At the present time, Juicy Stakes offers games and tournaments in these poker variations: Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Seven Card Stud.
But that just touches the surface of the variations within the variations! You see, we also offer many stakes ranges in each poker variation! There are no limit games that challenge the most experienced poker player as a timely all-in bet will confuse and even frighten even the top players!
There are also games in many other stakes levels. Players can start very low on the stakes ladder and can progress up the ladder as their skill develops and they choose to take on the challenge of a higher stakes level.
The Challenge Goes up as the Stakes Go Up
Most players at Juicy Stakes are not pros in the strictest sense of the word. A poker pro plays poker all day every day (except when they are on vacation—maybe). Juicy Stakes Poker is designed for the casual yet serious poker player. Our average player is to poker as the dress code is on many cruises: sharp casual!
We recommend that all poker players who have never played against opponents they don’t know start at low stakes. There are elements of low-stakes poker that don’t occur at higher stakes such as players limping in to see the flop much more often when a call bet comes so cheaply.
Still, low stakes give a neophyte poker player the chance to play hundreds and even thousands of hands and to filter through all these hands the insights they will need to succeed at higher stakes levels.
Texas Hold’em is the Daddy of Poker Variations
By this time, we would venture to say that almost every poker player knows the basics of Texas Hold’em. There are five community cards and only two hidden cards for each player yet the game has subtleties that many players—especially new players—have a default time understanding.
The most important aspect of Texas Hold’em is to fold about 70% of the hands you are dealt, to pay close attention to every hand you and others play, to keep a running journal and to emphasize specific important moments in any hand.
After mastering the art of paying close attention on every hand—and it is an art—you can start to learn poker math. In the modern world of poker, players need the basic rudiments of poker math to gain an advantage. The advantage players gain by learning poker math is less against opponents although it will give you a distinct advantage against poker players who don’t yet know the math.
The big advantage learning poker math gives is against your own “better nature”. in other words, learning the math of poker will prevent you from making unrealistic bets and will direct you to make bets that you otherwise would have avoided making.
Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo
Omaha is very similar to Texas Hold’em in terms of the community cards and the rounds of betting. The big difference is that in Omaha you get four-hole cards. That means that borderline hands before the flop are a lot weaker in Omaha than they are in Hold’em.
Players who come to Omaha for a change of pace from Texas Hold’em often make the mistake of over-valuing their hole cards. Every player has the chance to get a rock-solid hand in the hole and you will never have any idea that they have such a hand.
Bluffing is also more prominent in Omaha since a timely bluff will force opponents into thinking that you have a great hand in the hole even if you have nothing of value!
Omaha Hi-Lo
Here players are supposed to create both a high hand and a low hand. If two different players win the high and low hands, they divide the pot. This makes the math on every hand much different than in Texas Hold’em or Omaha. Pot odds are really half-pot odds and many bets are no longer viable if you are contesting for only half of the pot.
A straight from ace to five is the best low hand and it also can count as a straight for the high hand. There are poker players who consider the two Omaha variations to be more challenging than Texas Hold’em!
Stud
Stud comes in two forms: five-card and seven-card stud. We offer seven-card stud. There are five rounds of betting in seven-card stud. The first round sees every player getting two hole cards and one up card.
There are no blinds in stud. Instead of blinds, every player antes a pre-determined amount into the pot. Thus, on the first round of betting, a player in an early position can check since there is no big blind to call or raise.
There are no community cards in stud. Even if you feel that your hand is strong enough to see one more card, there will likely be a point where just by looking at the board, you can be quite sure, even if not 100% sure, that you have no chance to win the hand.
As common as early folding is in Texas Hold’em and Omaha, it is less common in stud since the betting opponent might get no help on the next street while other players—yourself included—might get a lot of help on the next card dealt.
How Many Variations are There in at-home Poker Games?
There may be an unlimited number of variations for these games with friends. Here is a short list:
- Deuces Wild
- Five card draw
- Guts
- Cincinnati
- Badugi
- RAZZ
- Triple Draw
- Chicago
Just as it is very important to know all of the rules of any poker variation you play at a casino, it is also important to know the rules of any variant someone “just comes up with” at a home-brewed weekend poker game. We have played in games where the 2, 4, and 10 were all wild. Five of a kind in this kind of game is not a strong hand!
Juicy Stakes Gives Poker Players Great Poker at their Own Level
We offer so many stakes levels that every player can find his or her best location in terms of stakes. Always remember that at lower stakes, there will be a lot of players who will find it hard to fold a poor hand especially before the flop. As long as you are not one of these players, you can use that knowledge to extract even more wins from the less well-informed players!
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