types (which used the hole cards and community cards for players to make the strongest hand), every player in Stud will receive their own hand. 

Some of these cards in one’s hand will be face-down and hidden from players. While the other cards will be face-up for the rest of the opponents to see. 

• 🔥Popularity: 4/10
• 📖 Easy of Learning: 5/10
• 🃏How to Play:

To play this game, all players need to dealt into a hand must also put forward an ante in poker. After that, every player gets two face-down cards, along with the one card face-up.

The player with the lowest face-up card will be the first and must either make a small “bring-in” bet or a complete bet of the smaller increment of the game. Betting will continue in a clockwise direction in this types of poker.

Pros	Cons
✅It’s enjoyable to receive your own unique poker hand while also being able to view four out of your opponents’ seven cards during a hand	❌In stud poker, the limit betting structure often imposes a cap on potential profits per hand. Therefore, the importance of gaining an extra big bet compared to losing one becomes significantly more significant in this context

5. 2-7 Triple Draw Poker

This is one of types of poker which has all players dealt their 5-card hand. In this low ball type of poker, players have not one, but 3 draw attempts to try and make the strong “low” hand. Unlike some other “low” poker types, it is important to remember that straights and flushes do count against making a low hand. 

In addition, remember that Aces are always high in this game. This makes the  best hand possible in this game 7-5-4-3-2. In other words, a hand like A-2-3-4-5 is not straight, but rather Ace-high. 

• 🔥Popularity: 5/10
• 📖Easy of Learning: 6/10
• 🃏How to Play: 

Triple Draw as one of the types of poker is played with small and big blinds, that are forced bets that must be made by the players to the left of the dealer button before any cards in this game are dealt. After 5 cards are dealt and an initial round of betting takes place, players can choose anywhere from all their cards to be discarded. 

In total, there are 3 draws that appear on every hand. After every draw round, there is a round of betting that always starts with the first player still in the hand who is seated to the left of the button.

Pros	Cons
✅You have 3 draw chances to try to make the lowest-ranked hand. In addition, it is very easy to decide what the strength of your hand, as you only have 5 cards	❌None of your opponents’ cards are visible to you. Then, you have nothing to go by in trying to conclude the strength of your opponents’ lowball hands

6. 5-Card Draw Poker

In this types of poker, players will look to make the highest-ranked 5-card poker hand. To start the game, all players are dealt their own separate hand that remains hidden from other players. 

This factor will make for an interesting dynamic, as you can look to make a strong hand yourself. However, you don’t know how it will fare against the hands of other players. 

• 🔥Popularity: 4/10
• 📖Easy of Learning: 9/10
• 🃏How to Play:

The action will start with a small blind and big blind being put forward before any cards are dealt. Every player is dealt 5 cards. Betting action will start with the player seated to the left of the big blind.

Pros	Cons
✅Due to having only one drawing round, this game is both simple to learn and fast in transitioning between hands	❌You have nothing to go by other than bet sizing and number of cards drawn in the terms of trying to decide the strength of the opponents’ hands

7. 5-Card Omaha Poker

If you like to make strong hands easily in Omaha Hi, then you must like to check out the types of poker “5-card Omaha”. Instead of 4 hole cards, every player gets 5 to begin every hand. 

In addition, players must use exactly 2 of their hole cards and 3 of the community cards to try and make the best hand. However, because they have one more hole card dealt to them than in the regular Omaha, there are now more chances for making stronger hands. 

• 🔥Popularity: 6/10
• 📖Easy of Learning: 8.5/10
• 🃏How to Play:

In this types of poker, small and big blinds are put forward and everyone gets 5 hidden hole cards. After the first betting round that starts with the player seated to the left of the big blind, the turn, flop, and river are dealt with a divided round of betting after every street. 

Any players still in the hand after the river betting round go to “showdown”, where they turn the cards face-up and the pot is rewarded to the best 5-card hand. 

