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Comparing Texas Holdem Poker Games/Variants

The word “Holdem” is a contraction of three words, “hold me darling” Sometimes, it is written as “hold’em” with the apostrophe. But with the continuous evolution of the English language, “holdem” is now widely accepted. There are three known Holdem games that a poker player may choose to compete in: the Texas Holdem, the Omaha Holdem, and the Pineapple Holdem. All three basically use the same terms for card combinations, types of players, and rounds. But they differ in the number of personal and community cards.

Of the three, the most popular is the Texas Holdem. Every casino all over the world holds Texas Holdem games. Due to its popularity, its name is often shortened to just holdem. It is a community card game with four betting rounds. Each player is dealt with two personal cards that are faced down. Then, the dealer places at the center five community cards that are faced up. A player shares these five cards with all the other players. Normally, the player who can combine his cards with the community cards to make the best five-card combination wins the game. Unless, of course, the player with a worse hand can bluff his way into forcing the better hands into folding. In this case, the player with the better mind wins. Texas Holdem has another name, the “Tennessee Hold Me”.

Another community card game, which is similar to Texas Holdem, is called the Omaha Holdem. There will still be five community cards that can be used by everyone. These five table cards are rolled up one at a time. Each player will be dealt with four personal cards. This game is usually played high low split. A high low split means that the highest and the lowest hands split the pot. Sometimes, the Omaha can be played highball only. That is, the highest five card combinations wins the all the pot. But with highball Omaha, the maximum bet allowed is the size of the pot. This is called pot limit betting.

The Pineapple Holdem is called by other names, the “Crazy Pineapple” and the “Watermelon”. It is a variation of both the Texas and the Omaha Holdem poker games. There will be five faced up community cards. And initially, the players are dealt with three personal faced down cards. But, as the community cards are being rolled one by one, a player may discard one of his three cards. This giving up of one card is sometimes called “spitting out the seeds” and probably the reason why the game is called Watermelon. When a player discards one card before the flop (the third card), they have a “regular” Pineapple. But when the player discards his card after the flop, they have a “crazy” Pineapple. This game is regularly played high low split.