5 Easy Poker Games You Can Learn in Minutes

New to poker but don’t know where to start? With so many poker games to choose from, it can be overwhelming to know which one to tackle first. Do you throw on your cowboy hat and dive into Texas Hold’em, or do you try your luck with Draw Poker instead? The choices are endless. To help, we’ve whittled down the easiest and quickest games to learn as a beginner. 

The great thing about these games is that they don’t require a lot of skill at first, so you can quickly learn the basics and start playing in minutes. Of course, they get more complicated the more you play, but mastering the simple versions of these poker games will set you up for bigger challenges ahead, like mastering poker hand rankings, pot limits, blinds, bets, and bluffs. In other words, you’ll get the hang of everything you need for more advanced strategy games.

Champions have to start somewhere! Master these five easy poker games, and soon you'll be stepping into the ring with the pros.

Draw Poker 

Draw poker is one of the simplest forms of poker, making it a great entry point for beginners. There are several variations of draw poker, including Five-Card Draw, Deuce to Seven Draw, Badugi, and Triple Draw Lowball, among others. However, the core objective of these games remains the same: discard cards from your hand and draw new ones to make a stronger hand. Here's a more detailed breakdown of how to play.

How to Play Draw Poker 

The rules of draw poker may vary slightly depending on the variation you’re playing, but the gameplay generally follows the same structure.

To start, each player is dealt their own set of cards, which they keep hidden from the other players. Unlike Texas Hold'em and Omaha, there are no community cards in draw poker. Your cards remain private until the final betting round, where all players reveal their hands. The key to winning is to improve your hand by discarding and drawing new cards.

Here’s how to play a typical Five-Card Draw game:

1. Post the Blinds (or Antes)

In most draw poker games, there are antes or blinds to create initial action. If you’re playing a game with blinds, the player to the left of the dealer posts the small blind, which is usually half the minimum bet. The player to the left of the small blind posts the big blind, which is equal to the minimum bet.

If you're playing a game with antes, each player places a small forced bet before the cards are dealt, and no blinds are used. At this point, no cards have been dealt yet.

2. Deal the Cards

Each player is dealt five hole cards face down. These cards are kept hidden from the other players, and no community cards are dealt. The goal is to form the best possible hand using only the five cards you were dealt.

3. First Betting Round

The first round of betting begins with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player who posted the ante). In this round, players can choose to:

• Fold: Discard their cards and exit the round.
• Call: Match the current bet (big blind or ante).
• Raise: Increase the size of the current bet.

4. Draw Cards

After the first round of betting, players have the option to discard some or all of their cards and draw new ones. This is where the "draw" part of the game comes in.

Players can discard up to five cards (but typically discard fewer depending on their hand).
The dealer then replaces the discarded cards with new ones from the deck.

This round is a chance to improve your hand. If you have a strong hand already, you may choose not to draw any cards. But if you have a weak hand, you can discard the unwanted cards to try and improve your chances.

5. Second Betting Round

Once all players have had their chance to draw new cards, the second betting round begins. The player to the left of the dealer (or the small blind if blinds are in play) starts the round. Players can:

• Check: Pass the action to the next player without betting.
• Bet: Place a wager.
• Fold: Discard their cards and forfeit the round.

This round continues clockwise until all players have either called, folded, or raised.

6. Showdown

This is the big reveal! Every player still in the game (those who haven’t folded) then has to show their hand. The player with the strongest hand—you can refer to our poker hand rankings to see which are the best hand rankings—wins the pot. The pot size will depend on the amount chips each player has bet in each round.

Game Variations

Draw poker can be played with different betting structures, including:

• Fixed Limit: Betting is capped at a set amount per round.
• Pot Limit: Players can bet up to the current size of the pot.
• No Limit: Players can bet any amount, up to the size of their chip stack.

3-Card Poker 

3-Card poker is a fun and fast-paced variation of poker where you play against the dealer rather than other players, although you’ll still find other players at the table. It's an easy game to pick up and perfect if you're looking to get into poker quickly. While not the most social poker game due to the one-on-one nature against the dealer, it’s a great way to learn the basics and have fun at the same time.

