Community Poker Games
For a long time Draw-poker and Stud-poker were the main poker playing structures. Recently, a new key division of the game of poker Poker has emerged. The games in this genre all use one or more communal cards which the player can use as part of their hand. The flagship of the community card games is Texas Hold'em, now a widespread game started life in the 1970s, but community card games have been around a little longer than that.
The game Wild-Widow was played shortly after the turn of the century. In Wild-Widow, players make their best five-card hand from the cards they were dealt and an up-card which is placed on the table before the player's fifth down-card is dealt. A later variation is 'Spit-in-the-Ocean' which uses four cards dealt face-down. The one community card and the three other cards from the pack of the same rank are all wild.
Community card poker games have one key aspect that sets them apart from other poker games. In each game the players are dealt an incomplete face-down poker hand (Hole-cards). They use the cards they were dealt in combination with the 'Community cards' dealt face-up on the table to make the best possible hands. The Community-cards may be used in any player's hand, but how they may be combined with the player's hole cards is a game specific matter.
The Community-cards are collectively called 'the board'. Community cards may be dealt face-up or face-down. If dealt face-down, they are usually revealed (or 'rolled') one at a time with betting rounds between each turned card. Depending on the game being played the Community-cards may be arranged in a straight line or organised into a special pattern. These are some of the common configurations
Community Card Configurations
The Line-up
The Line-up is the card configuration most commonly found in casinos and in poker tournaments. The community cards are dealt in the middle of the table in a straight line and are revealed during the game in accordance with it's rules.
The Cross
In the Cross configuration the this version the community cards are dealt in the shape of a cross, both lines having a common card which is usually the last card to be revealed. The cards may be revealed in different ways and often the centre card is wild.
The Circle
The circle is an uncommon community card configuration where the shared cards are laid out in a circular pattern and revealed according to the nature of the game. The most common stipulation for this type of game only allows players to use a collection of community cards that are adjacent to each other within the circle.
Texas Hold'em and its variants are undoubtedly the most popular of the community card poker games. Community card games played at home tend to have an Ante and use the spread-limit betting structure. The versions played in Casinos more often utilise blind bets and are usually fixed limit games.
Community Card Poker Games
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In community card poker games, the betting limits are higher in the later rounds, similar to the betting limits in stud-poker. Community card games are generally positional games, with the betting commencing with the player to the left of the dealer, or, in a game with blinds, with the player after the big-blind.
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