Learn How To Play HORSE Poker: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you haven’t heard of HORSE Poker, then you are in for a surprise. HORSE Poker is really hard to master since it involves a series of poker variations. HORSE Poker has been now introduced to the World Series Of Poker tour for a $50,000 buy-in. This game is now recognized all over the world.  HORSE Poker is most often played in a limit format but can be played with other betting structures also.

HORSE Poker is not a single Poker Game. It is a combination of Texas Holdem Poker, Omaha Hold’em, Razz Poker, Seven Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud Hi-Low split-Eight or better. The format consists of rounds of play cycling around these variations of Poker. 

HORSE Poker is now potentially called the Masters Game Of Poker. The reason for this is because you end up mastering not one variant, but five in total. So, only those who are dedicated to succeeding in all five of the variations can win this tournament.

In order to achieve success in HORSE Poker, You must do the following.

• You must understand the rules of each of the variations and memorize them.
• Since the rules for each of the variant are different, you need to learn and master different strategies for different games.

Learning the rules for the different variations is the easy part. But, each game has its own strategies and mastering each one of them is the difficult part. It takes years mastering one variant. But, to master in 5 different versions is a whole different Ball-Game. This is the reason why HORSE Poker is called the Masters Game of Poker.

Different Variations involved in HORSE Poker

So, the five different variations in HORSE POKER are as follows:

1. H: Texas Hold’em Poker
2. O: Omaha Hi-Low split-Eight or better
3. R: Razz
4. S: Seven Card Stud
5. E: Seven Card Stud Hi-Low split-Eight or better

1. Texas Hold’em Poker

Texas Hold’em is the first poker variant in the HORSE poker. This is the poker variation that everyone knows about. This is the game that everyone learns when they want to learn poker in the first place. I am assuming that everyone knows the rules. But for those who don’t know the rules, can just look at the summary below. For those who are looking for the complete guide, they may do so from here.

1. Texas Hold’em is played between 2-9 players and each player is dealt with 2 cards facing down.
2. To deal with the cards a dealer will be present. If there is no dealer then a dealer button is placed in front of one player and the cards are dealt from him and in the clockwise direction. After each hand, the dealer button moves one step in the clockwise direction.
3. The two players left of the dealer has to pay the small and the big blind respectively. These are the minimum bets that every player must pay in order to play the hand. The small and the big blind has to be placed without even seeing their cards.
4. The person sitting to the left of Big blind starts the game and he can bet the minimum amount or fold his hand. After he has played the same is repeated for the remaining players in the clockwise direction.
5. After each one of them bets then three cards are dealt on the table facing up and is known as the flop. After seeing the flop each player can bet, check or fold.
6. Similarly, a fourth card is dealt on the table facing up after each one of the players bet and is known as the turn card. Again each player can check, bet or fold his hand.
7. After the betting is finished, a fifth card is dealt on the table facing up and is known as the River.  Again each player can check, bet or fold his hand.
8. After the betting, the winner is decided and the player that betted last has to show his card if he has the better hand than the other players, he wins everything that is present on the table.

These are the rules for Texas Hold’em poker which is the first version game of HORSE poker.  If anyone’s interested in looking at the tips for mastering the Texas Holdem, they can learn from here.

2. Omaha Hi-Low split-Eight or better

Omaha Hi-Low is the second variant of the game HORSE Poker. This is the extended version of the game Omaha Hold’em. I suggest people to learn the rules of Omaha Hold’em first before they learn Omaha Hi-Low. I won’t be mentioning the Omaha Hold’em rules in this article. You can take a look at the link I have given if you don’t know the rules for the game yet.

Rules for Omaha Hi-Low Split-Eight or better are as follows:

1. Each player makes a separate five-card high hand and five-card ace-to-five low hand (eight-high or lower to qualify).
2. The pot is split between the high and low hand. If the same player has the best of both high hand as well as a low hand, he takes the entire pot.
3. To qualify for low, a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower (this is why it is called “eight or better”).
4. Each player can play any two of his four hole cards to make his high hand, and any two of his four hole cards to make his low hand.
5. If there is no qualifying low hand, the high hand wins (scoops) the whole pot.

These were the rules for the Omaha which is the second version of HORSE poker. If you haven’t understood this fully, you can take a look at some of the examples from here. Remember this is just the extended rules from the Omaha Hold’em. The only difference between the two is how the pot is split in the end. So, learn the rules of Omaha Hold’em poker first before learning this game mode.

3. Razz

Razz is the third version of the game HORSE poker. Razz is a lowball poker game which means the card and hand rankings are flipped upside down. Aces are of low value in Razz and Flushes and Straights doesn’t count. This is a really fun game to learn and to play with your friends.

