This section covers poker as it is played in casino card rooms, where you play against other players and the house takes a rake from each pot instead of holding an edge over you. That makes card room poker different from the casino’s poker-based table games and from video poker, where you play against the house or a machine.
Card rooms compete for players with more than low rake. Many run promotions such as bad beat jackpots and high hand bonuses, usually funded by a small extra amount taken from each pot. The bad beat jackpot guide explains how the jackpot is funded, what usually qualifies and what that extra drop costs you over a session.
If you came here for a house-banked poker game, such as Three Card Poker or Ultimate Texas Hold’em, or for video poker, the links below take you to those rules and strategy pages. For live games, see the best poker rooms in Las Vegas.
Poker guides
- Bad beat jackpots: how the jackpot is funded, what hands usually qualify and how card rooms use promotions to fill seats.
Related
- Best Las Vegas poker rooms: where to find live cash games and tournaments.
- Ultimate Texas Hold’em: Hold’em played against the dealer.
- Three Card Poker: rules, payouts and the Pair Plus bet.
- Caribbean Stud Poker: five-card stud against the house.
- Mississippi Stud: a stud game where you raise on each street.
- Let It Ride: a slow-paced game where you can pull back bets.
- Crazy 4 Poker: four-card hands with a bonus for big ones.
- Four Card Poker: best four cards out of five or six.
- High Card Flush: a game built around the longest flush.
- Pai Gow Poker: split seven cards into two hands.
- Video poker: the machine version, with guides to each game and paytable.
- Benny Binion: the casino owner who started the World Series of Poker.
- Bobby Baldwin: 1978 World Series of Poker Main Event champion.
Gamble for fun and set a budget before you play. If gambling stops being fun, the National Problem Gambling Helpline is 1-800-MY-RESET (call or text).