• H/L (8b)
• No Limit
• Limit
• Pot Limit
• Spread Limit
• Mixed Limit
• Ante
• Bring In
• Kill Game
• Half Kill Game
• Wild Card/Joker

---

H/L (High/Low) Games

A High/Low game is a split pot game with a low hand qualifier (the typical qualifier is 8b meaning if you have 5 different cards of 8 or below your hand has qualified for the low) where the high hand takes half the pot and the low hand takes the other half. Your hand will not qualify for the low if you do not have 5 different cards that are low (having 3 2′s and 2 3′s is not a low hand). A pair will disqualify your hand from being low. Straights and flushes do not work against your low hand. The best possible hand to win both the high and the low is called The Wheel. The Wheel is A5 suited. 26 suited is definately good enough to win most high and low pots but would lose the low to anyone with A 2 3 4 5 offsuit or A 2 3 4 6 offsuit.

Back To Top

---

No Limit

The most popular form of poker played today. No limit simply means that you can bet all of your chips at any time during the hand when it is your turn to act. There is a minimum bet, however, in No Limit. The minimum bet is whatever the big blind is.

Would You Like To Test Your Skills of No Limit Against A Poker Robot for Free? Play Scoby the Poker Robot now..

Back To Top

---

Limit

The amount you can bet or raise is determined by the X/Y. In the first rounds of betting (for Hold Em, Pineapple and Omaha its pre flop and flop) (for any 7 card game its any cards prior to the 5th card if no pair was on board or no one doubled the bet when the pair was on board) (for any 5 card game its the first 3 cards) (in Lowball is before the draw, Triple Draw its before the draw and the first draw) the bet/raise is whatever the X is assumed to be (in a 2/4 game the first rounds of betting would be call 2 raise 2.) There is typically a cap on the number of raises allowed. The most common is 4 for a cap (1. bet, 2. raise, 3. reraise 4. cap). Yahoo Poker uses 5 (bet 2 raise 4 reraise 6 reraise 8 cap 10). When the first rounds of betting are over the limits increase to Y (2/4 betting is now 4).

Pot Limit

Pot limit is played exactly the same as limit with the minimum bets being designed by what ‘street’ you are currently on (every card game mentioned above besides Lowball refer to the # of cards out as Streets. Example- Hold Em, Pineapple, Omaha, 5 card, and 7 card all call the 4th card 4th street.) Unlike Limit, however, you can bet the amount in the pot at any time in the game.

Spread Limit

A spread limit game has a few choices of possible bets during the betting rounds. For example, if the spread is 2-6 and 4-12 you can bet between 2 and 6 on the first rounds of play and between 4 and 12 on the final rounds of play. The spread limit may just be 1 spread for the entire game as well (example 4-12 on all rounds of betting.) If someone bets the maximum limit (say 12) all following raises must be in increments of that same number (12). Spread Limit is basically an unknown limit game until someone makes the first bet, then its a structured limit game (unless they bet the minimum then you can increase it by any increment up to the maximum). The limit is reset after each round of betting.

Mixed Limit

A mixed limit game is a limit game with different limits per betting round. For example in Hold Em the preflop bet may be 2, flop is 4, turn is 6, and river is 12. The numbers can be mixed up however the dealer chooses.

Back To Top

---

Ante

Antes are chips every player is required to place in the pot to receive cards. All stud games are typically played with an ante. Tournament games typically include antes as the levels (the increase in blinds/antes) increase to force the short stacks (players low in chips) into action or out of the tournament.

Back To Top

---

Bring In

Typically found in stud games. The Bring In is the bet a player with the lowest card (or in some cases highest card) showing must place to start off the betting action. The Bring In is typically half of what the current limit is (exceptions- in 3/6 games the bring in is 1 just like in 2/4 games to avoid decimals) so it is very similiar to a small blind found in Hold Em games. Players following the Bring In may simply call the Bring In bet or Complete the bet (in 3/6 completing a bet would be betting 3 instead of 1, in 2/4 its 2 instead of 1). All raises following a Complete bet will be at the current level (in 3/6 its 3, 2/4 its 2, etc)

Back To Top

---

Kill Game

A kill game is set up to try and stop a current winning player from continuing on his/her winning streak. For a player to be eligable for the ‘Partial Kill’ aka 1st Leg of a kill he/she must win a pot without any splits (in H/L must win both the high and the low, in any game all players must have matched the bet as opposed to one player winning a side pot because he/she had more or fewer chips on an all in) and the pot must be greater than 5 times the big blind (in 2/4 the pot has to be 10 or higher). Once the player has the ‘Partial Kill Button’ placed in front of them they must win the next pot in the same fashion as the last one (outright, 5 times the big blind.) If a player succeeds in winning the ‘Partial Kill’ hand the limits will increase. On the Kill Hand the Small Blind will still post the small blind amount, the Big Blind will post the big blind amount but the player with the ‘Kill Button’ will post double the Big Blind. Everyone acts in turn but the level is doubled (2/4 is 4/8, 3/6 is 6/12) so for any player to call the hand they must now place the new X bet into the pot.

Variations: In some areas/games (Lowball) a player may only need to win the first pot outright with no qualifier to earn the ‘Partial Kill Button’. The qualifier is in play while on the ‘Partial Kill Button.’ Also the player on the ‘Kill Button’ may be last to act if those are the rules of the house.

Half Kill Game

Operates exactly the same as a Kill Game. The stakes do no increase double however, rather 1 1/2 times (2/4 games become 3/6, 4/8 become 6/12, etc).

Back To Top

---

Wild Cards/Jokers

In wild card and games using a joker whatever card (or cards) the dealer stated to be wild stand for whatever card you want them to be. In some games such as chase the Queen the Queen is wild and any card immediately following the Queen becomes wild. The Joker is trademarked to Card Company.