Mixed games are poker formats that rotate through several variants at one table. HORSE runs five games, 8-game runs eight, and dealer’s choice lets the player in the dealer seat pick the next one. Everyone plays every game, so your worst game matters as much as your best.
If you have only ever played hold’em, the first mixed-game table is a shock: the deal changes, the button disappears halfway through the rotation, and the hand you were taught to fold is suddenly the best one. None of it is hard. It is five to eight ordinary games taking turns.
This page is the map. What rotates in each format, what each game in the lineup actually is, how dealer’s choice works and the order worth learning them in. Every game named below links to the page that teaches it.
The three formats at a glance
| Format | Games in the rotation | How the game changes | Where to start |
|---|---|---|---|
| HORSE | 5, fixed order | On a set schedule, usually one orbit or one level | Razz, because it is the one that breaks hold’em instincts |
| 8-game | 8, fixed order | Same schedule idea, eight stops instead of five | The four hold’em and Omaha games you may already know |
| Dealer’s choice | Any agreed list | The player in the dealer seat calls the next game | Ask for the house list before you sit |
Two things are true of all three. The seats and the chips stay where they are while the game changes around them, and nobody is fluent in everything, which is the reason these formats exist.
What mixed games are
A mixed game is one table playing several poker variants in turn rather than one variant all night. The rotation is the format: HORSE means these five games in this order, 8-game means these eight, dealer’s choice means whatever the table has agreed to allow.
The point is coverage. In a single-game session the strongest player is whoever is best at that game. In a rotation, the player who is merely good at all of it beats the player who is excellent at one game and lost in the other four. That is why the biggest mixed events are treated as the real test, and it is also why your weakest game deserves the study time rather than your best one.
Two mechanical facts carry across all rotations. The flop games (hold’em, Omaha) use a button and blinds, so position works the way you already know it. The stud games (razz, seven-card stud, stud eight-or-better) have no button at all: everyone antes, the exposed cards decide who acts first, and position changes street by street.
What changes when the button disappears
The single biggest adjustment in any rotation is the move from flop games to stud games, and it happens twice in HORSE.
In a flop game there is a button, two blinds and shared cards in the middle. Position is fixed for the hand: whoever sits nearest the button on the right acts last on every street, and you know that before the flop comes.
In a stud game there is no button. Everyone posts an ante, everyone gets their own cards with some face down and some face up, and the forced first bet comes from an exposed card: the lowest upcard brings it in at seven-card stud, the highest upcard brings it in at razz, because in each game that is the worst hand showing. After that, position is not a seat at all. In stud high the strongest exposed hand acts first, and it can change on every street as new cards land, so nothing about your seat tells you when you will act.
That is why stud rewards attention rather than memory of a chart. Every card that gets folded face up is a card nobody can draw, and the players who do well in the stud legs are the ones tracking what has already gone.
HORSE
HORSE is the five-game rotation, and the acronym is the running order: Hold’em, Omaha eight-or-better, Razz, Seven-card stud and Eight-or-better stud. When the last one finishes, it starts again at hold’em.
The game you know, with fixed bet sizes instead of any amount you like.
Four cards each, and the pot splits between the best high hand and the best qualifying low.
Stud, but the lowest hand wins. The button is gone from here until the rotation restarts.
Highest hand wins, no shared cards, and memory does the work position used to do.
Stud again, split pot again, then the rotation hands back to hold’em.
Every game in HORSE is played at fixed limit, so there is no shoving and no pot-sized bluff anywhere in the rotation. That changes the texture more than beginners expect: pressure is capped, so hands get shown down far more often and reading the exposed cards matters more than any move you can make. The full walkthrough of all five games, including what changes at the table when the stud games arrive, is on HORSE poker.
8-game
8-game is the bigger rotation, and it is the one the biggest mixed tournaments use. Three games from HORSE are joined by a draw game and by the two big-bet games most players already know.
| # | The game | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2-7 triple draw | Lowball with three draws. The best hand is 7-5-4-3-2, straights and flushes count against you and the ace is always high. Nearest page: five-card draw for the draw mechanic |
| 2 | Limit hold’em | Hold’em with fixed bet sizes |
| 3 | Omaha eight-or-better | Omaha hi-lo, high and low split the pot |
| 4 | Razz | Razz, stud where the worst hand wins |
| 5 | Seven-card stud | Seven-card stud, high hand only |
| 6 | Stud eight-or-better | Stud with a hi-lo split |
| 7 | No-limit hold’em | Hold’em with your whole stack available |
| 8 | Pot-limit Omaha | PLO, four cards, bets capped at the pot |
The first six are dealt at fixed limit and the last two are not, which is the trap for anyone drifting through the rotation on autopilot: the same starting hand that was worth one small bet in seat 2 can cost your stack two games later.
Dealer’s choice
Dealer’s choice removes the fixed order. The player in the dealer seat picks the game, the table plays it, and the choice moves on with the deal. Depending on the house rule, a call lasts one hand or one full orbit, and the same game can be called twice in a row.
What can be called is whatever the table agreed on before the session. Home games often keep a short list of four or five familiar games. Cardroom and tournament versions publish a longer menu, which is where you meet the games that never show up anywhere else: badugi, Big O and the pot-limit versions of games you have only played at limit.
One habit is worth having before you sit: ask for the list, then ask what happens when someone calls a game you have never played. The answer is always that you play it anyway, which is the whole reason to read the explainers first.
How to prepare for a rotation
You do not need to be good at eight games. You need to not be lost in any of them, and that is a much shorter job.
Before your first rotation
If you want one page that walks all five HORSE games in detail rather than in summary, start with HORSE poker and come back for the wider lineup. The mixed games glossary entry is the short version if all you need is the definition.
Which game is this?
You sit down mid-rotation. There is no button on the table, every player has four cards face up in front of them, and the player showing the strongest cards has just been asked to act first.
Show the answer
A stud game: no button and face-up cards can only be stud, razz or their split-pot versions. The player with the strongest exposed hand acting first tells you the high hand wins here, so it is seven-card stud or its eight-or-better version rather than razz. If several players are staying in with low cards that cannot make a straight or a flush, they are chasing the low half and you are in the eight-or-better leg. When you are not sure, ask the dealer which game is live before you look at your cards. It costs nothing and everybody does it.
Frequently asked questions
What games are in 8-game poker?
Eight, dealt in this order: 2-7 triple draw, limit hold'em, Omaha eight-or-better, razz, seven-card stud, stud eight-or-better, no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha. The first six are played at fixed limit and the last two are not, which is the part that catches people out when the rotation comes round.
How is HORSE different from 8-game?
HORSE is the smaller rotation: five games, all at fixed limit. 8-game keeps three of them, adds a draw game, and finishes with the two big-bet games most players already know, no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha. If you are new to rotations, HORSE is the gentler start because the betting never escalates.
How does dealer's choice work?
The player in the dealer seat picks the game and the choice travels with the deal, so everyone gets a turn to call one. Depending on the house rule the call lasts a single hand or a full orbit, and the same game can be called twice in a row. What can be called is whatever the table agreed on beforehand, so ask for the list before you sit down.
Do I need to know every game to play mixed?
No, and almost nobody does. You need to not be lost: know what wins each game, what the forced bets are and when the table switches. Play tight in the games you barely know, watch every showdown in them, and study your weakest game rather than your best one. That is where the money is in a rotation.
Are mixed games always fixed limit?
The classic rotations mostly are. Every game in HORSE is fixed limit, and six of the eight games in 8-game are too. The exceptions sit at the end of the 8-game rotation, where no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha bring the big bets back, and dealer's choice can include whatever betting structure the table allows.