Royal Hold'em (R)

Royal Hold'em (R) is a derivative of Texas Hold'em which uses a 'stripped' deck of just the tens, jacks, queens, kings and aces.

In live (brick and mortar) games, Royal Hold'em can only be played with a maximum of six players because there are only 20 cards in the deck. With five community cards, three burn cards, and two pocket cards per player, a six-player table will use all 20 cards in the deck. Online games could theoretically seat seven players due to lack of burn cards, but six is the standard maximum.

Royal Hold'em is found in only a few online sites and is a popular variant among those that have it.

Hand Strengths

The difference in hierarchy from standard Texas Hold'em is that the only flush possible is a Royal flush, therefore it is always the best hand.

Strategy and Odds

A straight is a very vulnerable holding because if the hand goes beyond the turn, the board will either pair, making a full house possible, or there will be a straight on board, making a split pot inevitable.

Since there are only 20 cards, Royal Hold'em offers many opportunities for math conscious players to calculate their pot odds and count their possible outs, since drawing to a Royal flush, full house or quads is a regular occurrence. As previously mentioned, a straight on the board is also a possible 'out' and the possibility of drawing to a split pot may be considered on a board with all non-paired cards.

Due to the more frequent occurrence of a Royal flush in Royal Hold'em, a Royal flush does not count towards Replay Poker Achievements.