H.O.R.S.E. Games
If you’re going to be an all around poker champion, you have to know how to play H.O.R.S.E. This is not the HORSE you used to play with a basketball in the driveway, but rather the name for a mixed poker game that requires knowledge of many different games. Today, this poker variation is even available for those who play poker online.
The Games of H.O.R.S.E.
Texas Hold’em
This is probably the most well known of the H.O.R.S.E. games. Each player gets two cards that they combine with the five community cards in the middle to make their best five-card poker hand. In traditional H.O.R.S.E.
holdem poker, the game has fixed limits, not the very popular no limit version.
Omaha 8 or Better
This is the hi/lo version of
omaha poker in which the best hand splits the pot with the lowest hand. Omaha is similar to Texas hold’em except that players get four cards and must use exactly two in their hand with three on the board (you can a different two cards for high than for low).
Razz
This is a version of seven-card stud played all low, meaning the worst hand wins. Aces are low and straights and flushes do not count, so the worst Razz hand you can have is A 2 3 4 5, also called a wheel or a bicycle.
Stud
Seven card stud. Each player gets seven cards, two down, then four up, then one down. They make their best five-card poker hand out of the seven, with betting rounds after the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh cards.
Eight or Better
Hi/lo stud. Dealt as seven card stud, with the best five card hand splitting with the lowest one, providing the lowest one is no better than eight high.
