H.O.R.S.E Online at Carbon Poker

Update: The H.O.R.S.E games at Carbon Poker are currently a ghost town. While we still recommend Carbon for their ultra soft Texas Holdem, Omaha and Backgammon games at this time we suggest PokerStars for players looking to play H.O.R.S.E online for real money.

In case you’re not familiar with H.O.R.S.E – this is a mixed version of poker where the game rotates from one game to another based on either # of hands dealt or a fixed amount of time spent on each game. H.O.R.S.E is an acronym that makes up the five games used in the rotation.

H = Holdem
O = Omaha Hi/Lo
R = Razz
S = 7 Card Stud
E = Eight or Better (7 Card Stud Hi/Lo)

Carbon Poker offers several different variations of H.O.R.S.E including H.O.S.E, S.H.O.E, R.A.S.H, H.A.R, H.A. and H.O. The A in these games stands for Omaha Hi. You’ll notice H.O.S.E and S.H.O.E includes the exact same games; the difference between them is the order of the game rotation.

Carbon Poker uses an eight hand per game rotation with the exceptions being tournaments where the rotation is based off fixed time intervals and in HO and HA games where a ten hand rotation is used.

Master HORSE and You’ll Master Poker

One nice thing about H.O.R.S.E is that by mastering these five games you’ll be able to develop enough skills that you’ll be confident in your abilities to adapt to nearly all forms of poker. This is because each HORSE game highlights different poker skills although ultimately each of these skills is used to an extent in near all forms of poker.

Fixed Limit Holdem – This game helps players improve their understanding of position and situational play.

Omaha Hi/Lo – this game helps players improve their understanding of draws, pot odds (with chop consideration) and their hand reading abilities.

Razz: This game helps players gain a basic understanding of the lowball variant of poker, helps them learn about situational bluffs (value of the upcard) and the importance of aggression.

Stud – this game helps players improve their observation and memory skills as well as adjusting odds based on cards no longer live. (When a great stud player plays other games such as Hold’em or Omaha they’re able to adjust odds much easier using the odds based on what they believe their opponents hold or held)

Stud Hi/Lo – Assuming all things are equal in terms of game competition and selection a great poker player can make more money at this game than any other. This game emphasizes the importance of observation, memory, hand reading, aggression, adjusted pot odds timely bluffs and laydowns as well as is the pinnacle game for understanding freerolling and the split variation of poker: Master the other four games and then master Stud Hi/Lo and you’ll be comfortable in nearly all forms of poker.

To get started playing HORSE Online visit carbonpoker.com