If you’re just starting out on your poker journey, the good news is that you have hours and hours of fun and entertainment ahead of you – and some frustration to, because everyone experiences a downturn from time to time.
One of the most confusing aspects of online poker in particular, especially for newbies, is deciding which version of the game to play. There’s literally dozens of different options!
So in this article, we thought we’d look at the best poker games for beginners. Whether it’s their popularity (making it easier to find a live game/tournament to join) or the simplicity of their rules, these are the smart options for those dipping their toe in the poker water.
Texas Hold’em
One of the reasons that Texas Hold’em is so important to beginner poker players is because it’s the most popular and ubiquitous version of the game online.
That means that a) it’s ultimately the variant you will play the most in the long run, and b) it’s so much easier to find Texas Hold’em games to play.
The basic rules of Texas Hold’em are easy enough to follow – once you know the rankings of each hand, you will have the basic foundation for success. Then it’s simply about getting used to small and big blinds (the automatic wager you must play when the deal comes around to you) and each of the different betting rounds, from the flop to the river and the turn.
While Texas Hold’em is easy to play, it can take some time to master its many different strategies and do’s and don’ts. But that’s the fun part, and you can easily develop your own Texas Hold’em tactics by utilising free play versions of the game.
Once you’re ready to take the next step up, you can enter small stakes cash games and buy-in tournaments – who knows where your Texas Hold’em journey will take you!?
Three Card Poker
If you really want to strip poker back and get to grips with the basics, the games don’t come much easier to follow than Three Card Poker.
Here it’s you against the dealer, with one simple decision to make: bet or fold. You will be dealt three cards face up, and after placing the mandatory ante bet you can then match this to enter the game (bet) or fold (lose your ante stake) if you don’t rate the cards you’ve been dealt.
If you bet, the dealer will then reveal their three face down cards. Your ante bet will win if your hand beats the dealer’s, and if the dealer has a minimum hand of queen high and you beat them, your play bet will win too – all payouts are 1:1. If you beat the dealer but they don’t have at least queen high, your ante bet wins while your play bet stake is returned to you.
There are some additional ‘bonus’ payouts available in some versions of Three Card Poker. If you land a three of a kind hand you will also net a 4:1 payout, while a straight flush picks up 5:1.
And there’s two other bet types to consider as well. The ‘Pair Plus’ bet, placed before any cards are dealt, offers enhanced payouts if your hand features a pair or better. The ‘Six Card Bonus’ bet pays out if the combined hands of the player and dealer yield a strong combination – payouts usually start from three-of-a-kind upwards.
Razz
If you’re embarking on a learning experience as far as poker is concerned, how about testing your knowledge of hand rankings in Razz?
This is a somewhat bizarre variant in which the worst hand wins – typically, this will be a high card at best.
The reason that Razz is useful for beginners to poker is that it tests your recall of the hand rankings in a different way, helping to consolidate your knowledge by making you think of them in reverse order.
All players in Razz receive three cards – two face down and one face up. The player with the best upturned card acts first, and all told there are five different betting rounds in which you can assess some of your opponents’ cards to see if you think you are going to show the worst hand or not.
7-Card Stud
The most important aspect when learning poker of any kind is the various hands that can be made and their rankings – which combination beats which?
The beauty of 7-Card Stud is that you are dealt all of your cards straight off the bat – there’s no community cards, no flop or turn etc. So, all you have to do is look at your seven cards, make the best possible five-card hand and then present it to the rest of the table.
This is a useful game because it gets you thinking about your cards and the various combinations contained within, and this is a very useful skill for when you progress to other poker variants and have to think on your feet a little more.
It’s interesting too that some of the cards in 7-Card Stud are dealt face upwards, so you will get a potential read on your opponents’ hands too. This is more appealing to some than Texas Hold’em, for example, where you are left completely in the dark as to the strength of your rivals’ cards.
Omaha
Although slightly more complex than some games on this list – Omaha is more akin to Texas Hold’em than Three Card Poker, for example, it’s still worthwhile beginners getting to grips with Omaha as soon as possible.
Why? Because there’s a handful of different Omaha variants, such as Hi/Lo and 8-or-Better, and these are routinely available at online casinos and poker sites.
The perk of Omaha is that it’s essentially the same game as Texas Hold’em, with the various community cards and betting rounds. The only difference here is that you receive four hole cards instead of two, which enhances your chances of having a strong hand and therefore increases the number of hands that you play – a key part of the learning experience.