Mobile casinos and poker apps offer many forms of poker. Some, like Texas Hold'em and Omaha, pit you against other players. Others, like Three Card Poker and Caribbean Stud, are casino table games where you play against the dealer. Video poker is a single-player game on a machine-style screen. This guide explains how each variation works, what changes on a phone and where to learn more.
The most popular poker variations on mobile
Each variation has its own rules, strategy and level of complexity. Here is what makes each one different.
Texas Hold'em
Texas Hold'em is the most played form of poker. Each player gets two private cards (hole cards) and shares five community cards on the table, and the best five-card hand wins. It is the standard game for major tournaments and casual games alike.
On mobile you will find Hold'em in several formats:
- Cash games at different stake levels
- Sit-and-go tournaments
- Multi-table tournaments (MTTs)
- Fast-fold tables, where you move to a new table as soon as you fold
Texas Hold'em deals those two hole cards before any community cards appear. A betting round follows the deal, then again after the flop (three community cards), the turn (a fourth) and the river (a fifth). You can use both hole cards, one hole card or neither, so the best five cards from the seven available win the pot. On a phone the action buttons sit under the cards, and a timer usually forces a fold if you do not act.
Free-to-play apps such as Governor of Poker 3 and the World Series of Poker app let you learn the game without real money.
Blinds set the pace of a Hold'em table. Two players post forced bets before any card is dealt, and the button moves one seat each hand. The position you hold decides when you act. Acting last gives you the most information, because you see what every other player has done before you commit chips. Most mobile tables mark the dealer button, so check where it sits before each decision.
Showdown works the same way on a phone as at a felt table. Each remaining player combines the two hole cards with the five community cards, and the best five-card hand takes the pot. A split pot happens when the board itself makes the best hand for two or more players.
Omaha
Omaha works like Hold'em with community cards, but each player gets four hole cards and must use exactly two of them with three community cards. That creates more possible hands and bigger swings. Pot-Limit Omaha is the most common form.
Pot-Limit Omaha caps each bet at the size of the pot. Four hole cards create many more two-card combinations than Hold'em, so a strong starting hand can still lose to a better two-card combination on the same board. You must use exactly two hole cards. Using one or three is a foul, and the software rejects that hand.
The starting hand matters less in Omaha than many beginners expect. Four hole cards give you six possible two-card pairs, and the board decides which of those pairs make a hand. A pair that connects with the flop, such as a set or a pair with a straight draw, carries more value than four unrelated cards. Playing every hand tends to cost chips, because weak combinations rarely improve on the board. Count the two-card combinations you can make with the flop before you call a raise.
The pot limit makes the size of each raise depend on the chips already in the middle. Calculating that size takes a moment on a phone, so the app usually shows the maximum bet. Large pots grow quickly when two players hold strong combinations on the same board.
Seven-Card Stud
Seven-Card Stud has no community cards. Each player gets seven cards over several rounds, some face up and some face down, and makes the best five-card hand. It rewards memory, because you need to track the cards other players have shown. It is less common than Hold'em or Omaha on mobile.
Seven-Card Stud deals two down cards and one up card, then three more up cards, then a final down card. The highest up card usually acts first. Two visible cards of one rank leave only two of that rank unseen, so a rank that is already half gone is less likely to appear in your hand.
The bring-in is the lowest up card, and it posts a small forced bet to start the betting. Each later round lets the highest visible hand act first. Reading those up cards is the main skill, because a pair showing on the table tells you which hands your opponents are chasing. Track the cards each player shows, and note which ranks are gone from the deck.
Three Card Poker
Three Card Poker is a casino table game where you get three cards and play against the dealer, not other players. Its fast rounds and simple decisions suit solo play on a phone.