Pros	Cons
✅If you enjoy making strong hands, this game is perfect for you! The addition of an extra hole card for each player compared to regular Omaha generates plenty of action at the table	❌You will not only need to have a bigger bankroll to be able to play, but also a strong mental attitude to be unaffected to the knee-buckling variety

8. Badugi Poker

The next types of poker is Badugi. It is quite unique to be compared to other poker games because of the hand ranking system that it uses to determine the best hand. As such, being expert in another poker type doesn’t necessarily crossover as easily when it comes to figuring out Badugi. 

• 🔥Popularity: 2/10
• 📖Easy of Learning: 3/10
• 🃏How to Play:

This one of the types of poker game will start with small and big blinds being put forward by the players who are seated to the left of the button. After every player dealt 4 cards, the player to the left of the big blind will start the first betting round with either, raise, call, or fold. 

Pros	Cons
✅Gameplay for every hand appear just as it does in 2 – 7 Triple Draw. Make you more easy to figure out	❌As the hand ranking system of Badugi is unlike to other popular types of poker, it will undoubtedly take a bit of time to figure out

9. HORSE Poker

Nope, it is not a horse with 4 feet as you might guess. As the types of poker, HORSE is an acronym that involves 5 different variants: Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz (Stud Lo), Stud (Stud Hi), and Eight-or-better (Stud Hi/Lo). In addition, this game will most often be played in high stakes live games to select the tournament series like WSOP. 

• 🔥Popularity: 5/10
• 📖Easy of Learning: 1/10
• 🃏How to Play:

Specific to HORSE, it must be remembered that all games are played as Fixed Limit, with the same structure used across every variant. The games will be played in order, and flip to the next game after every orbit of play.

Pros	Cons
✅Because it is very different to other types of poker, it can create for a more enjoyable the experience	❌HORSE will be bad for a single-game specialists as it levels out the playing field by including the other games

10. Chinese Poker

Chinese Poker is very different to other types of poker, as it doesn’t follow any of the traditional patterns. To play this game is simply having a good knowledge of the basic poker hand rankings. 

• 🔥Popularity: 2/10
• 📖Easy of Learning: 4/10
• 🃏How to Play:

You should remember that Chinese Poker is commonly played with 4 players total, but can also be played between 2 or 3 players. Every player is dealt 13 cards and must divide their cards into 3 hands of various strengths. 

Pros	Cons
✅The results of this game in the short-term	❌Difficult to have or build a significant long-term edge over your opponents

11. Caribbean Stud Poker

Caribbean Stud Poker i a casino table game, which is played with the 5-card stud poker. Unlike the regular poker, it is played against the dealer rather than against the other players.

The goal of this game is to make a better hand than the dealer, using the standard poker hand rankings.

• 🔥Popularity: 6/10
• 📖Easy of Learning: 8/10
• 🃏How to Play:

To play Caribbean Stud, you need to place an ante bet and an optional of progressive side bet. After that, you and the dealer will get 5 cards, however, only one of the dealer’s cards will be shown face up.

You can look at your own cards, but you can’t share the information with other players. Then, you have to choose whether to fold or call/raise bet. If you fold, you will lose your ante and side bet. But if you call/raise, you need to place a bet that is twice the size of your ante.

12. Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker is a card game that can be played with a standard deck of 52 cards plus one Joker. This game is played with a maximum of 6 players against the dealer. You need to beat the dealer’s card to win the game.

• 🔥Popularity: 9/10
• 📖Easy of Learning: 8/10
• 🃏How to Play:

The goal of this game is to beat the dealer by making 2 poker hands with the seven cards that are dealt: a 5-card “high” hand and a 2-card “low” hand. The high hand must defeat the low hand. Once you set your hands, the dealer will reveal them along with the dealer’s hands.

Final Thoughts

Now you already know some of the types of poker. Yes, there are many types from the most popular until the easiest to play. All you need right now is to learn the basics of poker games. 

You need to figure out how to call, raise, and fold in the game. The most important thing, poker is a strategy game. It means you need to make your own tips and tricks to win against your opponents.