What's your favorite poker variant?

I know all of us probably play hold 'em, but does anyone play any other games?

I used to play seven card stud alot at Casino Arizona, because it was the only table game you could play for $40, except blackjack.

Here are the rules:

Play proceeds as follows ("player" refers only to those who have not folded and are still in the game), with betting rounds in-between.

Betting is clockwise, the player with the highest poker hand showing starts (ie 2-2 beats K-Q).

Virtually all casinos deal:

* Two cards dealt face down to each player, one card dealt face up to each player
* upcard to each player (Fourth Street)
* upcard to each player (Fifth Street)
* upcard to each player (Sixth Street/Turn)
* downcard to each player (Seventh Street/River)
* showdown

Mnemonic: Two-four-one (Two down, four up, one down.)

Some tables remove one betting round (making the number of betting rounds equal to Texas hold-em) by dealing four cards, two down and two up, in the initial deal. "Fourth Street" is thus not played as a separate betting round; the first single upcard round is "Fifth Street".


My favorite hand ever was when I had two tens in my hold, a ten on Fifth street, and another ten on seventh. A little old lady bet the shit out of me on every street, I could see she had a pair of 9s up. Then at the showdown she announced four nines, and I flipped my quad tens. Everyone was excited at the table because that would have invoked the bad beat jackpot. Then the dealer looked at the old ladies hand and said, "You only have trip nines". She had somehow got excited and counted wrong. I felt bad taking her money from her, but figured she probably shouldn't have been at the table anyway. I know she wouldn't have felt bad taking my money from me.

Hold em is still the best variant. I am not too keen on the other variants, ( exept for classic old school poker which is boring as hell now)

I was raised on five card draw but, like many others out there, I am now a huge fan of hold 'em. I think the main appeal with hold 'em is that there are so few cards in play and there are only two cards that need to be acknowledged for each player at the table. I am also learning how to effectively play and bet with 7 card stud, but it is an entirely different breed because of the way it is dealt. I have also tried Omaha Hi-Low and got thoroughly confused just when I thought I was making progress. Are there any other games that I should be made aware of that are somewhat similar to hold 'em?

Skelly is right - old school seems kind of boring now. We still play it once in a while, but we prefer hold 'em. Just fun to watch everyone's hand unfold at the same time.

My favorite poker variant is Let it Ride- I play it alot at the casinos and have won quite a bit.

My favorite variant is the easiest; Jokers wild.

I used to play a lot of five and seven card stud... but It's just hold-em these days for me.

I love Razz( 7 card stud low)! It's not something I get a chance to play in a casino too much, but it's not too hard to find a game online.
I used to enjoy playing Omaha hi lo but I've pretty much decided it's a wicked game.