The rules of gameplay are simple. There is a standard 52-card deck and an extra joker card and the gaming table has six players along with dealer. Anyone who can beat the banker, designated by either the dealer or anyone among the players, wins the pot. In course of the game, each player has to complete two poker hands, a 5-card and a 2-card hand out of the seven cards he is dealt with stipulation that his 5-card hand must be valued more than the 2-card hand. The 2-card hand is variously called the front, top, small or minor hand while the 5-card hand is named the behind, bottom or big.

The game of Pai gow poker starts when the cards are shuffled and the seven participants, six players and the dealer, get seven cards with their face down. In case there is less than six players, all the hands are still dealt so that ultimately only four cards remain unassigned. For the absent player, his hand is placed along with discard of four unused cards. This game is positional with all the participants given a number and the first rank given to the banker, whether he is the dealer or any other player and the subsequent numbers are allotted in anti-clockwise fashion. To determine who would open dealing, any one of the seven numbers is chosen at random and the game proceeds in that anti-clockwise manner. Sometimes three 6-sided dices are rolled and the number that is totaled is used to count the players from position one in clockwise and thus the dealer is decided.

A game of Omaha hold ‘em starts with every player receiving four hole cards of his own and this opens betting. Then the flop of three community cards is dealt and a second betting round takes place. This is followed by the dealing of the turn and river community cards separately and with two corresponding betting rounds. For the showdown, the player who makes the best 5-card hand out of two of his own hole cards and three from the board takes the pot.

The high/low split variant of Omaha community card poker game requires the players to form two separate complete hands – one high and the other low. In such games the ace card can have both high and low value. The player who has the best high and the best low hand splits the pot, although there is a chance of the same player having both the best hands. When no player qualifies for a low hand, the high hand winner scoops the entire pot.

The European game of Courcheval slightly differs from Omaha. Here the first community card is dealt along with initial four hole cards and only then betting starts. So, in the flop round, two community cards are dealt and rest of the game is the same as Omaha. To make the game a little more varying, there are sometimes five initial hole cards, though showdown allows use of only two from them.

The six-pack variation is played when during showdown, the players have two of their own hole cards and a 6-card board arranged in circular fashion like a clock. The betting round is opened after the players receive their hole cards. This is followed by revealing two community cards set at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions and a second betting round. Next two more community cards are put on the game table in 2 o’clock and 8 o’clock positions and another betting round takes place. Prior to the fourth and final round of betting to be followed by showdown, the last two community cards are arranged in 4 o’clock and 10 o’clock positions. When a player is calculating his hand, he can use three successive cards from the board along with his own two ones. He can choose from six possible combination of community card set such as the 12 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 4 o’clock cards or the 6 o’clock, 8 o’clock, 10 o’clock cards and so on. To vary the game, sometimes three hole cards are dealt, of which two are to be played.

In the Otis Elevator variant, there are four hole cards with the board arranged like an ‘H’ with two vertical columns of community cards and one in the center called the elevator card. The betting round opens once the hole cards are dealt and ends with placing the elevator card. The intermediate rounds of betting happen each time two community cards are placed to form the vertical lines. The elevator card can be placed in any of the three floors formed by the vertical card column which make it a 3-card set. The winning player can choose any floor of community cards along with his own hole cards to arrive at the highest hand.

A modified version of Omaha high/low split, the game of East village gives the players an initial hand of seven hole cards. Subsequently two of these cards are rejected by the players following by a donation of one card from each player to a common pool of face down cards which is shuffled by the dealer. Then the dealer makes the total number of donation card to seven by adding cards from the stub followed by more shuffling. Of these seven cards, two remain face down and unused while the other five are turned into community cards and get divided into 3 flop cards and one each into turn and river cards. The system of betting in a game of East village community card poker is the same as Omaha high/low split played with a qualification of having an 8 or better value card in one’s hand. To win, a player combines both his private hole cards and any three of the five community cards to form the highest value of 5-card hand. In case seven players are not playing the East village community card poker game, extra cards need to be taken from the stub to maintain the set level of seven community cards, though only five are actively used in the game and two always remain unused.

In the London Bridge variation, wildcards are formed from the 2 cards, the 3 cards and the ace cards. Playing this game gives each participant four initial cards, one of which has to be discarded once the flop card is revealed. A London Bridge game follows the betting strategy used in a Texas Hold ‘em game and is won by him who has the best 5-card hand made from a combination of his own three cards and five community cards.

As the name suggests, the tic-tac-toe game of community card poker involves a 3 X 3 square arrangement. So the players have two cards initially dealt which they can combine with any three consecutive community cards out of the 9-card board either in horizontal, vertical or diagonal set of three. The variation of this game differs in how many betting rounds are played and how the community cards are dealt. The basic tic-tac-toe game of community card poker is played when after the two private hole cards are dealt and the top three set of community cards are placed, the betting round is opened. Next the bottom three community cards are dealt and another betting round happens. This is followed by placing two community cards in the middle layer so that the centermost position lies vacant and yet another round of betting takes place. The fourth and final round of betting is done when the ninth and final community card is placed in the center of the arrangement. Then is showdown time for the players.

A variation of the game gives each player three or four hole cards of which he can use only two along with the three community cards from the board arranged in the 3 X 3 grid pattern. An adaptation of the game favored by rookie players practicing with poker hand play is where the 9-card board is set up and retained. Now two hole cards are dealt to each player and one who has the highest hand is determined as the winner. Here, the community cards remain set throughout a single game involving many hands while the players receive a new dealing of hole cards during each new hand of play.