It’s a pretty safe assumption that most new poker players begin with Texas Hold’em. I know I did - taking it by the neck, shaking it and waiting for the loose change to fall out of its pockets, however long it took.

In terms of being easy to learn hold’em is unrivalled. Two cards to you, another five on the board leaving you to make the best of it. Turning that into a winning formula though is a different thing altogether but it gets your fledgling poker career off the ground.

As you get stuck into that you might think the prospect of learning another game is out of bounds - a minefield best not crossing until you have a good grip of the hold’em horns. But as sure as I’m mixing my metaphors the same basic principles apply to these other games.

Yes, beyond the hazy horizons of Hold’em Land lay other exotic games, poker variants which provide a welcome break from the status quo where you can swap cards, or see your opponent’s cards even before the betting starts! Each has its own secrets, intricacies and infuriations but will add something to your repertoire that hold’em alone can’t provide - a feather in your cap or a string to your bow and a greater understanding of the game. And if it turns out you’re bad at them well it wasn’t my fault – it was just an idea.

Personally speaking, and I realise this might be fickle, when it comes to other forms of poker it’s the names that attract me most – it’s one things to say you play hold’em, or even Omaha, but few things match the smugness of being able to add to a conversation the line “Sure, hold’em is good, but I’m a deuce-to-seven-triple-draw-lowball player myself.” Prepare for people to raise eyebrows and laugh off your pretentiousness.

That might just be me of course. And 2-7 triple draw is just one option of many available on PokerStars.net. A quick glance in the lobby and you’ll see various games on offer – Omaha, stud, five card draw, and some things called HORSE and HOSE – each just waiting for you to take a seat.

With such an abundance of choice what say we try a few? Bear with me as I set out on a quest to conquer each by getting stuck in at the business end, hopefully shedding some light on each game along the way. If you’ve ever been put off from dabbling in other games fearing what life might be like on the other side of the hold’em fence then allow me to be the one to don the safari hat, grab a metaphorical elephant gun (some chips from my play money bankroll) and walk out into the long grass. I’ll be back, but in what shape I can’t be sure.

Each week I’ll be trying a new a new game on PokerStars.net, sitting in on a ring game and then seeing what happens. I’ll get to grips with how to play the game first before using chips in anger to increase my stack. 2,000 chips seem like a good starting point and I’ll carry what’s left forward each week, whether it looks like a row of glorious towers or a twisted piece of scrap metal.

Of course this is just an outline. I may have to add a few rules as we go along. For instance the author reserves the right to introduce a ‘re-buy’ rule should my 2,000 starting stack prove woefully optimistic in light of my playing ability, but I’ll log the losses either way. No one ever said poker was an exact science and I’ll also try to avoid the temptation to make many more rules up as I go along.

I’ll start with triple draw because, you know, hold’em is good but I’m a deuce-to-seven-triple-draw-lowball-player myself. Then will follow Omaha, stud, and the seemingly agricultural games of H.O.R.S.E. and H.O.S.E.

It will either make or break my bankroll but I sleep easy knowing I have friends in PokerStars support to bail me out. You can join in too, trying out the new games and seeing how you get on. Look out for me this week on PokerStars.net – go easy on the guy with the handle ‘muhalo’ and we should get along just fine.

See you at the tables...