The Best Non-Hold’em Poker Games to Learn: Expanding Your Poker Repertoire

While Texas Hold’em dominates the poker landscape, serious players know that mastering alternative poker variants can significantly enhance your overall game while offering fresh challenges and profitable opportunities. These mixed games often feature softer competition from Hold’em specialists who venture outside their comfort zone. This comprehensive guide explores the most valuable non-Hold’em poker games to add to your repertoire.

Open-Face Chinese Poker (OFC): The Ultimate Skill Game

Open-Face Chinese Poker has exploded in popularity among high-stakes professionals, offering a unique blend of skill, strategy, and gambling appeal that differs dramatically from traditional poker variants.

Key Advantages of Learning OFC:

• No betting rounds – The game uses a points-based scoring system rather than chips
• Social gameplay that encourages table talk and interaction
• Complex strategic decisions balancing risk and reward

Strategic Fundamentals:

OFC requires placing 13 cards into three hands (top, middle, bottom) with increasing strength requirements. Cards are dealt in stages, with players setting each card as it arrives.

Key Skills to Develop:

• Fantasy Land qualification – Setting pair of queens or better in the top row
• Fouling risk management – Avoiding setting hands that violate the increasing strength rule
• Live card tracking – Monitoring exposed cards to calculate probabilities
• Scoop opportunities – Maximizing points by winning all three rows

Professional player Shaun Deeb notes: “OFC rewards forward thinking and risk assessment more than any other poker variant. You’re constantly weighing immediate reward against future potential in ways that translate to improved decision-making across all poker formats.”

Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO): The Action Game

Four-card PLO has surged in popularity due to its action-oriented nature and complex hand value calculations, but its five and six-card variations take the complexity and action to entirely new levels.

PLO Variations Worth Mastering:

Traditional PLO (4-card)

• Double the hole cards of Hold’em, creating more complex combinations
• Must use exactly two hole cards and three community cards
• Higher implied odds due to hand strength proximity
• Greater post-flop complexity with more drawing possibilities

5-Card PLO

• Additional hole card creates exponentially more combinations
• Stronger average hands reducing the value of single-pair holdings
• Massive drawing opportunities with properly connected cards
• Greater emphasis on nut advantage as second-best hands get punished severely

6-Card PLO (PLO6)

• Six hole cards creating astronomical hand combination possibilities
• Extremely high “nuts” potential on most board textures
• Dramatic shift in starting hand values compared to traditional PLO
• Massive information complexity requiring exceptional analytical skills

Strategic Fundamentals Across PLO Variants:

• Hand selection based on connectedness – Adjacent cards work better than disconnected ones
• Suitedness significance – Double and triple-suited hands gain tremendous equity
• Nut advantage awareness – Always play toward the nuts, as second-best hands get punished severely
• Blockers and their impact on combination possibilities
• Stack-to-pot ratio planning for commitment decisions

Professional Phil Galfond explains: “The biggest mistake Hold’em players make in PLO variants is overvaluing top pair or even top two pair. As you add more cards to PLO, these hands become even weaker, often drawing nearly dead against made hands or massive combo draws.”

Short Deck Hold’em (Six Plus): The New Frontier

Short Deck Hold’em, where all cards below 6 are removed from the deck, has gained popularity through high-stakes Asian games and tournament series, offering a refreshing twist on traditional Hold’em mechanics.

Key Advantages of Learning Short Deck:

• Rapidly growing popularity in high-stakes environments
• Relatively undeveloped strategy compared to traditional variants
• Easier equities to realize due to increased drawing odds
• Familiar mechanics for Hold’em players with adjusted hand rankings
• High action factor attracting recreational players

Critical Strategic Adjustments:

Short Deck features significantly different hand rankings and equities than traditional Hold’em, requiring comprehensive strategic revisions:

• Hand ranking changes – A flush beats a full house due to reduced flush probabilities
• Straights are easier to make and rank below three-of-a-kind in some variations
• Connectedness value increases with smaller deck and more straight possibilities
• Pre-flop equities run closer between hands (AA vs KK is less dominant)
• Implied odds increase dramatically post-flop

Professional Tom Dwan observes: “Short Deck rewards aggression and hand-playing ability over tight pre-flop strategies. It’s a game where you’ll often correctly call with hands that would be easy folds in traditional Hold’em.”

Conclusion: The Strategic Path to Poker Versatility

Expanding your poker repertoire beyond Hold’em yields benefits extending far beyond the ability to play in mixed games. Each variant develops specific skills that translate to all poker formats:

• OFC enhances planning and probability assessment
• PLO develops hand reading and equity calculation abilities
• PLO5 and PLO6 sharpen complex decision-making
• Short Deck teaches strategic adaptability

Begin your exploration with games that share elements with Hold’em (like PLO or Short Deck) before venturing into structurally different variants like OFC. Practice each new game in lower stakes environments until you’ve developed comfort with the fundamental strategies.

The most complete poker players are those who understand the universal principles that connect all variants while mastering the specific nuances that make each game unique.