☆ poker (pō′kər)

noun

a card game in which the players bet on the value of their hands (of five cards), the bets forming a pool to be taken by the player who remains after all others have dropped out of the betting or who holds the highest hand: there are several varieties

The card game of poker has many variations, most of them created in the United States in the mid-1900s. The standard order of play applies to most of these games, but to fully specify a poker game requires details about which hand values are used, the number of betting rounds, and exactly what cards are dealt and what other actions are taken between rounds.

Popular poker variants

The three most popular poker variants are spread in casinos and poker rooms worldwide and can be divided into the following groups:

• Draw poker: Games in which players are dealt a complete hand, hidden, and then improve it by replacing cards. The most common of these is Five-card draw.
• Stud poker: Games in which each player receives a combination of face-up cards and face-down cards in multiple betting rounds. The most common of these are Seven-card stud and Five-card stud.
• Community card poker: Games in which each player's incomplete hidden hand is combined with shared face-up cards. The most common of these are Texas hold 'em and Omaha hold 'em.

Other poker games.

RAZZ.

Razz is a form of stud poker that is normally played for ace-to-five low (lowball poker). The object of Razz is to make the lowest five-card possible hand from the seven cards you are dealt. In Razz, straights and flushes do not count against you for low, and the ace always plays low. The best possible Razz hand is 5-4-3-2-A, or 5 high, also known as "the wheel" or "the bicycle". Deuce-to-seven Razz is also sometimes played.

Razz is the "R" game featured in H.O.R.S.E.

BADUGI.

Badugi (also known as Badougi or Padooki) is a draw poker variant similar to triple draw, but with differing hand values than traditional poker. The betting structure and overall play of the game is identical to a standard poker game, but unlike traditional poker which involves a minimum of five cards, players' hands contain only four cards at any one time. During each of three drawing rounds, players can trade zero to four cards from their hands for new ones from the deck, in an attempt to form the best badugi hand and win the pot. The object of Badugi is to win pots, the share of money put in by oneself and one's opponents during the hand. The winner of the pot is the person, who has not folded, with the best badugi hand at the conclusion of play (known as the showdown).

Best hand in Badugi is or any other suited combination of A234.

Believed to have originated in Asia, Badugi is becoming popular in the United States.