Another online poker site very worthy of a mention is Betfair Poker, they have one of the most established poker sites around and always have a wide range of poker tournaments on offer, check out their website for details of a fantastic new play poker bonus.
The most popular variant of poker is the game of Texas Hold 'em and we have a separate section dedicated to this excellent game, make sure you check it out.
All poker variants have a different betting structure and game play rules but they all share one important element, and that is the pot. The pot is the amount of money that both yourself and your opponents have placed into the middle of the poker table, and this is what you are playing for, as the game progresses the pot will get bigger and bigger.
All poker games can be categorized into one of three different types of games and all of these games are readily available to play at our featured online poker sites, these three groupings are as follows:
Draw poker - In these type of poker game all of the players will be dealt a hand and they can improve it by replacing cards. The most popular type of game is this category is 5 card draw poker.
Stud poker - In these type of poker game all of the players will be dealt a combination of both cards that are dealt face up along with cards that are dealt face down and then they take part in multiple betting rounds. These poker games include 7 card stud along with 5 card stud.
Community card poker: In these type of poker game all of the players will be dealt an incomplete hidden hand which will be combined with shared or community face up cards. These types of poker games include Texas hold 'em and Omaha hold 'em.
Below we have listed a definitive guide to the poker rules and game play variations that you will encounter when playing poker online, give it a good read through before you sit down to play!
High-low split - This is when the winner of the final hand is deemed to be both the highest and lowest hands and both players will share the pot 50/50. However when this poker rule is enforced there will always be what is known as a qualifier for the low hand. One rule of this type of poker game is that the low hand must have 5 cards with ranks of 8 or less.
In the majority of high-low games the poker hand rankings are always observed, which means an unsuited, and broken straight wins the low hand.
Lowball - This poker rule simply means that the hand that is deemed to be the lowest will win the pot.
Kill Game - This is a very exciting poker rule and one that is played in fixed limit games and comes into force when a player wins two pots in a row. Simply put the stakes for the game then become doubled. Often in Omaha player when a players wins both halves of the pot then a kill, or doubling of the stakes kicks in.
Wild Cards - Sometimes a poker game will have wild cards in play, this is usually the two cards often known as Deuces.
Twist Round - This is a poker game rule in which players are allowed to buy another card from the deck. If the purchased card is not to that players liking and doesn't help his hand he may buy another one by adding money to the pot.
Stripped Deck - In the early days of poker the game was played with just 20 cards in the deck, this poker rule stipulates that only the 8 through to Ace cards are in play. It follows the Texas Hold 'Em rules except only one card is dealt at a time and a player must use both hole cards.