Rules for the game are as follows:

1. The game is played between 2-8 players and each player is dealt with 7 cards, 3 facing down and 4 facing up.
2. Before the cards are distributed, each player must pay an ante which is usually 1/10th of the minimum betting size.
3. After the ante is paid, each player receives 3 cards, 2 facing down and 1 facing up.
4. The player with the highest (value) face-up card will start the game and must pay the minimum bet which is called the “Bring it in“. He can even bet double of the bring-in amount. But, the player to start cannot fold.
5. The betting continues in the clockwise direction with each player having the option to fold or pay the bring-in amount. They can also bet the double of the bring-in amount similar to the player that starts the game.
6. After everyone has played their turn, a 4th card is dealt with all the players face-up called the Fourth Street.
7. The player with the lowest value hand with their face-up cards has to start the bet now. After him, the remaining players will play in the clockwise direction similar to the last round.
8. After everyone has played their turn a 5th card is dealt facing up to all the players. This card is called Fifth Street. Similarly, after each one has bet similar to the previous round a 6th card is dealt with all the players facing up known as the Sixth Street.
9. Now after everyone plays after the sixth card, the seventh street is dealt with all the remaining players face-down.
10. Anyone still in the hand after the final betting ( Betting after the seventh street is dealt) must show their hands and the person with the lowest value five-card (The best lowball hand) wins the hand and takes all the money from the table. After that, the next hand starts.

These are the rules for the razz poker which is the third version game of HORSE poker.

4. Seven Card Stud

Seven Card Stud is the fourth variant of poker in HORSE Poker. It is the exact reverse of Razz. Here instead of low cards, we focus on the high cards.

Rules for the Seven Card Stud are as Follows:

1. The game is played between 2-8 players and each player is dealt with 7 cards, 3 facing down and 4 facing up.
2. Before the cards are distributed, each player must pay an ante which is usually 1/10th of the minimum betting size.
3. After the ante is paid, each player receives 3 cards, 2 facing down and 1 facing up.
4. The player with the lowest (value) face-up card will start the game and must pay the minimum bet which is called the “Bring it in“. He can even bet double of the bring-in amount. But, the player to start cannot fold.
5. The betting continues in the clockwise direction with each player having the option to fold or pay the bring-in amount. They can also bet the double of the bring-in amount similar to the player that starts the game.
6. After everyone has played their turn, a 4th card is dealt with all the players face-up called the Fourth Street.
7. The player with the highest value hand with their face-up cards has to start the bet now. After him, the remaining players will play in the clockwise direction similar to the last round.
8. After everyone has played their turn a 5th card is dealt facing up to all the players. This card is called Fifth Street. Similarly, after each one has bet similar to the previous round a 6th card is dealt with all the players facing up known as the Sixth Street.
9. Now after everyone plays after the sixth card, the seventh street is dealt with all the remaining players face-down.
10. Anyone still in the hand after the final betting ( Betting after the seventh street is dealt) must show their hands and the person with the best five-card wins the hand and takes all the money from the table. After that, the next hand starts.

These are the rules for the Seven Card Stud poker which is the fourth version game of HORSE poker. If you are looking for a detailed guide, then you can learn Seven Card Stud from here.

5. Seven Card Stud Hi-Low split-Eight or better

Seven Card Stud Hi-Low split-Eight or better is the fifth version of the game HORSE Poker. This is the extended version of the game Seven Card Stud. This is pretty much similar to Omaha Hi-Low split-Eight or better. Where the pot is split between the player with the highest hand and the player with the lowest hand.

Rules for the Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-Eight or better are as follows:

1. Each player makes a separate five-card high hand and five-card ace-to-five low hand (eight-high or lower to qualify).
2. The pot is split between the high and low hand. If the same player has the best of both high hand as well as a low hand, he takes the entire pot.
3. To qualify for low, a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower (this is why it is called “eight or better”).
4. Each player can play any two of his four hole cards to make his high hand, and any two of his four hole cards to make his low hand.
5. If there is no qualifying low hand, the high hand wins (scoops) the whole pot.

These are the rules for the Seven Card Stud split-Eight or better which is the fifth version game of HORSE poker. Remember this is just the extended rules from the seven-card Stud. The only difference between the two is how the pot is split in the end.

These were the rules for the HORSE Poker variants. Hope you learned something new today. Thanks for reading. 🙂

Popular FAQ’s

What is HORSE Poker?

HORSE Poker is not a poker version by itself. It is a combination of 5 other poker variations. Texas Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud split-Eight or Better. All these variations are played in cycles for certain time durations.

Is HORSE Poker difficult to master?

Yes. HORSE Poker is extremely difficult to master. Because you're playing 5 different versions of poker in it. So, you have to master in 5 games, not just 1. This requires extreme skill and determination to do so.

Is HORSE Poker Popular?

Yes, in recent times HORSE Poker has really shown its progress. It even has its own tournament in WSOP tournament for a $50k buy-in.

Which is the most difficult poker variant in HORSE poker?

Each of the variants has its own ups and downs. All of the variations are equally challenging. Texas Holdem might be known to all, but it still requires a lot of strategies to win the game. So, none of the games are easy. You have to learn each one of them and master them one by one.

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