One of many

Like playing online poker, other card games have also made a run at the online gaming market.

You can play pretty much any card game online, for money or fun, but there is one game that stands out from the rest.

Rummy.

You might not have heard yet, but it’s one of the most popular, if not the most popular, online poker card game played for money in India and is slowly creeping into other countries as well.

So why can’t other card games do this?

And why are they not as popular as poker?

As we all know, playing online poker is a game of skill that gives the better player a certain edge over his opposition.

This edge is achieved by making better decisions and “investing” money in a situation where an educated guess has brought you to a conclusion that it’s profitable (+EV).

Well, this concept transcends into all card games played against other flesh and blood players.

Every time you have available information and a decision to make, you can make either the right one or the wrong one.

The only thing that changes is the potential edge since some online poker games are more information filled than others.

Poker is the popular kid.

Why are other games not as popular as poker?

Because they are not that interesting to watch and they are also more complicated.

Did you know that poker online wasn’t that popular until the hole card cam was invented? It just wasn’t that interesting to watch when you didn’t know what the players are holding.

Another significant factor is also simplicity.

Texas Hold’em isn’t the most popular game by chance; it’s the most popular because it’s the simplest!

Now that we found out a little bit about the relationship between poker online and other card games let’s take a look at some of them.

For this article, I’ve picked three of my favorite card games.

RUMMY vs. online poker

Fancy a game of Rummy?

Like I mentioned before, rummy is a popular game… well, just like poker, rummy has many variations, so it’s a prevalent game type.

Did you know that even the legendary poker player Stu Ungar started out by playing gin rummy?

He was arguably the best rummy player of his time (maybe even all time) and there are many stories about him playing.

One of my favorites is the one where he’s playing a cheater and his bodyguard says to him “Do you realize he’s cheating?” and Stu replies “I know, but I’ll get him anyway,” and he did.

They even say nobody wanted to play him anymore, so he moved to poker.

So a few words about rummy in general.

It’s a high skill level game.

Of course, each variation has a similar theoretical strategy foundation, but they still differ in a lot of aspects.

So why do I say it’s a game with high skill level?

Well, there is a lot of available information and if you know how to deduct from it correctly, you can gain a considerable edge.

In most rummy games you can see all the previous discards, 5+ cards in your hand and tabled melds. You can see half the deck in a pretty early stage of a game. By knowing some basic strategies you can make super accurate decisions from all that information, but there’s more.

When you are playing live, you can get even more info on your opponents!

Because players have to have a lot of cards in their hand, they always have a preferred order in which they hold them. By observing your opponents after each draw, you can pretty accurately assess what they are holding.

Did I manage to peek your interest in rummy?

Good!

Check out CardGamesPlanet for more information on where to play rummy online, strategy and more.

TAROT GAMES

Classic Tarot cards.

Do you know what the tarot is?

It’s fortune-telling through some very gorgeous cards, but did you know there are also tarot card games?

Usually, playing cards are not the same as fortune telling ones, but in its essence they are.

Playing card tarot decks come in three different versions, French, Austrian and Italian. They differ by the number of cards and pictures on them. The best to own are the French ones because they consist of a full 78 card deck and you can play any tarot card game with them.

These games are a bit too complicated and too demanding to discuss in detail in this article, but I can tell you that in general they demand a high level of skill and you can gain a massive edge over your opposition. In a game between friends that I play in, I have an about 90% win rate per game over a large sample (a little self-brag), so you can see that edges can be enormous.

I’ll leave this part of the article with one suggestion.

If you started to get interested in tarot card games, try playing Grosstarock, really awesome game played with tarot cards and poker chips!

SCHNAPSEN

Not a schnapps, but schnapsen!

Schnapsen is such an excellent game for two players!

It’s effortless to learn, it’s educational and it’s fun!

I’ll explain!

It’s a straightforward trick-taking game with simple rules. Thus it’s easy to learn, to be able to play it well you have to develop an excellent memory, so it’s educational, and it’s fun just because it’s fun!

Even a simple game, however, can be taken to a high level regarding skill.

Texas Hold’em is the apparent proof of that, but this Austrian card game called Schnapsen could quickly come in second place.

The only difference is that Schnapsen is also relatively easy to play well. You have to know what to look out for, and you need to develop a good memory.

So? What do you think?

Well, you have a look at any of these card games and maybe give poker a break for one evening?

I’ll leave you with a famous quote that I like:

“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.” — Maya Angelou