- Ante and Play: your main bet against the dealer's hand
- Pair Plus: a side bet that pays on a pair or better, whatever the dealer holds
- 6 Card Bonus: an optional bet on the best five-card hand from your three cards and the dealer's three
RNG and live dealer versions are widely available, and many are built for portrait mode with large touch buttons. See our Three Card Poker strategy guide for how to play each hand.
In the usual Three Card Poker rules the dealer must qualify, often with queen high or better, before the Ante and Play bets are compared. If the dealer does not qualify, the Ante pays and the Play bet is returned. Pair Plus is settled on your three cards alone, so that side bet can win when the main bet loses. The 6 Card Bonus uses your three cards plus the dealer's three and does not depend on who wins the hand. Check the pay table in the game rules, because side-bet returns differ by version.
The Pair Plus and 6 Card Bonus bets are separate stakes with their own pay tables. A win on one side bet does not change the result of the main Ante and Play bets. Keep track of which bet each chip sits on before the cards are dealt, because the game settles each one separately.
Caribbean Stud Poker
Caribbean Stud is a house-banked game. You and the dealer each get five cards, with one of the dealer's cards face up, and there are no draws or community cards. You fold or raise based on your hand and the dealer's upcard. The fixed betting structure makes it easy to learn on mobile.
A common pay table for the raise bet looks like this, though pay tables differ between games:
- Royal flush: 100 to 1
- Straight flush: 50 to 1
- Four of a kind: 20 to 1
- Full house: 7 to 1
Many versions add an optional progressive jackpot side bet, which pays a share of a growing jackpot on the strongest hands.
Caribbean Stud usually asks for an ante first. After you see your five cards and the dealer's upcard, you either fold and lose the ante, or raise, often for twice the ante. The dealer then reveals the rest of the hand and must qualify, commonly with ace-king or better, before the raise is paid. A qualifying dealer hand that beats yours loses both bets. A hand that does not qualify returns the raise and pays the ante at even money. The progressive side bet, when the game offers one, is a separate stake and is paid from its own table.
Raise decisions depend on the hand and the upcard together. A hand that clearly qualifies, such as a pair or better, is usually raised. A weak hand against a high upcard is usually folded, because the dealer's qualifying hand will often beat it. The close decisions in the middle are where the pay table and the dealer's qualifying rule matter most, so read the game's rules before you play those hands.
Five-Card Draw
Five-Card Draw is poker in its traditional form. Each player gets five private cards and can swap any number of them once for new cards. It suits mobile play, with quick hands and simple decisions:
- One drawing round
- Betting position matters
- No community or exposed cards
- Works well heads-up or with few players
IGT's Five Play Draw Poker applies the same idea to video poker: you play five hands of draw poker at once.
The draw is the only decision in classic Five-Card Draw. You keep the cards that form a pair or better and discard the rest, and the replacements come from the same deck. Keeping a pair of jacks or higher usually beats drawing to a weak hand. Position matters too, because the player who acts last sees every discard before choosing.
Pai Gow Poker
In Pai Gow Poker you get seven cards and split them into a five-card high hand and a two-card low hand. Both hands must beat the dealer's matching hands for you to win, and a split result is usually a push.
The five-card hand must outrank the two-card hand, or the setting is a foul and the bet loses. A copy of the dealer hand is a push in the common rules: one hand wins and the other loses, or both tie. The house way is a published setting chart the dealer follows, so you can compare your split with that chart before you set the hands. On mobile the cards are dragged into two rows, and the game usually blocks a foul setting.
Setting the hands is the whole game. Keep your strongest cards in the high hand unless the chart says otherwise, and check that the five-card hand still outranks the two-card hand. Compare your split with the house way before you confirm it. When your split differs from the house way on a pair, check the chart again before you commit chips.
Video poker variations
Video poker mixes poker hand rankings with a machine-style screen. You play alone, rounds are quick and the result depends partly on your decisions, which suits short sessions on a phone.
