What is Community Poker?

Community poker is a game, in which players receive their personal cards, and use them together with shared (community) cards to combine the best hand. The meaning of shared cards is that they can be used by a number of players at the same time, so if two or more players want to use the same community card to combine their hands, they can do it.

How to Play:

In community poker games, community cards are usually dealt face-down, after which they are flipped over one by one (or in groups), which is followed by betting rounds. It has been said that community poker games differ one from another only by the geometrical shape in which community cards lay at the table. Therefore it is advisable to add special rules to each game to make it more interesting.

Hold Em community poker games usually use the line format to arrange the community cards. Community cards are simply placed in one line and are flipped one after another. The line format is also used in the Cincinnati game.

The Cross Format:

The cross format involves two lines of community cards that intersect at a certain point. The most popular community poker game played in the cross format is Iron Cross. The card that serves as the cross-point of two lines normally has a special function. It is often used as a wild card. In other games, the player who holds the highest card of the same suit as the cross-point card automatically wins half of the pot with another half going to the player with the best hand. If this card has any special functions, it is usually flipped over last to keep the tension until the end and make the game more exciting.

The Circle Format:

The circle format, as it is used in Merry Go Round community poker, is quite special. As in other community poker games, players can use community cards, but if a player want to use more then one community cards he must choose cards that are adjacent to each other, and can choose them from different points at the circle.

La Draw / La Stud:

Community poker games can be played in a la draw or a la stud format, which means that players can either receive all their cards face-down, or a number of face-down and a number of face-up cards. Betting rounds that usually follow each community card flip are started by the player whose face-up cards show the best hand. If there are no face-up cards, the player to the dealer's left starts the betting. In community poker games with many betting rounds and no face-up card it is advisable to start betting from a different player in the clockwise direction to not make the first position too different from others. When all betting rounds are over, players can ask for so called Roll Em rounds, which is an additional betting round that takes place after each player reveals one of his hole cards. More then one Roll Em round can be played if all players agree so.