Poker is a game of both strategy and chance. Depending on which variant you’re playing, getting good is more or less difficult. Discovering different poker variants can improve both poker skills and strategic thinking, as you can gradually conquer more and more difficult versions of the classic game. We’ll be ranking four popular variants by difficulty, so that you know where to start regardless of your current level.
Mississippi Stud is a moderately difficult variant of Poker and a good place to start for strategy lovers who don’t want to be too overwhelmed by complex rules. Master Mississippi Stud with PokerScout if you’re looking for detailed guidance for becoming good at the game.
The rules of Mississippi Stud are as follows: the game is house-banked, there’s no opponent bluffing, and strategic betting is essential. It’s a five-card poker game where you compete against a pay table rather than the dealer.
You can bet up to 10 units on a single hand, and a winning hand is anything higher than two jacks. In Mississippi Stud, there are just three community cards, rather than the five in Texas Hold’Em.
Texas Hold’Em is the most popular variant of Poker, and you’ll find it on most casino platforms, dedicated poker sites, and poker tournaments. With complex odds calculations, this is a widely played game with a high skill ceiling. It’s relatively easy to learn the rules and get started playing Texas Hold'Em, but it’s infinitely hard to master Texas Hold’Em through optimal game theory.
The object in Texas Hold’Em is to make the best five-card poker hand with a combination of hole cards and community cards. Each player gets two hole cards, and five community cards are dealt face-up on the table. Standard poker hand ranking is used.
Omaha poker stands out for its intricate strategy and mental demands, especially under pot-limit rules. Unlike Texas Hold’em, Omaha gives each player four private cards instead of two, which significantly expands the range of possible hands and decisions. The game involves five shared community cards, but players must build their final five-card hand using exactly two of their hole cards and three from the board.
This extra layer of complexity results in more potential combinations and requires sharper hand-reading skills. Combine that with the game’s quick tempo, and it becomes clear why Omaha is often seen as a natural progression for seasoned Hold’em players looking for a tougher challenge.
Seven-Card Stud poker is regarded by many as the most difficult variant of poker, and getting good at it requires a sharp memory and fast, accurate calculations of odds. The game is played with multiple betting rounds, and the odds are complex to understand and keep track of. The high difficulty of this variant has led to a declining popularity, as there’s a high skill barrier.
The objective is to create the best 5-card hand you can. The game is played with two down-facing cards and one up-facing card dealt before the first betting round. After another upward-facing card is dealt, following a betting round. This repeats 3 times. Finally, there is the last round of betting before the cards are revealed. The highest-ranking hand wins.
While understanding the game is easy enough, getting good at it requires your full concentration and a great deal of skill.
Regardless of which poker level you’re currently at, strategic mastery rewards players in the long run. If you want to get better at poker, start off with something accessible, such as Mississippi Stud, and then gradually increase the difficulty level as your skill increases.
Poker’s strategic lessons extend beyond the game, too. As you get better at playing poker, you could also become more efficient at navigating risk and uncertainty in other aspects of life. Practicing strategy games could even sharpen decision-making skills.
As with everything, practice and study are key. Start where you are, wherever that is, and move on to the next level when you’re ready. Have fun!