5 Obscure Variants of Poker

In modern times, poker has enjoyed a resounding popularity among all forms of card games. The explosion in online poker rooms saw the rise of certain varieties of poker, namely Texas Hold’em, Omaha and Caribbean Stud, in favour of other lesser-known variants, a phenomenon that was also helped in no small part to their heavy presence at land-based casinos and in movies.

The online poker scene continues to thrive, even in the USA [3], and more players are opting to try different games to hone their skills and keep their play fresh.

 If you’re tired of playing the same types of poker games every day and want to learn a new variant to impress friends and spice up your play, then read on to find out all about the following five obscure variants of poker.

Oxford Stud

Oxford Stud is a variant of poker that was popular in colleges across the USA in the 1960s, especially at MIT. Despite its name, Oxford Stud is a hybrid variant blends elements from stud and community poker. In fact, each player is first dealt two down-cards and an up-card as in a seven-card stud, and the player with the highest up-card begins the first round of  betting.

After the first round is finished, two community cards are dealt to the table, followed by a second round of betting. A second up-card is then dealt to each player followed by a third round of betting, and finally a third community card is dealt, after which the final round of betting ensues. In each case, the player with the highest-ranking partial hand initiates the betting.

At showdown, the player with the best five-card hand combination created from the four cards they were dealt and the three community cards wins the pot.

Kuhn Poker

Kuhn Poker is named after its creator, Dr Harold Kuhn, who invented this simplified form of poker to prove a point in game theory rather than as a way to spend a night with your friends. Kuhn Poker can only be played by two players and requires only three cards which are extracted from a shuffled full deck to play.

After the cards are extracted, each player has to post an ante, following which each player is dealt one card (the third card is discarded). The player who was dealt the first card acts first and they can choose to check, raise or fold. The second player has similar options, although they are forced to accept the raise or fold if the first player increases the stake.

When the betting is complete, both players reveal their cards and the one with the higher card wins the pot. Although this variant of poker is very simple, it still affords a wide range of strategies, particular bluffing to make the other player fold even though you hold a low value card.

Chinese Poker

Chinese Poker is better known in casinos and online as Pai Gow Poker, [4] although the latter is actually a sub-variant of Chinese Poker. In this 2-4 player variant, each player is dealt thirteen cards from a standard 52-card dealt, which then have to arranged in three hands following normal poker hand combination rules.

The cards are set into poker hands following specific rules: the first hand, called the front hand, must contain three cards, whereas the second and third hands, called the middle and back hand respectively, must contain five cards each. Moreover, the front hand must be of lower value than the middle hand, which in turn must be of lower value than the back hand. If this rule is broken, then the player loses one point.

When all the cards are set into their hands, the players compare all their hands and the player with the highest ranking hand in a given position wins a point. Points are then exchanged for an amount of money that would be agreed upon beforehand (e.g. 1 point  = $10).

Tic Tac Toe

Tic Tac Toe, alternatively known as Criss Cross, is a lesser known poker variant which is played by dealing two hole cards face down to each player at the table and then laying down nine cards face down in a 3x3 grid at the middle of the table, in the order shown in the table below. The objective of the game is to make the best five-card hand combination using the two hole cards and three of the cards in the grid. 

After the players see their hole cards, a first round of betting follows at when this is complete cards 1-2-3-4 on the grid are exposed. Another round of betting occurs, after which the second group of cards, 5-6-7-8 is exposed. A third betting round takes place before the central card 9 is revealed.

After the final round of betting, the players expose their cards and the one with the best ranking hand wins. In some sub-variants of Tic Tac Toe, the players have to strictly combine their hole cards with cards from any row, column or diagonal. In another sub-variant, the centre card and all cards of the same rank are wild.

Follow the Queen

Follow the Queen is basically a seven-card stud game which adds a wild-card to the mix. The wild-card in play changes according to whichever card is dealt face-up immediately after any queen that was dealt exposed. So if a deuce is the next card to be dealt after the queen, then deuces are wild for that hand.

Should the last card to be dealt be a queen, then all queens are wild. On the other hand, if no queens are dealt exposed during a hand then there are no wilds available for that hand. Except this peculiarity, Follow the Queen follows the same rules of a typical seven-card stud game.

Go on ahead and try one of these lesser-known variants. They're a great way to add variety to your poker nights and some of the simpler variants can also be used during side-bets for a quick distraction from the main event.