Cash or Tournament
There are essentially two different ways to play poker, both of which can be found at Circus Poker. These are Cash games and Tournaments.
Cash games are the original way in which poker was played, where you choose how much money you wish to sit down at a table with and can choose to stop playing whenever you feel like it. Cash games are defined by the table stakes and these range from games that are played for only a few cents per bet to hundreds of dollars.
Tournaments are more like a big knock out competition. All players pay a fixed entrance fee and receive the same number of starting chips. Except in rebuy tournaments once you lose all your chips you are out. Tournaments only end when all players (except the winner) have been eliminated.
Prize money is paid to the top placing finishers in each tournament. The number of players awarded prize money varies, depending on the number of participants in the tournament.
There are several different ways to play tournament poker. At Circus Poker you can play both single table tournaments and multi-table tournaments. Single table tournaments, also known as 'Sit & Go' tournaments start when all seats at the table have been filled and are available at all times on Circus Poker.
Multi-table tournaments have scheduled start times and many more players can take part in them, which of course means bigger prizes for the winners. Full details of all the different types of tournament on offer at Circus Poker - including Speed, Turbo, Satellites and Freerolls - can be found in our Tournaments section.
Limit, Pot Limit and No Limit
Whether you are playing a cash game or a tournament, there are different ways to play relating to how much you can bet during a hand.
Limit poker is where the size of bets and subsequent raises are fixed, depending on the table stakes if it is a cash game or the blind levels if it is a tournament.
Pot Limit poker is where the maximum bet or raise allowed is defined by the amount of money or chips already in the pot.
No Limit poker is where there is no limit to the amount of money that can be bet. The only restriction there is in No Limit poker is that you can only bet as many chips as you have at the table at the time. You cannot purchase and bring additional chips to the table during a hand.
In the Circus Poker Room there are currently six different types of poker game available - Texas Hold 'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud and 5 Card Stud.
Texas Hold'em
Texas Hold'em is the most widely played version of poker in the world today and if you have ever watched poker on TV - you have almost certainly witnessed Texas Hold'em in action. The main event at the World Series of Poker, which takes place every year in Las Vegas, is a Texas Hold'em game.
As in most forms of poker, the object is to make the best possible five-card poker hand from a total of seven cards. Of the seven cards, each player receives two cards face down (hole cards) and uses these and the five board cards to make their best possible five-card poker hand. See our Hand Rankings section for more information. The board cards are shared by all players and are dealt face up in the middle of the table, while the hole cards are dealt face down to each player. For full details on how to play Texas Hold'em please see the Game Rules.
Omaha
Omaha varies from Texas Hold'em in two distinct ways.
Firstly, in Omaha each player receives four hole cards rather than the two received in Texas Hold'em. As in Texas Hold'em there are five board cards that are shared by all players and the object is still to make the best possible five-card poker hand. So, each player has a total of nine cards from which to make the best possible hand.
Unlike in Texas Hold'em where any of the seven cards can be used to make the best five-card hand, in Omaha each player must use a specific combination of two cards from their hand and three from the board. This is the second main difference between Omaha and Texas Hold'em.
Omaha Hi-Lo
Omaha Hi-Lo is played in the same way as Omaha, but in addition to players competing to make the best possible poker hand, they are also competing to make the worst possible hand, or the low hand as it is known. The best high hand wins half the pot and the best low hand wins the other half. For full details on the rules of Omaha Hi-Lo and how the low hand works, please see Game Rules.
7-Card Stud
7 Card Stud is one of the oldest poker variations, and for most poker players will be the first game that they were introduced to. A good memory is important and an extra betting round over Hold'em and Omaha induces some extra action.
Each player is dealt 3 cards, 2 face down and one face up for all to see. After a round of betting a further 3 cards are dealt face up to every player still in the pot before a seventh card is then dealt face down, with a betting round after each card. The player with the best five-card hand from their seven cards takes down the pot. There are no community cards in 7 Card Stud. Please see Game Rules for full details.
5-Card Stud
This is very similar to 7 Card Stud, and played by the same rules (but with up to 10 players). The difference is that only one card is dealt face down to each player; there are 2nd, 3rd and 4th streets, plus the River.