How to play 3-Card Poker 

The goal of 3-Card Poker is simple: make the best possible three-card poker hand to beat the dealer. Unlike draw poker, where you can swap cards to improve your hand, 3-Card Poker is a stud game. Once you receive your three cards, you must play them as they are. Here’s how the game is played:

1. Betting Choices

In 3-Card Poker, you have two main betting options:

Ante-Play — This is the basic bet, where you play your hand against the dealer’s hand. To participate, you must place the ante bet before the cards are dealt. After receiving your cards, you can either fold or play your hand. If you decide to play, you place a second bet (called the Play bet) equal to the ante.

Pair Plus — This is an optional bonus bet, where you’re betting that your three cards will form a pair or better. If you choose Pair Plus, it’s independent of the Ante-Play, meaning it doesn't matter what the dealer’s hand is. You’re simply betting on your hand's quality. You can place this bet in addition to the Ante-Play, but you don’t have to.

Depending on which one you choose, you’ll either place an Ante bet alone or an Ante + Pair Plus bet before the cards are dealt. There may be minimum bet requirements for both types of bets, depending on the game.

2. Deal Cards

The dealer will then deal three face-down cards to each player, including themselves. If you’ve chosen the Ante-Play option, your goal is to beat the dealer's hand. If you've also chosen the Pair Plus option, your goal is to get a pair or better in your hand.

3. Choose Your Action

After the cards are dealt, you have the option to either:

• Play: Place a second bet, called the Play bet, which matches your Ante bet, and continue in the round.
• Fold: Discard your hand and forfeit your Ante bet. If you placed a Pair Plus bet, that remains in play, regardless of whether you fold.

If you fold, the dealer wins your Ante bet (and Pair Plus bet, if applicable).

4. Reveal Cards

After the betting is complete, the dealer reveals their cards first. Then, all remaining players reveal their hands. The hands are compared, and the player with the stronger hand wins. Payouts depend on the strength of your hand.

If you placed a Pair Plus bet, this bet pays out according to the strength of your hand, regardless of the dealer’s hand. You win with any pair or better, and you lose if you have a high card hand.
If you’re playing the Ante-Play bet, you win if your hand beats the dealer’s. In this case, the strength of the dealer’s hand matters.

Hand rankings for 3-card poker 

3-Card Poker uses a slightly modified hand ranking system. Since there are only three cards in each hand, some hands are ranked differently. In this game, a straight is more valuable than a flush, which is the opposite of standard poker rankings. Here’s the ranking from highest to lowest:

1. Straight Flush: Three cards of the same suit in sequence (e.g., 4♠ 5♠ 6♠).
2. Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same rank (e.g., 7♣ 7♦ 7♥).
3. Straight: Three cards in sequence, but not of the same suit (e.g., 8♠ 9♦ 10♣).
4. Flush: Three cards of the same suit, but not in sequence (e.g., J♠ Q♠ K♠).
5. Pair: Two cards of the same rank (e.g., 5♠ 5♣).
6. High Card: The highest card in your hand if there are no pairs or better (e.g., A♠ 7♣ 3♦).

No-Limit Texas Hold’em

Each player (2–10 players is ideal) is dealt two private hole cards, face down, from a standard shuffled 52-card deck. These cards are only visible to the player they’re dealt to. The dealer distributes the cards starting with the player to their immediate left, proceeding clockwise until every player has two cards.

Two players to the left of the dealer post compulsory bets called blinds. The small blind is placed by the first player to the left of the dealer and is typically half the minimum bet. The second player posts the big blind, which is equal to the minimum bet.

After the blinds are posted, the pre-flop round begins with players looking at their hole cards. The dealer then deals five community cards face up in the center of the table, in three rounds. The community cards are visible to all players.

• The Flop: The first three community cards are dealt.
• The Turn: The fourth community card is dealt.
• The River: The fifth and final community card is dealt.

