Free Hold’em and Omaha Variants – 9 Games
Short Deck, Pineapple, Pot-Limit Omaha with 4, 5 or 6 cards, Omaha Hi-Lo, Courchevel and four extra modes, each against three bots with an equity overlay.
Free play only. Credits have no cash value, cannot be bought and cannot be exchanged for prizes. For entertainment and learning.
Choose your ante, then press DEAL.
Keyboard: 1–7 pick cards (Oasis, Pai Gow), Enter main action, F fold or pull back, H hint.
Press DEAL to start.
Hand history
No hands played yet.
Free play only. Credits and chips have no cash value, cannot be bought and cannot be exchanged for prizes. For entertainment and learning.
How to play
- Pick a variant. Some have a selector for the number of hole cards or the version of the game.
- Choose how tough the bots are: Easy, Medium or Hard.
- Press Deal and play every street: fold, check, call, bet or raise. In Pot-Limit games the POT button makes the biggest legal raise.
- In the discard games, tap the cards you want to throw away and press Discard.
- Turn on the equity overlay to see your share of the pot, and export your hand history when you are done.
Short Deck (6+) Hold'em
No-Limit · flush beats full house
- The deck has 36 cards, the 6s up to the Aces. You get two hole cards, and five community cards come out on the flop, turn and river, as in normal Hold'em.
- With fewer cards, flushes are rarer than full houses, so a Flush beats a Full House. In this version Three of a Kind also beats a Straight.
- The Ace works as a low card only in the straight A-6-7-8-9, which is the lowest straight.
- This free table is No-Limit with blinds of 5 and 10 and 1,000 chips each. Real Short Deck games often use an ante or button blind instead, and some rooms rank Three of a Kind below a Straight, so check the rules you play under.
| Highest to lowest | Short Deck hand ranking |
|---|---|
| Straight Flush | Best |
| Four of a Kind | |
| Flush | Beats a Full House |
| Full House | |
| Three of a Kind | Beats a Straight |
| Straight | A-6-7-8-9 is the lowest straight |
| Two Pair, Pair, High Card | As usual |
Pineapple / Crazy Pineapple
No-Limit · discard one card
- Everyone gets three hole cards instead of two. You throw one away and play the rest as ordinary Texas Hold'em with the two cards you keep.
- In Pineapple you discard after the first betting round, before the flop. In Crazy Pineapple you play the flop betting round with all three cards, and discard before the turn.
- Use the selector to switch between the two versions. The Crazy version rewards flexibility, because you see the flop before choosing which card to lose.
- This free table is No-Limit with blinds of 5 and 10. The bots choose their own discards by estimating which two cards give the best chance of winning.
| Version | When you discard |
|---|---|
| Pineapple | After the first betting round, before the flop |
| Crazy Pineapple | After the flop betting round, before the turn |
Pot-Limit Omaha
Pot-Limit · exactly 2 hole cards
- Each player gets four, five or six hole cards, and there are five community cards. Your hand must use exactly two of your hole cards and exactly three board cards. A board with four hearts does not give you a flush unless two of your hole cards are hearts.
- Betting is Pot-Limit: the largest raise is the size of the pot after you call. The POT button makes that raise for you.
- Choose 4, 5 or 6 hole cards with the selector. More hole cards mean stronger hands and more draws, so the equity overlay is useful to see how big the swings are.
- This free table has blinds of 5 and 10 and 1,000 chips each, with three bots that play at Easy, Medium or Hard.
| Your hand | Omaha rule |
|---|---|
| Hole cards you must use | Exactly 2 |
| Board cards you must use | Exactly 3 |
| Largest raise | The size of the pot |
Omaha Hi-Lo
Pot-Limit · high and low
- It is Omaha with a split pot. You get four hole cards and must use exactly two of them with exactly three board cards, for both the high hand and the low hand.
- The high half goes to the best normal poker hand. The low half goes to the best low hand, which needs five different cards of rank 8 or lower. Aces count as low, and straights and flushes do not hurt a low.
- Lows are compared from the highest card down: 7-5-4-2-A beats 8-4-3-2-A. If no one has a qualifying low, the best high takes the whole pot. You can win both halves.
- Betting is Pot-Limit with blinds of 5 and 10. Odd chips go to the high hand. The equity overlay shows your share of the pot, counting both halves.
| Situation | How the pot is split |
|---|---|
| A low hand is possible | Half to the best high, half to the best low |
| No one has a low | The best high wins it all |
| A low needs | Five different cards, all 8 or lower |
| Best low | A-2-3-4-5, the wheel |
Courchevel
Pot-Limit · one flop card shown early
- Courchevel is five-card Pot-Limit Omaha with one twist: the first card of the flop is dealt face up before the first betting round. The other two flop cards follow after that round.
- As in Omaha, your hand must use exactly two of your five hole cards and exactly three board cards.
