Community card poker

The set of community cards is called the "board", and may be dealt in a simple line or arranged in a special pattern.

The most popular community card game today is Texas hold 'em, originating sometime in the 1920s.

The betting format and stakes can vary by region as well as time of year and volume (casinos often change games on weekends to accommodate increased customer demand).

Each betting round begins with the player to the dealer's left (when blinds are used, the first round begins with the player after the big blind), so community card games are generally positional games.

When played high-low split, there is generally a minimum qualifying hand for low (often 8-high) and no declaration is needed.

The board is usually dealt in a simple line, but some games may have elaborate layouts of community cards with special rules about what combinations can be used.

For example, Texas hold 'em ends with each player holding two cards in his individual hand, and a board of five community cards in a simple line shared by everyone; each player then plays the best five-card hand in any combination.

Then three community cards are dealt face up (in no particular order or pattern) to form the "flop", followed by a second betting round.

From this point the game is played exactly like Texas hold 'em with betting after the turn and river.

[6] Players are dealt three hole cards instead of two with three betting rounds: pre-flop, flop and turn.

In royal hold'em, the deuces through nines are stripped from the deck, thereby only leaving the tens through aces.

[10] The strategy for royal hold 'em varies from other forms of poker, since the odds of certain hands are greatly increased.

The betting rounds and layout of community cards is identical to Texas hold 'em.

Then two more community cards are dealt to complete the Flop, and then play proceeds exactly as in Omaha.

Each player then discards one of the three cards (Pre-flop, Post-flop or at Showdown), and the game proceeds exactly as in Texas hold 'em.

[11] In some regional variations, five cards are dealt, and one is discarded after flop, turn, and river, otherwise proceeding as usual Texas hold 'em.

Players discard their third (unwanted or unneeded) card pre-flop, before the first betting round.

Players discard after the final betting round or at showdown so they may not use all three of them to make a hand.