If you’re raring for something new outside stud and draw poker then why not try your hand at community card poker? Community card poker games can get terribly exciting as they give more clues about a player’s possible hand with the use of board cards.

Texas Hold’em Poker
Often referred to as the Cadillac of Poker, Texas Hold’em is arguably the most popular poker variant today, sweeping across Europe and the United States and dominating online and real-time casinos. Texas Hold’em can easily allow eight to ten players to compete against each other.

Players are dealt with a pair of hand cards each. The first two players to the dealer’s left will post the small and big blind respectively. Succeeding players can then either call, raise the bet, or fold. The first three board cards revealed make up the flop and initiate another round of betting. The cycle will continue as the fourth (turn) and fifth (river) card is revealed. If all five board cards make the best possible hand, the pot shall be divided equally among the players.

Omaha
This poker variant is often confused with Texas Hold’em but is, in fact, different in two notable ways. Firstly, players are dealt with four cards each rather than just two hole cards. Secondly, the best winning combination must be made up of exactly two hole cards and three from the board. No other combination is acceptable.

Omaha High follows the same hand ranking in traditional poker games while Omaha Hi/Lo subscribes to another set of rules. In Omaha Hi/Lo, players are allowed to split the pot. In this case, players with the lowest and highest hand are qualified to win.

Players can aim to scoop the pot or have the highest and lowest hand at the same time, which therefore negates any possibility of splitting your winnings with other players. Players also have the option of having two separate hands, just as long as they still subscribe to the two-hand and three-board card combination.

To qualify for a low hand, your cards must have values equal to eight or lower. Pairs are not considered as low hands but flushes and straights may pass as low.

Royal Hold’em
This is another variation of Texas Hold’em. It’s played with a stripped deck, wherein everything but aces, kings, queens, jacks, and tens are taken out of the game.

Double Board Hold’em
Yet another variant of Texas Hold’em, this game makes use of two sets of community cards, with each row consisting of five cards. Players with the highest hand for each row wins. It is also occasionally referred to as double-flop hold’em.

Pineapple
This poker variant is a cross between Omaha and Texas Hold’em. There are several ways to play Pineapple. In all versions, players are dealt three cards each.

In the Lazy Pineapple or Tahoe version, players are given the option to use none or just one instead of the usual minimum two of his hole cards. In Crazy Pineapple, players can only discard one of their hole cards prior to the fourth street. Both versions are often played hi-lo.