After each round, players can either check, bet, call, fold, or raise:

• Check: Pass the action to the next player without betting (only if no bet has been made).
• Bet: Make the opening bet for the round.
• Call: Match the previous bet.
• Fold: Discard your hand and forfeit any chips already bet.
• Raise: Increase the size of the current bet.

At the end of the betting rounds, the player with the best five-card hand, made from their hole cards and the five community cards, wins the pot. In No-Limit Texas Hold’em, players can go "all-in" at any time, betting all their chips.

Other Variants of Texas Hold’em

• Pot-Limit Texas Hold’em: Players can bet up to the size of the pot.
• Fixed-Limit Texas Hold’em: Bets and raises are fixed to specific amounts at each stage.

If you’re just starting out, we recommend learning No-Limit first, then you can move on to the other variants. 

Head to our Texas Hold’em page for a step-by-step guide of how to play.

7-Card Stud 

Unlike Texas Hold’em, 7-Card Stud doesn’t use community cards. Each player is dealt seven cards over multiple betting rounds, with some cards face up for all to see. It’s a game of strategy and observation, as you need to keep track of what your opponents have revealed.

How to Play 7-Card Stud

Each player is dealt a total of seven cards, three face down (known as “hole cards”) and four face up (known as “up cards”). The game is typically played with 2–8 players.

1. The Ante: All players must place a small ante (a forced bet) before the cards are dealt.
2. The Deal: Players receive two hole cards and one up card.
3. The Betting Rounds: There are five betting rounds in 7-Card Stud:

• Third Street: Players bet based on their hole cards and up card. The player with the lowest up card usually has to start the betting.
• Fourth Street: Another up card is dealt, and the betting round begins with the player with the highest up card.
• Fifth Street: A third up card is dealt, and betting continues.
• Sixth Street: A fourth up card is dealt, and the betting round begins with the player with the highest hand.
• Seventh Street: The final card is dealt face down. After this round of betting, players reveal their hands.

Betting and Showdown

After the final betting round, players with the best five-card hand (made from their hole cards and up cards) win the pot. In 7-Card Stud, no one can go all-in, and players must manage their chips more carefully.

Omaha

This one comes higher up on the beginner list as it’s a little trickier to master, but still doable as a beginner, especially if you’re already familiar with the rules of Texas Hold'em. Either way, you can work up to this game once you’ve tried the first four games listed above.

How to Play Omaha

Omaha is typically played with 2–10 players. Each player is dealt four hole cards (private cards that only the player can see), and there are five shared community cards dealt face-up in the center of the table. The goal is to make the best five-card hand using exactly two of your hole cards and three of the community cards.

The game proceeds in similar rounds to Texas Hold'em:

1. Preflop: Each player is dealt four hole cards, and the first round of betting begins. Players can call (match the bet), raise (increase the bet), or fold (discard their hand).
2. The Flop: After the preflop betting round, the dealer places the first three community cards (known as the "flop") on the table.
3. The Turn: Another round of betting occurs, then the dealer places the fourth community card (known as the "turn") on the table.
4. The River: After another round of betting, the dealer places the fifth and final community card (known as the "river") on the table.
5. The Showdown: After the river, the player with the best five-card hand (using two hole cards and three community cards) wins the pot.

Variants of Omaha

There are several variants of Omaha, with the three main ones being:

• No-Limit Omaha (NL): Similar to No-Limit Hold'em, there is no cap on how much you can bet or raise. Players can go all-in at any time, even pre-flop.
• Fixed-Limit Omaha (FL): In this format, the betting amounts are fixed. This limits the size of the bets and is often better suited for beginners, as it minimizes the risk of big losses.
• Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO): In this popular variant, players can only raise the size of the pot at any given point. This introduces more strategy and control, making it the most commonly played format.

Which Format Should You Play?

Most players tend to prefer Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) due to the balanced nature of betting. If you're new to Omaha, starting with PLO is a great way to learn the game. If you’re interested in diving deeper into Omaha strategy, check out our Pot-Limit Omaha page page for detailed step-by-step guide of how to play.