Sure, Texas Hold’em is the global superstar. It’s the game you see on TV, the one everyone learns first. But honestly, sticking only to Hold’em is like only ever eating pizza when there’s a whole world of incredible cuisine out there. The truth is, poker is a family of games, each with its own unique flavor, strategy, and history.

Let’s dive into some of the most fascinating poker variants played from European salons to American kitchen tables. You might just find your new favorite game.

The Draw of the Old School: Where It All Began

Before community cards, there was the draw. These games are pure, a direct test of hand-reading and bluffing with limited information. They feel classic, you know?

Five Card Draw

The granddaddy of them all. It’s simple: you get five cards face down, bet, then discard and replace as many as you want from the deck. The final hand is your five cards. That’s it. The strategy? It’s subtle. Figuring out how many cards your opponent drew is the whole game. Did they stand pat on a strong hand? Or draw one, hinting at a straight or flush attempt? It’s a psychological chess match in its simplest form.

Badugi

Now here’s a wild one from Korea. Badugi is a lowball and a draw game, but with a twist. You’re trying to make the lowest possible hand, but with a catch: all four cards must be of different suits and different ranks. A “Badugi” is a perfect, four-card qualifying hand like A♣ 2♦ 3♠ 4♥. It’s brain-bending at first—you’re juggling suits, ranks, and low values across multiple drawing rounds. A real thinker’s game.

The Stud Family: A Game of Revealed Patterns

Stud games are like a slow, tantalizing reveal. Cards are dealt face up and face down over several rounds. You get more information than in Draw, but you have to remember what’s folded and piece together the puzzle. It’s a memory game as much as a betting one.

Seven Card Stud

This was the king before Hold’em took over. Each player gets seven cards total: three face down, four face up. You have to make your best five-card hand from the seven. The rhythm is different—no flop, turn, or river. Just a steady drip-feed of information. You’re constantly scanning the table, seeing if your needed cards are already showing in someone else’s upcards. It teaches discipline and observation like no other.

Razz

Think of Razz as Seven Card Stud’s rebellious sibling who does the exact opposite. It’s a lowball game: the lowest hand wins. Ace-to-five low rules apply (straights and flushes don’t count against you), so the best possible hand is A, 2, 3, 4, 5. Seeing a table full of face-up low cards while you’re desperately chasing a deuce creates a wonderfully tense, inverted reality. It’s a blast.

Flop Games With a Twist: Community Card Creativity

Okay, you like the community card concept of Hold’em. But what if the flop was… weirder? More complex? These variants take the familiar and spin it into something new.

Omaha (Specifically, Pot-Limit Omaha)

This is Hold’em’s hyperactive cousin. The key difference? You get four hole cards, not two. And here’s the kicker: you must use exactly two of them with exactly three community cards. That rule changes everything. Players make much stronger hands on average—flushes and straights are common. The pots get huge. The action is explosive. It’s the fastest-growing variant for a reason; it satisfies that craving for big pots and complex decisions.

Courchevel

A lesser-known but brilliant game. It’s basically Omaha, but with a funky first step: the first community card is dealt face up before the pre-flop betting round. So you start with one board card known. That little change warps the opening strategy dramatically. It’s a niche game, but you’ll find it in some mixed-game rotations, and it’s a great conversation starter.

The Wild Cards & High-Low Split: Chaos and Calculation

Want more action? More ways to win? These games introduce concepts that can double the drama—or the confusion.

2-7 Triple Draw (Lowball)

We mentioned Badugi, but 2-7 Triple Draw is the other classic lowball draw game. The goal: make the lowest possible 5-card hand without straights or flushes counting as good. Aces are high. So the best hand is 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 of mixed suits. You get three draws to try and get there. It’s a pure, technical battle of hand improvement and bluffing on the final bet. No community cards, no shared information—just you, your hand, and your reads.

Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or Better)

This is where things get beautifully mathematical. The pot is split between the highest hand and the lowest qualifying hand (8 or lower). You can use different combinations of your four hole cards for each half! So you might be scooping the whole pot, or getting a frustrating quarter. It forces you to think in two directions at once. The pain point for beginners? Getting “quartered” when you split the low with another player. Ouch.

Variant	Key Feature	Skill Focus
Five Card Draw	Pure bluffing, hidden information	Psychology, deduction
Seven Card Stud	Memory, pattern recognition	Observation, patience
Pot-Limit Omaha	Four hole cards, big pots	Hand potential calculation, aggression
Razz	Lowest hand wins	Inverted hand reading
Hi-Lo Split Games	Pot split between high and low	Two-way hand construction, math

Why Branch Out? The Real Value of Variants

Learning these games isn’t just for trivia. It sharpens your core poker skills in ways Hold’em alone can’t. Stud teaches you to remember dead cards. Draw hones your pure bluffing sense. Omaha deepens your understanding of hand equities and possibilities. Playing different poker variants makes you a more complete, adaptable player. It breaks you out of autopilot.

And here’s the thing: in home games or casino mixed-game rotations, knowing these variants makes you the versatile player, the one ready for anything. You stop fearing the unknown and start seeing the connections—the fundamental truths of betting, bluffing, and odds that tie all poker together.

So next time you’re looking at a deck of cards, maybe don’t just deal another Hold’em hand. Try dealing a round of Stud. Or challenge a friend to a head-to-head Badugi duel. The world of poker is vast and wonderfully varied. Exploring it doesn’t just make you more knowledgeable; it rekindles that original, simple joy of playing cards with strategy, guts, and a dash of luck. That’s the real deal.