Horse poker became famous relatively recently. The game debuted in 2002 at the World Series of Poker tournament. After that, the game appeared in many tournaments and secured its place in the poker world as a game for professionals who have studied not only standard poker but also most variations of it.
Let’s try to understand the horse poker rules and what you need to know to participate in such games. First of all, horses can also be called H.O.R.S.E. which is an abbreviation of the following phrase:
- H – Hold’em
- O – Omaha Hi
- R – Razz (seven card Stud Low)
- S – Stud (seven card Stud High)
- E – Eight-or-better (Stud Hi-Lo)
You may wonder why there are five other games hidden in the name of this variation. The answer is simple, they are all used in the game of horse. It is for this reason that it is called the game of professionals because to play successfully you need to know the rules of all the variations of poker that are used and know the strategies for them. Therefore, if you are a beginner, we strongly advise you not to rush and do not climb into this version of poker.
The game of horse poker does not require the player to know additional rules, the only rule of this variation is to replace the poker that players play after a certain number of hands or after a certain time, so for example, after 10 hands, players who played according to the rules of Hold’em will start playing the 11th hand according to the rules of Omaha Hi. And of course, the standard rules of the games are listed in the abbreviation of the name.
So as a result, we can say that the horse poker rules are quite simple if you do not take into account the standard rules of poker variations that are used because they are different games. Knowing this, it is not surprising that this game is popular among poker veterans and has a high entry threshold.
Another important fact is that you need to know about horse if you are used to playing without limits. Typically, all H.O.R.S.E rotations are usually played in their fixed limit variations. Limits also stay the same throughout the game cycle, so if you started with some amount in Hold’em after you changed the game to Razz the limits will be the same as in the Hold’em.
The tactics of the game related to the horse poker rule are quite obvious:
- know perfectly all applied versions of poker;
- follow the transition of games, sometimes it can be difficult and loss of control can lead to defeat;
- try to see in which game your opponents are weaker and in which stronger;
- practice to play;
- learn tactics specific to each of the variations that are used, betting techniques, angle crossing;
H.O.R.S.E is a fun game that you can hardly play with your friends over a bottle or a glass of some drink, it’s a game that requires full concentration and dedication. If one of your friends is a beginner, he will also not be able to join you. Keep this in mind when choosing this game.