Casino poker against the house
Casino Hold'em
You and the dealer get two cards each, with five community cards. After the flop you call or fold. With correct play the edge is about 2.2%; folding too often is the most common mistake.
Ultimate Texas Hold'em
You can raise big early (up to four times the ante before the flop) or smaller later. The edge on the ante is about 2.2% with good strategy.
Three Card Poker and Caribbean Stud
Simple and fast. Three Card Poker's ante and play bet runs at about 3.4%; Caribbean Stud is around 5.2%. Side bets on both pay big on rare hands and carry much higher edges.
Room poker against other players
Six Plus Hold'em
Also called short deck. The twos to fives are removed, leaving 36 cards. Hands change value: a flush usually beats a full house, and in many rule sets three of a kind beats a straight. Big pairs lose value and drawing hands gain, so adjust your starting hands.
Fast-fold poker
Fold and you move straight to a new table with a new hand. You see far more hands an hour, so play tighter, track your session length and set a firm budget.
How to adapt to a new variant
- Read the rules and hand rankings before you play; variants change both.
- Practise in demo mode or at the lowest stake.
- Keep each session to a set budget, and drop your stakes while you learn.
- Skip side bets until you know their payouts and edge.
- Review your session afterwards rather than adjusting mid-hand on emotion.
Find casinos with poker tables on our poker page, and compare edges across games in games for advanced players.