- Seeing a flop card early changes preflop decisions: you can tell right away whether your cards connect with it.
- This free table has blinds of 5 and 10 and three bots at the level you choose.
| Rule | What is different |
|---|---|
| Hole cards | 5, and you use exactly 2 |
| First flop card | Shown before the first betting round |
| Betting | Pot-Limit |
Royal Hold'em
No-Limit · only high cards
- Only the 10s, Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces are in the deck, 20 cards in all. You play Texas Hold'em with two hole cards and five community cards.
- Pairs, trips and big hands come up all the time, and the only straight is 10-J-Q-K-A. This free version uses the standard hand ranking.
- With so few cards, you often see several players with strong hands, so every street matters. The equity overlay is a good way to see how often a pair is behind.
- No-Limit with blinds of 5 and 10 and 1,000 chips each.
| Fact | The 20-card deck |
|---|---|
| Cards | 10, J, Q, K, A in four suits |
| The only straight | 10-J-Q-K-A |
| Hand ranking | Standard poker ranking |
Irish Poker
No-Limit · discard two after the flop
- You get four hole cards. After the flop betting round, you discard two of them and finish the hand as Texas Hold'em with the two you keep.
- The decision is which two cards to keep once you have seen the flop. Pairs, suited cards and cards that connect with the board usually survive.
- Irish Poker is played both No-Limit and Pot-Limit in different places. This free table is No-Limit with blinds of 5 and 10.
- The bots choose their discards by estimating which two cards give the best chance of winning.
| Step | How a hand goes |
|---|---|
| Deal | 4 hole cards each |
| Flop and betting | Play with all four cards |
| Before the turn | Discard 2, keep 2 |
| Turn and river | As in Texas Hold'em |
Double-Board Hold'em
No-Limit · pot split between boards
- Two separate boards of five cards are dealt together. You play your two hole cards against both boards, and you can use different cards on each.
- The pot is split in half. One half goes to the best hand on the first board and the other half to the best hand on the second board. A tie on a board splits that half.
- Hands that work on both boards are worth a lot more, so suited and connected cards gain value. The equity overlay counts your share across both boards.
- No-Limit with blinds of 5 and 10 and 1,000 chips each.
| Situation | How the pot is paid |
|---|---|
| The pot | Split in two, one half for each board |
| Each board | Won by the best hand on that board |
| You win both boards | You take the whole pot |
Double-Board Omaha
Pot-Limit · pot split between boards
- It is Pot-Limit Omaha played against two boards. On each board your hand must use exactly two hole cards and exactly three cards from that board.
- The pot is split in half, one half for the best hand on each board. You can win one half, both, or neither, and a tie on a board splits that half.
- The largest raise is the size of the pot. The POT button makes that raise for you.
- Blinds are 5 and 10 and everyone starts with 1,000 chips, with three bots at the level you choose.
| Rule | Rules together |
|---|---|
| Hole cards | 4, and exactly 2 are used on each board |
| The pot | Half for each board |
| Betting | Pot-Limit |
Every table is four-handed with blinds of 5 and 10 and 1,000 play-money chips. No-Limit tables allow any raise up to your stack, and Pot-Limit tables allow raises up to the size of the pot. Real rooms vary: Short Deck often uses antes, and some rooms rank Three of a Kind below a Straight in Short Deck, so this page states the rules it uses on each card. Everything is for learning and entertainment.
Free Hold'em and Omaha variants FAQ
Are these games really free?
Yes. You play with play-money chips against three computer opponents. There is no sign-up, nothing to buy, and the chips have no cash value.
How is Omaha different from Hold'em?
In Omaha you get four, five or six hole cards instead of two, and your hand must use exactly two of them together with exactly three of the five board cards. That makes strong hands more common and draws much stronger, which is why Omaha is usually played Pot-Limit.
What does Pot-Limit mean?
The biggest raise you may make is the size of the pot after you call. The POT button makes that raise for you, and the slider lets you choose any size between the minimum raise and the pot.
How does Omaha Hi-Lo split the pot?
Half the pot goes to the best high hand and half to the best low hand. A low needs five different cards of rank 8 or lower, using exactly two hole cards and three board cards, and Aces count low. If no one has a low, the best high hand takes the whole pot.
What changes in Short Deck, Pineapple, Courchevel and the extra modes?
Short Deck removes the 2s to 5s, which makes a Flush beat a Full House. Pineapple and Crazy Pineapple give you three cards and make you discard one. Courchevel is five-card Omaha with the first flop card dealt face up. Royal Hold'em uses only the 10s to Aces, Irish Poker has you discard two of four cards after the flop, and the double-board games pay half the pot for each board.
What does the equity overlay show?
It estimates your share of the pot against the players still in the hand by simulating many random hands for them, counting both halves in Hi-Lo and both boards in the double-board games. It does not know the bots' real cards. You can also export your hand history as a text file.