This page explains how each poker variant plays and how the winner of a hand is decided. For Texas Hold’em rules, standard hand rankings and showdown order, see the Player Guide.
Your operator chooses which games to run, so not every variant appears on every site. At a table, the game badge shows the variant and betting limit, for example PL Omaha or FL Stud, where NL, PL and FL mean no-limit, pot-limit and fixed-limit. Tables also offer buttons such as View hand rankings, View Omaha rules, View Hi-Lo rules and View Stud rules.
Table of Contents
- Variants at a Glance
- Omaha
- Omaha 5-Card (PLO5)
- Omaha Hi-Lo
- Short Deck
- Seven-Card Stud
- Stud Hi-Lo
- How Hi-Lo Pots Are Decided
- CUSTOM_MIXED
Variants at a Glance
| Variant | Your cards | Shared cards | Forced bets | Usual limit | Most seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omaha | 4 | 5 | Small and big blind | Pot-limit | 10 |
| Omaha 5-Card (PLO5) | 5 | 5 | Small and big blind | Pot-limit | 8 |
| Omaha Hi-Lo | 4 | 5 | Small and big blind | Pot-limit | 10 |
| Short Deck | 2 | 5 | Ante plus button blind | No-limit | 10 |
| Seven-Card Stud | 7 (3 down, 4 up) | None | Bring-in, plus an ante if set | Fixed-limit | 8 |
| Stud Hi-Lo | 7 (3 down, 4 up) | None | Bring-in, plus an ante if set | Fixed-limit | 8 |
The limit shown is the default for that game. The table or tournament can use a different one, so check the badge.
The lobby’s Game filter lists Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Short Deck, Seven-Card Stud and Stud Hi-Lo. To find PLO5 or CUSTOM_MIXED tables, leave it on All Games.
Omaha
Omaha uses the same betting rounds as Hold’em: pre-flop, flop, turn and river.
You must use exactly 2 of your hole cards and exactly 3 board cards. No other combination counts, however good it looks. For example:
- With four spades in your hand and one spade on the board, you do not have a flush, because you need three spades from the board.
- If the board shows four hearts, one heart in your hand does not make a flush, because you must play two of your own cards.
The server checks every allowed combination and plays the best one for you. Hands rank as usual; see Hand Rankings.
In pot-limit games, the largest bet you can make is worked out as the pot, plus the amount to call, plus the amount to call again. With 100 in the pot and 50 to call, that comes to 200.
Omaha 5-Card (PLO5)
PLO5 plays like Omaha, with five hole cards instead of four. You still use exactly 2 hole cards and exactly 3 board cards. Tables have up to 8 seats.
Omaha Hi-Lo
Omaha Hi-Lo plays like four-card Omaha, but each pot can be split between the best high hand and the best qualifying low hand. Your high and low hands are worked out separately, and each must use exactly 2 hole cards and 3 board cards. You can use different hole cards for each.
A low needs five different ranks of 8 or lower, so the 2+3 rule means the board must show at least three different low ranks for anyone to have a low.
| Your hole cards | Board | Best low |
|---|---|---|
| A 2 K K | 3 4 5 K Q | A-2-3-4-5, the best possible low |
| A K Q J | 3 4 5 K Q | None. Only the ace is low, and you must use two hole cards |
| A 2 K K | 3 K Q J 9 | None. The board has only one low card |
See How Hi-Lo Pots Are Decided.
Short Deck
Short Deck is played like Hold’em, with 2 hole cards and 5 board cards, using any five of your seven cards. It uses a 36-card deck, with all 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s removed.
Forced bets: every player posts an ante and the player on the button also posts a button blind. There are no small and big blinds. Action starts with the player to the left of the button.
Rankings: a flush beats a full house. Everything else keeps its usual order, so a straight still beats three of a kind.
| Rank | Hand |
|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Flush |
| 2 | Straight Flush |
| 3 | Four of a Kind |
| 4 | Flush |
| 5 | Full House |
| 6 | Straight |
| 7 | Three of a Kind |
| 8 | Two Pair |
| 9 | One Pair |
| 10 | High Card |
Lowest straight: the ace can play low to make A-6-7-8-9, a 9-high straight. In one suit, it is a straight flush.
Seven-Card Stud
Stud has no blinds, and normally no shared cards. Each player gets their own cards, some face down and some face up. You can see all of your own cards, and only your opponents’ face-up cards.