Popular video poker games
| Game | Key feature | Common full-pay table |
|---|---|---|
| Jacks or Better | Pays on a pair of jacks or higher | 9/6 table |
| Deuces Wild | All 2s are wild | Depends on the pay table |
| Bonus Poker | Higher payouts for four of a kind | 8/5 table |
| Double Double Bonus | Extra payouts for specific four of a kinds | 9/6 table |
| Joker Poker | A joker is added as a wild card | Depends on the pay table |
A video poker hand starts with five cards. You mark the cards to hold, the rest are replaced once, and the final hand is paid from the table on the screen. Jacks or Better pays a pair of jacks or higher. Deuces Wild treats every 2 as a wild card, which changes which hands you should hold. Bonus Poker and Double Double Bonus raise the return on selected four-of-a-kind hands and lower other pays to fund that. The return for each game is a long-run figure only when you play the named full-pay table with perfect strategy. A 6/5 Jacks or Better table pays less than a 9/6 table for the same decisions.
These return figures assume perfect strategy. Casinos often run lower-paying tables, so check the pay table before you play. Video poker works well in portrait mode with one hand. Our video poker strategy guide explains how to play each hand.
Hold decisions follow a ranking rather than a single rule. A made hand such as a full house is always kept, and a pair of jacks or higher is usually kept over a single high card. The strategy chart for the named table gives the exact order, because a small change to the pay table changes the best hold.
Mixed game variations
HORSE
HORSE rotates through five poker games, switching after a set number of hands or a set time:
| Letter | Game | Description |
|---|---|---|
| H | Hold'em | Limit Texas Hold'em |
| O | Omaha Hi-Lo | Omaha Eight-or-Better |
| R | Razz | Seven-Card Stud played for the low hand |
| S | Seven-Card Stud | Seven-Card Stud played for the high hand |
| E | Eight-or-Better | Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo |
HORSE tests how well you play several games, so it is popular with experienced players. On mobile it mostly appears at larger online poker rooms.
Each game in HORSE has its own starting hand rules, so a strong hand in one game can be weak in the next. The rotation resets the betting structure each time, which means the blind or bring-in changes with the game. Players who lose focus during the switch often play Hold'em habits during Razz. Check the game name on the table before the first hand of each rotation.
8-Game Mix
8-Game Mix adds three more games to the HORSE rotation:
- 2-7 Triple Draw
- No-Limit Hold'em
- Pot-Limit Omaha
Each game runs for a set number of hands before the next one starts. 8-Game Mix is rare on mobile and mostly runs at larger poker rooms during tournament series.
Each letter in HORSE is a fixed-limit game, so the bet size follows the stakes rather than the pot. You keep your chips and your seat when the game changes. 8-Game Mix adds no-limit Hold'em, pot-limit Omaha and 2-7 Triple Draw, and the blind or bring-in on the screen changes with the game.
Choosing a poker variation on mobile
A player-versus-player game needs other people at the table, and the stakes you choose are the money you can lose in one session. A house-banked game such as Three Card Poker or Caribbean Stud needs only the dealer, and each round ends when that hand is settled. Video poker needs one decision per hand: which cards to hold. Practise the hold rules in demo mode before you raise the coin size, because the pay table assumes those holds.
- You want to play against other people: start with Texas Hold'em, then try Omaha or Seven-Card Stud.
- You want quick solo rounds: Three Card Poker, Caribbean Stud or video poker suit short sessions on a phone.
- You want the best return: full-pay video poker played with correct strategy has some of the highest RTPs in the casino.
- You want variety: mixed games like HORSE test several skills at once.
Learn the rules and basic strategy for a variation before you play it for real money, and practise in free mode where it is offered. For more, read our mobile poker tips. When you want a side-by-side of the two games, read poker vs blackjack.
Session format is the other variable. A tournament has a fixed buy-in and runs until one player holds all the chips. A cash game can be left at any point, so the stake you bring to the table sets the limit on your loss. Decide the amount you can afford to lose before you open the table, not during play.
