Newer Variants of the Poker Family

Pai Gow Poker – This game is played with standard deck of 52 cards along with an additional joker card. After the bet is placed, each player is dealt with seven cards and needs to make two poker hands – one with five cards and one with two cards in hand. The five card hand is called the behind, bottom, high or big hand while the two card hand is called the top, small, minor or low hand.

When you form the two hands, ensure that the five card hand is of value greater than the two card hand. For example, if you are dealt cards like A-A-3-5-7-10, you cannot form a flush since the two aces need to be included in the five card hand. The five card hands are played with the usual rules of poker. The best two card hands are either pairs or simply high cards. The joker is either used to fill in any gap like filling out straight or flush but in the two card hand; it is always considered as an ace. The game is played by setting the two sets of hand on the table with the two card hands in front and the five card hand behind. One of the players is called the “banker” who could also be the dealer as it is in the casinos. The players then compare their two sets of hands with that of the banker’s. If any player has better hands than the banker’s, the player wins the game. If the hands tie, then the banker keeps the money. If one of the player’s hands is better but the other is not, it is considered a draw and the player takes back his money.

Another popular table game found in casinos is the Caribbean Stud Poker. This game consists of each player playing against the dealer in a five cards stud game. Unlike the five card stud, the game is played with five cards being dealt to each player at once and then they are all kept closed, meaning that no player gets to know the cards of the other players. The dealer will only show one card face up and keep all other cards a secret. Like the stud game, the best five card hand wins and the only hand you need to play is against the dealer’s.

The four card poker game also pits the player against the dealer and the best four card hand wins the game. This game is begun by every payer making an ante wager. The players are dealt five cards each face down while the dealer deals himself six cards, the sixth one being the house’s advantage. The dealer will reveal one of his cards as a face up card. Seeing that and the hand you are dealt, you can either decide to fold your cards or bet by increasing the amount of your ante from 1 to 3 times. When betting is done, you discard one card and show your best four card hand to determine the winner.

These are some new versions of the poker game which have gained popularity at the casinos.