Best Poker Sites for H.O.R.S.E.
H.O.R.S.E. is a relatively new form of poker, and is actually a mixed game comprised of five different poker game variations. The H is for Hold'em, the O is for Omaha, the R is for Razz, the S is for Seven Card Stud, and the E is for Seven Card Stud Eight or Better (Hi-Lo). HORSE really grew in popularity after the 2006 WSOP, when the first ever $50,000 HORSE event was held. Nowadays there are a bunch of online poker sites with H.O.R.S.E. games, and we've taken a look at each and every one of them to see how they stack up to each other. Here is our toplist of the best online poker sites for playing H.O.R.S.E. poker games:
Full Tilt Poker offers the most H.O.R.S.E. traffic, as well as the highest stakes H.O.R.S.E. tables. Their stakes start at $0.05/$0.10 Fixed Limit, and run up to $100/$200 Fixed Limit. Full Tilt offers HORSE at 8-handed, 6-handed, and heads up tables. They also have some unique tables such as Ivey's Playground, which is a 6-handed $2,000/$4,000 game with a seat permanently reserved for Phil Ivey. There is also the Ivey Glue Factory which is a heads up HORSE poker game with Phil Ivey with $2,000/$4,000 stakes. Full Tilt Poker also offers other mixed games such as HA, HO, HOE, HOSE, HORES, and OE, among others.
Another great part about Full Tilt Poker is that they run daily HORSE poker tournaments and sit and go's. Most poker sites don't bother offering H.O.R.S.E. multi table tournaments or sit and go's, because there is not enough player interest, but Full Tilt has the traffic to run these tournaments.
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PokerStars is another great H.O.R.S.E. poker site, and they have similar traffic to Full Tilt in the HORSE department. At this moment, there are 112 real money players playing H.O.R.S.E. at PokerStars, and dozens more playing the other mixed games that PokerStars offers (HORSE, Mixed Hold'em, Omaha H/L Mixed, and 8 Game Mix). The stakes for H.O.R.S.E. start at $0.10/$0.20 and run up to $1,000/$2,000. At the moment, the highest HORSE game running is $500/$1,000 fixed, so you know that PokerStars can get some big HORSE games running.
PokerStars also offers HORSE poker tournaments and sit and go's. Their HORSE tournament offerings are very similar to Full Tilt Poker's - every day there are a handful of HORSE multi table tournaments, as well as a couple dozen HORSE sit and go's.
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H.O.R.S.E. Poker Games
If you decide to play HORSE online at one of the best HORSE poker sites, you will quickly notice that the format for HORSE games is much different than that of a normal No Limit Hold'em game. First of all, the maximum number of players you can have at a table is eight because of the Stud component. Also, the game is always played for Fixed Limit stakes - even the Hold'em and Omaha portions.
Another difference is the fact that the game has to switch at some interval to the next variation. Most poker sites use a Hand Count to monitor when it should switch. On PokerStars you play 8 hands of each game, then switch to the next ones. Some casinos will use timers, and play 20 minutes of each game before switching. To learn more about the game, head over to our H.O.R.S.E. poker rules page to read more about the rules and format of HORSE poker games.