Stake Poker
Stake, the world’s fastest-growing online gaming and gambling platform, has now launched player vs player poker. Here’s all you need to know about its cash games and tournaments.
On this page, you’ll learn about:
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What is a Stake Poker
- Learn about the different variants of poker you can play here and the types of games available
- Get to grips with the basics - poker hand ranks
- Play Stake poker with a 200% matched deposit welcome bonus
- Stake Poker Goes Live
- Stake Poker Games
- Game Types and Modes
- Stake Poker Interface
- Stake.us Poker
- Stake Poker Hand Ranks
- Stake Poker FAQs
Stake Poker Goes Live
After a few months of beta testing, Stake Poker has been officially launched. This is an exciting development in the evolution of the world’s number one crypto-gambling site.
Stake Poker is a real-time, player-vs-player poker room featuring popular games such as Texas Hold’em and Omaha. Stake.com is marketing its latest product to all comers. There are freerolls and low-limit games for beginners who want to play against their friends and other poker enthusiasts.
Additionally, if you’re more skilled in the facets of online poker, you can enjoy high-stakes cash games and tournaments. With Stake boasting hundreds of thousands of active online players, we believe its poker room will be a major success, so let’s find out more about it.
Stake Poker Games
Stake.com Poker has launched with three game variants - Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Pineapple Hold’em. While I’m certain more variations will be introduced later, this is a good start. These games are hugely popular online and in land-based poker rooms around the world.
Texas Hold’em Poker
Made famous by the acclaimed World Series of Poker, Texas Hold’em remains the most popular poker game in existence. Our Stake Texas Hold’em Poker guide takes an in-depth look at this game.
However, the objective is to create a 5-card poker hand from your two hole cards and five community cards. Players can use these cards in any combination, which makes Hold’em poker more flexible than some other versions.
Unlike casino poker games that pit players against a dealer, Stake Poker is player vs player. Therefore, you don’t need the best hand to win. Players can bluff a strong hand and try to get others at the table to fold. Stake Texas Hold’em is easy to learn, but becoming a poker master requires hours of study and practice.
Omaha Poker
Once you have a grasp of how to play Texas Hold’em, you’ll soon pick up the rules of Omaha. These two games are very similar, with the only difference being that each player receives four hole cards.
From these four hole cards, players have to use two of them along with three of the five community cards to make their best poker hand. If you want some extra tips, our ultimate Stake Omaha Poker guide is worth checking out.
Pineapple Hold’em
This is one of the newer poker variants that has spawned from the success of Texas Hold’em. With Pineapple Hold’em, players are initially dealt three hole cards, which they hold for betting pre-flop and after the flop. However, before the turn card is revealed, players have to discard one of their hole cards. From there, regular Texas Hold’em rules apply.
This is an exciting form of Hold’em poker. Having an extra hole card increases the probability of you hitting a bigger hand. Of course, the same applies to all the other players at the table. Before jumping in, read through our Stake Pineapple Hold’em game guide to learn more.
Game Types and Modes
There are two main game types at Stake Poker: Ring Games and Tournaments. Put simply, ring games are cash games where players come and go as they wish. Tournaments are like the old-school sit and go setup that many experienced players are familiar with.
You’ll find a good variety of NL and PL ring games with different blinds and buy-in limits. The same applies to tournaments. However, the structure is more rigid than traditional poker rooms. All tournaments have an established start time. I believe this is something that will change as more poker players start using the platform. Expanding upon game types, Stake Poker offers several modes and features:
- Freerolls: Whether you’re just starting or a seasoned player, Stake Poker freerolls are excellent for sharpening your game. There are four $500 freeroll tournaments each daily. You don’t need to pay to enter these, but you must be KYC level 2 verified.
- Rapid Ring Games: These are special cash games that move players to a new table immediately after they fold. This keeps the action moving faster. The player who has posted the fewest big blinds at the new table is the one who assumes the big bind position.
- Rapid Tournaments: Similar to Rapid Ring Games, when a player folds, they are swiftly moved to a new table that is ready to deal. The advantage of these tournaments is that the total tournament time is dramatically reduced. Once again, the same rule applies to the fewest big blinds.
- Rabbit Hunting: This feature allows players to see what community cards would have been dealt if the hand is finished before the river card. It is a way to find out ‘what might have been’; however, there is often a small charge for rabbit hunting, so you want to use this feature sparingly.
- Rebuys: Several Stake Poker tournaments allow players to rebuy back into the game. Typically, the rebuy option only presents itself when a player loses their entire stack. Furthermore, there will be time constraints, such as rebuys are only available for the first 15 minutes of a tournament.
- Straddle: Games that allow players to straddle are a popular feature at Stake Poker. In effect, a straddle in poker is a special pre-flop raise. However, only the player to the left of the big blind can enact this. If a player straddles, then all others at the table need to call the straddle bet or raise to stay in the hand.
