What Makes HORSE Poker Unique

HORSE poker is a form of poker that has recently become very popular in the world and while there are many people that already know what it is, at the same time there are many people that don’t know what it is either. Fortunately, explaining what HORSE poker is at the same time happens to be discussing the points that make HORSE poker unique and therefore we can kill two birds with one stone by examining this poker variant more closely.

HORSE is actually not its own poker variant, but rather is an amalgamation of five other poker variants to form a rather unique way of playing poker. HORSE is an acronym that stands for Hold ‘em, Omaha hi/lo, Razz, Seven-card stud and Seven-card stud hi/lo.

Previous series of articles have already discussed the unique points of the first four poker variants in that five-variant combination, so a lot of the articles from here on in will be focused more on Seven-Card stud hi/lo while at the same time speaking in general terms about the other four variants.

HORSE poker players, because of this dynamic of five different types of poker being played, have to become proficient as all-round poker players. If they are not able to do this, then their HORSE playing days are going to be numbered. A lot of people have the mistaken notion that since you are playing five different types of poker that your weaknesses are covered up.

In fact, the opposite is true; if you are weak in one form of poker and you happen to be playing at a HORSE poker tournament, you are going to find out very quickly that your weaknesses are magnified because of the structure of most HORSE tournaments. It is less pronounced in cash games since you can just take the loss of blinds and fold your way to the next poker variant, but your weaknesses are still going to be exposed.

This, in actuality, is perhaps the single most important point about what makes HORSE poker unique. This melding of five different poker variants, played in quick succession after each other, requires a degree of poker strategy, poker knowledge and in general statistical knowledge that is unprecedented anywhere else within the poker world. The ability of HORSE poker players is so unique in fact that it once prompted the great Doyle Brunson to once jokingly comment that HORSE should replace no limit Hold ‘Em as being the main event at the World Series of Poker.