HORSE Poker Rules
HORSE is a mixed game: five different poker variants rotate at one table, changing every orbit so that no player can hide inside a single discipline. The name is an acronym for the games in the cycle — Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Eight-or-Better — and it is the classic test of an all-around poker player.
What a mixed game is
A mixed game is a single table that rotates through several poker variants rather than dealing the same game all session. Instead of playing one hand of Hold’em after another, you play a stretch of Hold’em, then a stretch of Omaha Hi-Lo, then Razz, and so on. Chips carry across the whole rotation, so a big pot won in one game counts exactly the same as a big pot won in another. Mixed games reward breadth: the winner is usually the player with the fewest weak spots, not the one with a single deadly specialty.
The five games in the rotation
Texas Hold'em →
Limit Texas Hold’em. Two hole cards and five shared community cards; the best five-card hand wins the whole pot. A community-card game played with blinds and a button.
Omaha Hi-Lo (Omaha/8) →
Omaha Eight-or-Better. Four hole cards, and you must use exactly two of them plus three community cards. The pot splits between the best high hand and a qualifying low of eight-or-better.
Razz →
Seven Card Stud played for low only. Aces are low and straights and flushes do not count against you, so the best possible hand is A-2-3-4-5, the wheel. A stud game with antes and a bring-in.
Seven Card Stud →
No community cards. Each player receives seven cards over five streets — four face up, three face down — and makes the best five-card high hand. Uses antes and a bring-in rather than blinds.
Eight-or-Better / Stud Hi-Lo (Stud/8) →
Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo. Played exactly like Seven Card Stud, but the pot splits between the best high hand and the best qualifying low of eight-or-better. The E in HORSE stands for this Eight-or-Better game.
How the rotation works
The games follow the letters of the name in order — H, then O, then R, then S, then E — and after the last game the cycle returns to Hold’em. The rotation advances when the dealer button completes a full orbit of the table, or after a fixed number of hands or minutes, depending on the table’s configuration.
Because the games are not all built the same way, the table quietly reconfigures as it switches. The two community-card games (Hold’em and Omaha Hi-Lo) deal with blinds and a moving button. The three stud games (Razz, Seven Card Stud, Stud Hi-Lo) drop the blinds entirely and use antes plus a bring-in, with the betting order set by the exposed cards rather than by seat position. Watching the game indicator is the first habit every HORSE player learns.
Why HORSE tests all-around skill
A single-game specialist can grind an edge for hours, but HORSE never lets one skill run for long. The Razz round punishes a player who only knows high hands; the Omaha Hi-Lo round punishes anyone who misreads the two-card rule or ignores the low; the Stud rounds reward memory for exposed cards that Hold’em never trains. The pressure is not to be brilliant at one game but to have no leak in any of the five. Over a full rotation, the balanced player quietly gains chips in the games their opponents play worst.
Fixed-limit betting
HORSE is played with fixed limits rather than no-limit or pot-limit. This is not a stylistic choice — it is what makes mixing five games at one table fair. With a single small-bet and big-bet structure applied throughout, a raise in Razz costs the same as a raise in Hold’em, and no game can swing the stakes wildly out of proportion to the others. Fixed limits also keep the emphasis on hand-reading and correct play across disciplines, which is the whole point of a mixed game, rather than on big all-in gambles in whichever game happens to be running.
How a session flows
You sit down and the indicator reads H. For one orbit you play Limit Texas Hold’em: blinds up, two hole cards, flop-turn-river, best five-card hand takes each pot. You fold most hands and pick up one pot with top pair.
The button completes its lap and the game clicks to O — Omaha Hi-Lo. Now you get four hole cards and have to build a high and a low using exactly two of them plus three from the board. You scoop a pot with the nut low and a straight, doubling the value of a single hand.
Next orbit the blinds disappear and R begins. In Razz the antes and bring-in take over, and you are chasing the lowest hand, ignoring your instinct to value pairs. Then S brings straight Seven Card Stud for the high, and E brings Stud Hi-Lo, splitting pots between high and low again.
After the E round the cycle returns to H, and it repeats for as long as you play. Nothing about the chips resets between games — the session is one continuous contest measured across all five.
On SPN
HORSE tables rotate automatically, and the game indicator always shows which variant is currently in play along with a link to its rules. Every game-specific rule — bring-ins, the two-card Omaha requirement, the eight-or-better low qualifier, high-only versus split showdowns — is enforced by the platform, and the format switches from blinds to antes on its own as the rotation moves into the stud games. There is no rake: SPN uses a tick-fee model instead of taking a cut of the pot. Dealing is provably fair and the tables are bot-free.
Frequently asked questions
What does HORSE stand for?
HORSE is an acronym for the five games in the rotation: Hold’em (Limit Texas Hold’em), Omaha Hi-Lo (Eight-or-Better), Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Eight-or-Better (Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo). The letters also fix the order in which the games rotate, from H through E and back to H.
How often do the games change in HORSE?
The game switches each time the play passes once around the table, called an orbit, or after a set number of hands or minutes, depending on how the table is configured. When it switches, the format changes with it: the community-card games use blinds and a button, while the stud games use antes and a bring-in.
Is HORSE played no-limit or fixed-limit?
HORSE is almost always played fixed-limit. Using one betting structure across five very different games keeps the bet sizes comparable, so a hand of Razz risks the same amounts as a hand of Hold’em and no single game dominates the stakes.
Do I need to be good at all five games?
Yes, and that is the point. A player who only knows Hold’em will be exposed during the Razz and Stud rounds. HORSE rewards well-rounded skill; the edge comes from being at least competent in every game rather than expert in one.
What is the difference between HORSE and Eight-Game?
HORSE rotates five fixed-limit games. Eight-Game (the 8-Game Mix) adds three more — No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and 2-7 Triple Draw — and mixes betting structures, so it is a broader and more demanding rotation. HORSE is the classic five-game core that most mixed-game players learn first.