- Run it Twice: This is a super feature that I believe will be hugely popular. When players go all-in, they can enable the RiT (Run it Twice) mode. If all the players agree to RiT, then the board will be played twice. To take the entire pot, a player needs to win both boards. The pot will be split if different players win the RiT boards.
- Bomb Pots: This is another new feature that you won’t find at many old-school online poker rooms. A Bomb Pot is a special mode that triggers randomly. When activated, players skip the pre-flop betting round while paying a set fee to increase the size of the pot. The game continues as normal post-flop.
- Bounty: I have played a few tournaments with the Bounty feature. It is an exciting addition that encourages more open play. When you eliminate a player, you receive a reward (the bounty). The Bounty can be on a specific player’s head or anyone at the table.
- Shootout: These are special tournaments that last for several rounds. A Shootout tournament starts with all the players distributed evenly on active tables. The game continues until one player has all the chips. You then proceed to the next round. The advantage of Shootout tournaments is that you start each table/round with the same stack size as your opponents, so a chip leader can’t bully you.
- Is Lucky One Hand: This tournament mode resembles a game of chance. Players go all-in on every hand until there is only one player left standing.
- Satellite Tournaments: Think of Satellite tournaments as a qualifier for a much larger tournament, which could be online or land-based. The benefit of Satellite Tournaments is that the buy-in is far less than it would be if you entered the main tournament directly. It depends on the tournament and the prize money as to the caliber of players involved. If you’re a total beginner, I would avoid Satellites unless the entry is via a freeroll.
Stake Poker Interface
I found the Stake Poker interface user-friendly and easy to navigate. After launching the platform from the casino area of your Stake account, the main page has two tabs - Ring Games and Tournaments.
Within these tabs, you can use various filters, including Game Type, Pot Type, Status, and No. of Players. Furthermore, you’re able to order tables by their Stakes, Buy-ins, and Tournament Type.
To join a Ring Game table, simply click on the one you want. If the table is full, add yourself to the waiting list, and you’ll be seated as players leave. For tournaments, players must register in advance.
Stake.us Poker
Great news for players in the United States: this poker platform has also been launched at Stake.us. The key difference is that this is a social sweepstakes version. Players can use Stake Cash to play sweepstakes poker and win real prizes.
Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Pineapple are available in ring games and tournament format. Furthermore, check out the daily freerolls, where you can win free coins. If you love poker, this is the best site in the US where you can play for free.
Stake Poker Hand Ranks
Whichever variant of poker you play at Stake.com or Stake.us, the hand ranks are the same. Here’s an overview of each one, starting from the strongest.
Royal Flush
This is the ultimate hand in poker. A Royal Flush contains the ten, jack, queen, king, and ace from the same suit. This hand cannot be beaten.
Straight Flush
A Straight Flush is the second strongest poker hand. It consists of five consecutive cards from the same suit, such as 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 (all of clubs). The best Straight flush is king high.
Four of a Kind
As the name suggests, four of a kind is when you have four cards of the same value. The fifth card is known as the ‘kicker’. You may also hear four of a kind being called quads.
Full House
A Full House is a five-card hand that consists of three of a kind and a pair. For example, 7, 7, 7, Q, Q is a Full House. The strength of a Full House is measured by the three of a kind you hold. Therefore, K, K, K, 2, 2 beats Q, Q, Q, J, J.
Flush
Five cards (not in a running sequence) from the same suit is a Flush. For instance, 2, 5, 7, 9, J all of diamonds is called a jack high flush,
Straight
A Straight is five cards in running order from mixed suits, such as 6d, 7c, 8h, 9d, 10s. The best Straight is ace high.
Three of a Kind
Like four of a kind, this is the same, but with three cards. The other two cards in this hand are kickers. If two players put down the same three of a kind hands, the strength of the kickers (ace being the strongest) determines the winner.
Two Pair
Two pair is easy to understand. It’s two cards of the same value, twice, with the fifth being a high card. As an example, 6, 6, 8, 8, 3. If more than one player lays down two pairs, the highest top pair wins. If both are the same, the winner is determined by the second pair and then the high card if necessary.
One Pair
Like two pair, but only one, with three unrelated high cards completing the hand. The same rules apply, as mentioned above, to determine the winner.
High Card
The lowest poker hand rank is simply a high card. This means that from your two hole cards and the five community cards, you cannot make any of the poker hands mentioned above. It is probably the most common poker hand, which might seem surprising given how many others there are.
Stake Poker FAQs
Does Stake Poker have freeroll tournaments?
Yes. There are four freeroll tournaments each day. The guaranteed prize for each event is $500; however, the prize distribution depends on the total number of players who register.
Do you need a separate account to play Stake Poker?
No, you don’t. Stake Poker is integrated into the casino section of the platform. Therefore, players access it through their regular Stake account.
Can you play cash games at Stake Poker?
Yes, cash games are available. They are found under the Rapid Games tab. From there, you can filter the options to find the precise cash game that you want to play.