The Streets
| Street | Cards dealt | Bet size |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd Street | 2 down, 1 up (the door card) | Small bet |
| 4th Street | 1 up | Small bet, or big bet if a pair is showing |
| 5th Street | 1 up | Big bet |
| 6th Street | 1 up | Big bet |
| 7th Street | 1 down | Big bet |
Only players still in the hand receive cards. There is a betting round on every street. If any player still in the hand has a pair showing on 4th Street, that round uses the big bet.
Antes and the Bring-In
If the table has an ante, everyone posts it first. Then the player with the lowest door card automatically posts the bring-in, a small forced bet.
- Aces count high here, so a 2 is the lowest door card.
- If door cards tie on rank, the lowest suit posts: clubs, then diamonds, hearts and spades.
Action moves clockwise from the bring-in player. While the bet is still at the bring-in amount, you can fold, call it, or complete to the full bet, which is normally the small bet. Betting in fixed-limit games moves in fixed steps, and each round allows 4 raises by default.
Who Acts First
From 4th Street on, the player with the highest face-up cards acts first, so the order can change on each street:
- A player showing a pair goes ahead of anyone showing no pair, and a higher pair goes first.
- Otherwise the highest card goes first, then the next highest, and so on.
- If still tied, the player closest clockwise from the dealer position goes first.
Showdown
Each player makes their best five-card hand from their seven cards, using the standard Hand Rankings.
If the Deck Runs Out
A hand with many players still in can run short of cards. In Seven-Card Stud, if too few cards remain on 7th Street to give each remaining player one, a single shared card is dealt instead. Every remaining player uses it as their seventh card.
Stud Hi-Lo
Stud Hi-Lo uses the same streets, bring-in and fixed-limit betting as Seven-Card Stud, but each pot can be split between the best high hand and the best qualifying low hand.
From your seven cards, you make your best five-card high hand and your best five-card low hand. They are worked out separately, so they can use different cards. See How Hi-Lo Pots Are Decided.
How Hi-Lo Pots Are Decided
These rules apply to Omaha Hi-Lo and Stud Hi-Lo. Cards speak: you don’t declare high or low, and the server works out both.
Qualifying for Low (8-or-Better)
A low hand needs five different ranks, all 8 or lower.
- Aces count as low.
- Straights and flushes don’t count against a low, so A-2-3-4-5 is the best possible low, called the wheel, and can also be a straight for the high.
- A pair doesn’t count: A-2-3-4-4 has only four different ranks.
- A card above 8 doesn’t count: A-2-3-4-9 does not qualify.
Comparing Low Hands
Compare the highest card of each low first, then the next highest, and so on. The lower card wins.
| Hand A | Hand B | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 7-6-5-4-3 | 8-5-4-3-2 | A, because 7 is lower than 8 |
| 6-4-3-2-A | 6-5-3-2-A | A, because 4 is lower than 5 |
Split, Scoop and Ties
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| A low qualifies | The pot splits: half to the best high hand, half to the best low hand |
| No low qualifies | The high hand wins the whole pot |
| One player has the best high and the best low | That player wins both halves, which is a scoop |
| Players tie for high | They share the high half |
| Players tie for low | They share the low half |
Odd chips: if a pot can’t be halved evenly, the high half gets the extra chip. A pot of 101 pays 51 to high and 50 to low. If a half is then shared and can’t be divided evenly, the extra chip goes to the first winner clockwise from the button.
Side pots: each pot is decided on its own, using only the players eligible for it. A hand can win the low half of one pot and nothing in another.
CUSTOM_MIXED
CUSTOM_MIXED is a mixed format that rotates through several games on one table or in one tournament. It is shown as CUSTOM_MIXED in the lobby and at the table.
- Rotation: the table plays a set number of hands of one game, then moves to the next. The change only happens between hands, never during one.
- Games and order: these are set up by your operator. A rotation has at least two games, chosen from Texas Hold’em, Omaha, PLO5, Omaha Hi-Lo, Short Deck, Seven-Card Stud and Stud Hi-Lo.
- Default setup: Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud, Stud Hi-Lo, then Short Deck, with 8 hands of each. Your table may differ.
- Rules: each hand follows the rules, forced bets and limit set for the game being played, as described on this page.
- Button: it does not freeze during Stud games, as it would in official HORSE.
This is not HORSE or 8-Game. Razz and 2-7 Triple Draw aren’t implemented, and official HORSE and 8-Game formats aren’t available to play.