Games on Offer from Online Poker

The debate over whether live or online poker is better may be controversial, but there are definite advantages offered by each form of the game. In the case online poker rooms such as PokerStars, one of the clear benefits of playing online is the sheer amount of game selection that a player has to choose from. While a live poker room may only spread a few types of games at a mix of stakes, the virtual atmosphere of the online game means that there is no limit to how many different tables can be created to accommodate the games that players want to play. In addition to finding nearly every stakes level imaginable, online poker also has a full listing of popular poker formats that most commonly eclipses the type of games on offer from a live casino.

Texas Hold 'Em is clearly the game of choice when it comes to poker and the online poker rooms have stakes levels for players of every size of bankroll. Ranging from the micro stakes games that can be played by anyone holding a dollar, or even less in some cases, to the top level games that have blinds of several hundreds or even thousands of dollars, there will always be a bevy of options that exist, complete with many other like-minded players. The Omaha games are also widespread online, with Pot Limit and Split Pot formats that allow players to ply their Omaha skills across many different levels of table stakes. These games are also present in the live game, but the following formats are harder to locate at a live casino.

As Texas Hold'Em is the most popular poker game, you definitely need to know how to play poker in this format. The online games are made up of 6 or 10 players per table. To start a new hand, a person is flagged as being 'the dealer" (determined randomly online). The player immediately to the left of the dealer puts up a forced bet amount, called the "small blind" and the player to the left of the small blind posts the 'big blind". The small blind is always half the value of the big blind, and blind amounts are preset. The minimum bet you can make is always based on the value of the big blind and the rest of the players do not put up any money in the pot yet. Every time a new hand begins, the dealer button moves up to the next person at the table, which also means that the blinds move from player to player. Each player will eventually act as the big blind, small blind and dealer.

Seven Card Stud seems to be going out of favor at the live casinos, mainly because of its slow game play and the many players that choose to play Texas Hold 'Em instead. Still, at an online poker room, a player will be able to find a number of Seven Card Stud games going on, with several different formats of the game being present, including a standard High game, a Split Pot game, and even a Lowball format, known as Razz. The popularity of these games online show that Seven Card Stud is still alive and well, but it has moved to the online location rather than the live format.

The biggest difference in online game selection is the availability of mixed games. Quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to play poker, a mixed game allows a player to compete at several different variations to better their poker skills and take advantage of players that are only skilled at one or two games. The most common online version is HORSE, meaning a combination of Fixed Limit Hold 'Em, Razz, Seven Card Stud High, Seven Card Stud Split Pot, and Omaha Split Pot. Another choice is 8 Game Mix, which is all of the HORSE games, with No Limit Hold 'Em, Pot Limit Omaha, and Fixed Limit Deuce to Seven Triple Draw added into the rotation to bring even more variety to poker players.