Obviously Texas Hold’Em is the most popular, but I have seen other casinos have Omaha Hold’Em and Seven Card Stud. But are there any others (played in casinos)?
I’ve anecdotally read that it’s easier to make money in Omaha than Texas because the players are less skilled on average. Wondering if that’s the same for Seven Card Stud or other games. I have never played poker in a casino because I am not good (yet), but I’m interested in learning about Omaha and maybe other variants played in casinos if anyone has resources that they would recommend.
Thanks very much for reading and have a great Thursday
Quote: harrisHello, I was wondering if anyone had information regarding what types of poker are played in casinos (in North America and globally)?
Obviously Texas Hold’Em is the most popular, but I have seen other casinos have Omaha Hold’Em and Seven Card Stud. But are there any others (played in casinos)?
I’ve anecdotally read that it’s easier to make money in Omaha than Texas because the players are less skilled on average. Wondering if that’s the same for Seven Card Stud or other games. I have never played poker in a casino because I am not good (yet), but I’m interested in learning about Omaha and maybe other variants played in casinos if anyone has resources that they would recommend.
Thanks very much for reading and have a great Thursday
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My experience may be different but I found Omaha players to generally be better players because most of them were more experienced as most players start with Hold'em and then graduate to other games.
HoldEm became the most popular game because between the Moneymaker boom and Black Friday, there was a lot of poker on TV, almost all of it was HoldEm. After Black Friday, the TV coverage has been reduced, but HoldEm is still the most popular when on TV.
As a result, that's what most people learn first, and is often the only game offered in smaller poker rooms.
Omaha is the dominant #2 game because of its similarities to HoldEm. You get 4 cards, but must play exactly 2 of them at showdown.
Also, lately, a lot of poker rooms that offer both, are playing a single hand of Omaha on their HoldEm tables on every dealer change, so it's starting to gain interest. (If at the table, you can decline to play the hand. It will only be played if most people are in.) When it is played, it's often as a bomb pot and/or double board. (Bomb pots are where everyone puts in a set amount of about 5x the big blind before getting cards. Double boards are a split game where there will be 2 flops, 2 turns and 2 rivers and half the pot goes to the winner of each board. You don't have to play the same 2 on each board.)
Big-O is a 5 card version of Omaha but everything else is the same (I.E. You play exactly 2 hole cards and 3 board cards). Then there's Omaha-6. Yep, 6 hole cards and everything else the same.
Omaha-8 is a split pot game where half the pot is low-ball.
Pineapple where you get 3 cards and must discard 1 before the flop. Everything else is the same as HoldEm. Crazy Pineapple is the same, but you discard after the flop. (I may have that backwards.) Then there's Lazy Pineapple where you don't discard, but can't play all 3 cards.
Razz is a low-ball version of Draw.
Badugi is a 4 card low-ball draw game.
There are probably some I'm forgetting.
Plus weird combinations/variants such as Omadugi which is a split game where half the pot is played as Omaha, the other half is a stud version of Badugi using all 4 hole cards.
I'm sure there are more.
Unfortunately, most of these games are not offered on a regular basis but DO pop up during WSOP season.
And these are just the poker room games. There are endless varieties of house banked games played against a dealer and/or pay table that are based on poker.
I've only seen 7 card stud, Texas hold-em, Omaha and Omaha high-low dealt in casinos, and from what I see they are moving away from stud. It takes longer to deal and it's not as familiar to casual players because it's not promoted on TV. I've heard that 5-card stud and 5-card draw are also legal casino games but I don't think anyone has dealt them in many years.
It's 5-card stud, but a 4-flush or a 4-straight beats one pair, a 4-flush beats a 4-straight.

