Poker, scored like a real table

Hand rankings, Hold’em streets, and a live deal from a public card deck. Then the poker rooms we actually list — casino Hold’em against the house is not the same as a player-versus-player room.

Deal a board Poker casinos

Live table

Deal a Hold’em board

We shuffle a 52-card deck through the public Deck of Cards API, then score the best five-card Hold’em hand on our side. No account, no trial key — just seven cards and a ranking.

Hole cards

Press deal to pull two private cards and a five-card board.

Board

Hold’em desk

Hand rankings

Strongest at the top. In Texas Hold’em you make the best five-card hand from two hole cards plus the five-card board.

10
Royal Flush
A-K-Q-J-10, same suit. The unbeatable Hold’em hand.
9
Straight Flush
Five consecutive ranks, same suit.
8
Four of a Kind
Four cards of one rank, plus a kicker.
7
Full House
Three of a kind plus a pair.
6
Flush
Any five cards of the same suit, not consecutive.
5
Straight
Five consecutive ranks, mixed suits. A-2-3-4-5 counts.
4
Three of a Kind
Three cards of one rank.
3
Two Pair
Two different pairs plus a kicker.
2
One Pair
Two cards of one rank. Common on the flop.
1
High Card
Nothing made — the highest card plays.

How a Hold’em hand is played

1. Hole cards
Each player is dealt two private cards face down. In Texas Hold’em those two cards never change.
2. Preflop
Action starts left of the big blind: fold, call, or raise. Position after the dealer button is a real advantage.
3. Flop
Three community cards are dealt face up. Everyone still in the hand can use them with their hole cards.
4. Turn
A fourth community card. Pots often grow here when draws complete or top pair gets expensive.
5. River
The fifth and last community card. One more betting round, then remaining players show down.
6. Showdown
Best five-card poker hand wins. You may use 0, 1, or 2 hole cards with the board.

Starting-hand primer

Premium AA, KK, QQ, AKs
Raise or re-raise most tables. These hold up multi-way less often than they feel — still the top of the range.
Strong JJ, TT, AQs, AKo, AJs
Open from middle and late position. Versus a 3-bet, JJ and TT become feeler hands, not automatic stacks.
Playable 99–22, KQs, QJs, JTs, suited aces
Better in position. Small pairs want a set; suited connectors want cheap multi-way pots, not bloated preflop wars.
Fold more often KTo, QJo, J9o, trash offsuit
Look pretty, play poorly out of position. If you are first to act at a full ring, muck and wait.

Player rooms vs house poker

Player-versus-player rooms
Texas Hold’em and Omaha against other people. The operator takes rake, not a posted house edge. Bonuses, if they exist, are usually rakeback, tickets, or race entries — not the same wagering as a slot welcome offer.
House-banked poker
Casino Hold’em, three-card poker, Caribbean stud, and video poker pay from a table. You are betting against the house. Check the posted pay table; a “poker” tile in a casino lobby is often this product, not a full ring game.

Frequencies worth memorising

Any pocket pair
Dealt preflop, 22 through AA. Most of those pairs still miss the flop.

1 in 17
Flop a set
With a pocket pair you flop a set about once every 8.5 hands. That is why small pairs want cheap flops.

~11.8%
Flush draw
Nine outs, two cards to come. Folding a naked flush draw to a shove is often correct in cash games.

~35% by river
Open-ended straight
Eight outs. A gutshot is about 16.5% — treat it like a bluff catcher, not a drawing favourite.

~31.5% by river
AK vs a mid pair
Classic coin-flip. Dominated aces (AK vs AQ) are much worse than this race.

~43 / 57

Formats

Variants worth knowing

Short encyclopedia extracts from Wikipedia’s free REST API, with our desk notes if the lookup is down.

Texas Hold’em

Texas hold 'em is a popular variant of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt face up in three stages. The stages consist of a series of three cards, later an additional single card, and a final card. Each player seeks the best five-card poker hand from any combination of the seven cards: the five community cards and their two hole cards. Players have betting options to check, call, raise, or fold. Rounds of betting take place before the flop is dealt and after each subsequent deal. The player who has the best hand and has not folded by the end of all betting rounds wins all the money bet for the hand, known as the pot. In certain situations, a "split pot" or "tie" can occur when two players have hands of equivalent value. This is also called "chop the pot". Texas hold 'em is also the H game featured in HORSE and HOSE.

Read on Wikipedia

Omaha

Omaha hold 'em is a community card poker game similar to Texas Hold'em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make their best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five community cards. The exact origin of the game is unknown, but casino executive Robert Turner first brought Omaha into a casino setting when he introduced the game to Bill Boyd, who offered it as a game at the Las Vegas Golden Nugget Casino. Omaha uses a 52-card French deck. Omaha hold 'em 8-or-better is the "O" game featured in H.O.R.S.E.

Read on Wikipedia

Seven-Card Stud

Seven-card stud, also known as Seven-Toed Pete or Down-The-River, is a variant of stud poker. Before the 2000s surge of popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was one of the most widely played poker variants in home games across the United States and in casinos in the eastern part of the country. Although seven-card stud is not as common in casinos today, it is still played online. The game is commonly played with two to eight players; however, eight may require special rules for the last cards dealt if no players fold. Playing with nine players is possible.

Read on Wikipedia