H.O.R.S.E.

The game variations are Holdem, Omaha Eight or Better, Razz, Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud Eight or Better. The names of these five games create the acronym for H.O.R.S.E., if you take the "eight or better" in Seven Card Stud Eight or Better for the "E" in the acronym.

HORSE is considered the truest test of poker skills, because it requires a player to master five games instead of one. In the past few years, tournaments have begun featuring specific H.O.R.S.E. events.

For example, the World Series of Poker sponsored its first HORSE tournament in 2004. It was won by Scott Fischman of "the Crew", as it is so-called. In the most recent WSOP, the H.O.R.S.E. tournament broke a record for the largest entry fee, at $50,000. This was meant to keep out the amateurs and other assorted riff raff, so that the event had the largest percentage of professionals and old timers. Longtime, respected profession "Chip" Reece won this event.

Below is a look at the five different games played in H.O.R.S.E.

Texas Holdem

Holdem is the most popular poker game in the world. It is a community card game, which in HORSE is played in its no-limit form.

Players are dealt two hole cards, along with five community cards. With these seven cards, players build the best five card hand. This game has no ante bets, but does use the blinds system to drive action.

Omaha Eight or Better

Omaha Eigth or Better is more famously known as Omaha Hi-Lo. Game play is quite similar to Texas Holdem, with one or two major exceptions. In Holdem, players are dealt two hole cards. In Omaha, players are dealt four cards.

The player builds the best hand with any two of these four hole cards, along with three of the five community cards. The player must use two of their personal cards, but no more than two.

In Omaha Eight or Better, the pot is split between the player with the best hand and the player with the worst hand. The only stipulation is, the player with the low hand must not have a card ranked higher than eight to qualify. If no player qualifies, then the entire pot is won by the player with the highest hand rank.

Razz

Razz is played like Seven Card Stud, except instead of wagering on who holds the highest hand, players are betting on who has the lowest hand.

There are five betting rounds in Razz, after the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th cards are dealt. A player can be "behind" through sixth street, only to receive a killer card on seventh street. Many consider Razz a test of a player's skills of calculation.

Seven Card Stud

Seven Card Stud is a game that many people first played when learning to play poker. It does not use community cards, but instead deals seven card apiece to each player. Four of these cards are face up, while three are in the hole.

There are betting rounds after the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th cards are dealt. The object is to gamble on whether you will have the best hand after the seven cards are dealt. In this way, Seven Card Stud is the reverse of Razz.

Seven Card Stud Eight or Better

Seven Card Stud Eight or Better combines elements of standard Seven Card Stud and Razz. In this game, the pot is split between the hand with the highest rank and the hand with the lowest rank.

Therefore, a pot is awarded according to the rules of conventional Seven Card Stud, while a pot is awarded according to the rules of Razz.

The only difference from Razz is that, in Stud Eight or Better, the low hand cannot contain a card ranked nine or better. If no player can build such a hand, then the entire pot is awarded to the player with the highest ranked hand.