How to play
Dealer’s Choice is the classic home game: the player who deals picks what everyone plays. Here you sit at a cash table with one to five computer opponents. Everyone starts with 1,000 chips and a fresh 52-card deck is shuffled for every hand.
Who chooses. The dealer button moves one seat to the left after every hand, and the player who will have the button picks the game for that hand. When it’s your turn, eight game buttons appear between hands; tap one and the hand is dealt. When an opponent has the button, the middle of the table says who is choosing, and you see their pick as soon as the cards come out. During the hand the table shows the game and who chose it. Your chips carry over from game to game.
The eight games:
- No-Limit Hold’em. Two hole cards and five community cards; bet any amount up to all your chips. See Texas Hold’em.
- Pot-Limit Omaha. Four hole cards, exactly two used with three from the board, and the biggest bet is the size of the pot. See Pot-Limit Omaha.
- Omaha Hi-Lo. Omaha with the pot split between the best high hand and the best eight-or-better low. See Omaha Hi-Lo.
- Seven Card Stud. Three down cards and four up over five streets; the best high hand wins. See Seven Card Stud.
- Stud Hi-Lo. Seven Card Stud with the pot split between high and an eight-or-better low. See Stud Hi-Lo.
- Razz. Seven Card Stud where the lowest hand wins. See Razz.
- 2-7 Triple Draw. Five cards, three draws, and the lowest hand wins; aces are high and straights and flushes count against you. See 2-7 Triple Draw.
- Badugi. Four cards, three draws; the best hand has four different suits and four different ranks, as low as possible. See Badugi.
Betting. In No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha the blinds are 5 and 10 and you choose your bet with the slider. Omaha Hi-Lo, Triple Draw and Badugi are fixed limit with blinds of 5 and 10: bets are 10 in the first rounds and 20 later. In the three stud games everyone antes 2, the lowest up card (the highest in Razz) posts a 5 bring-in or completes to 10, and bets are 10 on third and fourth street and 20 from fifth street on. A fixed-limit betting round allows at most four bets. In stud the button only decides who picks the game; the bring-in decides who acts first.
Side pots, the uncalled bet and split pots work the same in every game. When an opponent runs out of chips, a new player takes the seat with 1,000 chips; if you run out, you can get 1,000 free credits at a new table. Your table is saved between visits.
Strategy
Pick the game you play best. Your choice comes around once per orbit. If you are strongest at limit games, pick one when the table is playing loose; if your stack is short, a big-bet game lets you double up in one hand.
Pick for the table, too. Opponents who call too much are easiest to beat in fixed-limit games, where their extra calls add up hand after hand. Against tight players a no-limit or pot-limit game rewards pressure.
Reset your hand values every hand. A pair of kings is strong in Hold’em and Stud, weak in Razz and a losing hand in Triple Draw and Badugi. Before you act, look at the game name in the middle of the table.
Count what you can see. In the stud games the up cards tell you which cards are gone; in the draw games each seat shows how many cards that player took. Use both before you chase.
If you enjoy Dealer’s Choice Poker, try Desert Gems or Deuces and Joker next.
