What You Should Play When You're Tired of Hold'em

As Poker has emerged into popular culture, by far the most popular version of the game is Texas Hold’em. There are few professional poker players who do not consider this to be their prefered discipline of poker, and if you switch to your favourite poker channel or live Twitch stream, and there is a high chance it will be Texas Hold’em hands you will be watching.

The edge good players have over average players in Hold’em is getting smaller and the games are getting tougher. Poker players must play on multiple tables logging many thousands of hands to turn their small edge into meaningful profit that justifies their time spent at the tables. The term ‘grinder’ is not ironic, poker can be a mental endurance challenge as well as a battle of skill.

Any activity can feel like a grind after many hours of work without a break. Here at Pokertube, we view changing games as similar to crossfit for runners. You don't want to stop progressing or training, but you need to give your muscles a break. Switching games allows you to keep tuning and sharpening your card skills without overworking the Hold'em, "muscles." Let’s take a look at some of the other poker games you can play when you need a break from Hold’em and why they may well prove a profitable excursion.

PLO (Pot Limit Omaha)

Omaha games are very popular. Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) is, in particular, a favourite amongst high stakes poker players, probably because players migrate from Hold’em and don't realize the differences in the game. With players receiving four hole cards you will encounter very strong hands much more often. For this reason PLO is very popular in the nosebleed stakes both online and in live poker rooms as two big hands do not like to fold.

PLO is a more intense game than Hold’em because you encounter tough spots and big decisions more often than in Texas Hold’em. This ensures a steep learning curve and potentially large variance so you really must be on your mettle to win. Despite the action being limited to pot size bets, modern PLO sees the pot sized bet utilised so often during hands that monster pots appear very quickly and are very common.

Players chase strong hands in the knowledge that reverse implied odds ensure you are likely to be rewarded for hitting a monster hand. If you are excited by having to make big decisions and you get a kick out of seeing hands like straight flushes, full houses, and quads, you will enjoy PLO.

There are a number of other Omaha variations like Hi-Lo Split and Omaha 8or Better, all of which have additional facets for you to learn and, most importantly, for your opponents to master.

Seven Card Stud

Seven Card Stud is a popular poker variation in USA home games, and if you seek a change from Hold’em, the format of Seven Card Stud (SCS) is very different.

SCS follows the same basic principles of hold'em in terms of what hand wins over another and so on, but initially the player is dealt three hole cards with the last card face up. You receive seven cards in total, with the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth card dealt face up, with a round of betting after each card. From fourth street onwards, the player with the highest showing hand bets first.

Unlike Hold’em, you do not share community cards with your opponent. You must carefully consider what your opponents open cards suggest they may hold whilst considering your the strength and potential strength of your own cards.

5 Card Draw Poker

Believe it or not, 5 card draw (or FCD to us enthusiasts) is my favourite poker game of all! My first experience watching poker was the movie “Maverick”, where the poker game of choice for Mel Gibson’s character Brett Maverick was draw poker.

FCD is significantly different than Hold’em in that you receive five hole cards dealt face down and after the first round of betting you choose which cards, if any, to exchange for new cards. You can also fold your hand or ‘stand pat’ which retains all five cards. There is another betting round, then one more draw if you wish, followed by a final betting round before showdown.

With only three rounds of betting, the action is fast. The strategy differs as you must interpret what the draw means for your opponent and what you drawing 1 or more cards looks like to your opponent. Because the strategy differs so vastly from Hold’em, if you learn the nuances of the game you may have an advantage against other players who may not understand the subtleties of draw.

Apart from a brief appearance in a dealer's choice game at the WSOP in 2014, there have been no bracelet events for draw poker since the early 1980’s. Perhaps I am an old romantic, but I really feel this is a shame as FCD is an engaging and fun variant of poker and when I am looking for a break from Hold’em, more often than not it is draw poker I choose to play. The last player to win a draw poker bracelet was David Sklansky in 1982.

Open Face Chinese Poker

The old romantics can take a breather now as our nostalgic trip down memory lane has just been catapulted into the twenty first century. Chinese Poker is not for the faint of heart. The game is played by up to four players but very often just two or three. Players get 13 cards and split their hands to play against their opponents and you are paid in “units”, the level of which is agreed before play begins between the participants.

Whilst undoubtedly very different and a break from Hold’em, you will be well-served to learn the game before sitting down to play it. The rules are complex and swings can be brutal. Have a search through the poker forums for chinese poker stories. There are many.

If you know the game or want to check it out, I suggest hopping over to Tonybet, brainchild of the infamous Antanas 'Tony G' Guoga. Tonybet is not only the premier website for online OFC, but we found, after testing it exclusively, that the site qualified for out Soft Site Radar.

That link will take you to the full review, but the overall thought is that the site itself was a pleasure to use, the opponents were scrubs, and that the tourney's they host really are the best OFC tourneys you'll find these days. Its definitely worth a quick check.

There are plenty of poker variations to keep you interested when you feel you need a break from Hold’em. A bit of work on the specific strategies for each alternative poker game is worth it, as you do not want to leak money when you move away from your hold’em comfort zone.

Other players put in far less effort to learn the less popular variations of poker which presents you with an opportunity. So jump the queue and turn a short break into a timely bankroll booster. The skills you will learn are transferable back into your hold’em game, so really, it’s a no brainer.