Understanding Greek Poker

If you’re tired of playing Texas Hold’em, Five Card Stud, and Omaha over and over then don’t worry because there are many other poker variants to learn, play, have fun with, and of course, win money from as well. And speaking of new variants, care to give Greek poker a try?

What is Greek Poker?

Greek poker is also known as poka. Numerous poker variations are played in Greece, and a handful of them have already found their way in gaming websites. Some of the games combine rules between American and European poker. The rest are conjured by the active imagination of Greeks.

In Greece, poka is often played at home, typically during the holidays. In the old days, poka was also played in illegal gambling establishments. The word ‘poka’ actually comes from the way Greeks once used to try adapting the word ‘poker’ and imitating the way Americans pronounce it.

How Poka is Played

Poka is commonly played between three to six persons. In contrast with traditional poker, however, dealing in poka is done in a counter-clockwise direction. Moreover, the player seated at the dealer’s left is required to cut the deck prior to dealing.

Hand Order in Poka

There are three types of hand order used in poka.

Kenda-Full
Also known as straight full, this hand order is the least used in poka and is often used when variations of American poker games like Texas Hold’em or plain vanilla poker is played. In kenda-full, a full house beats a flush while a straight counts higher than three of a kind.

Tria-Full
Also known as three-full, three of a kind beats a straight this time but full houses still count higher than flushes. Two popular Greek poker variants, cuckoo and bombs, generally adhere to this order.

Kenda-Chroma
Finally, there’s kenda-chroma, also known as straight-flush, and is similar to kenda-full. It is characteristically used with vanilla poker. A straight is still a better hand than three of a kind but flushes beat full houses.

Dealers generally make the decision on which hand order to use for the game. There are, however, rules to help determine which hand order is the right choice for the game. These rules mostly depend on the number of cards. Let’s say a player has eight or more cards in total and by combining those he’s holding and those displayed on the table. In such a case, the dealer will often go with a tria-full hand order. If there are seven cards or less, however, then the dealer will most probably use a kenda chroma.

The number of community or board cards can also dictate the type of hand order used. Five or more cards on the table will generally require a ‘tria full’. Tria full is used when there are a greater number of community cards since players have more chances to get a straight.
Kenda chroma, on the other hand, is used for anything less than five.

Not all websites offer Greek poker to players so you’ll have to be a bit more patient when searching for gaming sites that do feature them.