The Iron Cross is also a community card game played according to Texas Holdem rules, though there are significant differences between the two genres. In the Iron Cross, each player gets 5 hole cards with the deal. In some variants, players are allowed to muck one of the 5 cards they get and draw a new one in its place.

The deal is followed by a betting round, then 5 community cards are dealt one by one in a cross pattern (one in the middle and the other 4 cards around it in a cross-shape) each of these cards followed by a betting round. In order to keep the betting more or less under control, and to make the game more like Texas Holdem, some variants reduce the number of betting rounds to 4. This is achieved by betting only after the deal, after the two cards forming the horizontal arm of the cross are dealt, after the two cards forming the vertical arm are dealt, and then finally after the center card is shown.

Each player is required to make the best 5-card hand he/she can, using his hole cards and either the 3 cards in the vertical or the horizontal arm of the cross.

This game is often played with a hi-lo split, or with the central card from the cross acting wild. (sometimes all cards of the same value as the center one are wild)