Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker.Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt face up in three stages. The stages consist of a series of three cards ('the flop'), later an additional single card ('the turn' or 'fourth street'), and a.
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- Daily FreerollA successful Texas hold em player is one who maximizes his return or minimizes his loss with each decision he makes.
- Rhett Butler: Hi Rick, we are here today to discuss texas hold em poker and the values of cards and what hand beats another hand. Rick Rahim:So Rhett, I have two hands set up, as we know, poker is the game of playing the best combination of the five cards you have right?
- Card Values and Hand Rankings The rank of the cards used in Ultimate Texas Hold’em, for the purpose of determining a winning hand shall be, in order from the lowest.
- A limit Texas holdem game with a 4 / 8 limit has bets of $4 during the first two betting rounds and exactly $8 during the final two betting rounds. So each bet and / or raise is exactly $4 before and on the flop. If player 1 bets $4 and player 2 raises she must put $8 in the pot, $4.
Calculating the pot odds in Texas holdem helps a gambler know when to fold or raise. The pot odds are a ratio between the current size of a poker pot and the cost of a call. Calculating this ratio allows gamblers to make informed decisions on the probability of winning and whether betting is worth the cost.
Once a player knows the pot odds, they can calculate the expected value of betting. This is helpful in several situations, none more so than when a player holds a drawing hand. This is a hand in which you are behind at the moment, but your have the promise of drawing a winning hand later.
Example of Pot Odds
To give an example, let’s assume the raise in front of you is $10. If the pot is $40, then the pot odds would be calculated like so: 40:10. Players often shorten this to 4:1. Converted to a ratio, you would have 1/5 or 20%. You would be putting in twenty percent of the pot.
Expected Value
Earlier we mentioned “expected value“. Expected value is a comparison between the pot odds and the chances you’ll draw the card you need. To calculate this ratio, you’ll need to figure out how many cards remain in the deck which might improve your hand.
Drawing Hands and Outs
“Outs” is the term used for the number of cards still in the deck which give you the winning hand. Besides your two hole cards and the community cards, you might know what 7 of the 52 cards are. If you have a straight draw of A-K-Q-J, then you need a 10 to make your straight. If no 10’s are in your hand or among the community cards, you have 4 outs. If one 10 was showing, you have 3 outs. This isn’t always the case with straight draws, though. For instance, if you hold a 6-7-8-9, you could win if you collected either a 10 or a 5. If neither card is showing, you have 8 outs.
A flush draw gives a player 9 outs (assuming you have 4 to a straight), if none of your suit have been drawn. It’s more likely one or two of your outs are gone, though. Let’s say you have the 3-6-9-Q of diamonds. You have 9 outs, but if you see the jack and 5 of diamonds among the community cards, you only have 7 outs. A straight flush is best, since you have 9 potential outs for suit and either 4 to 8 outs for card rank.
Calculating Outs
Once a player knows how many outs there are, they can calculate a ratio. If you have 4 outs after the flop, then you have a 4/46 chance of collecting an out (or just under a 9% chance) of hitting the card you need on any given dead. Keep in mind you’ll have two more cards drawn, instead of just one. The odds are 8.69% you’ll hit the card you need.
Calculating the outs you have produces a ratio of the chances you improve your hand. Since you can’t know what your opponent has in their hand, the math isn’t as cut-and-dried as it is on television, where the broadcasters have up-to-the-second information on hand composition and strength. Professional players often have an idea what their opponent is holding, depending on their tendencies and how they’ve played the hand.
Rule of 4 and 2
If you aren’t a math whiz and you need an easy way of calculating the outs, use Phil Gordon’s “rule of 4 and 2” (found in Gordon’s The Little Green Book). This rules states that you multiply your outs by one of these numbers to calculate the percentage odds of getting the card you need. If you’re on the flop waiting for the turn, multiply your outs by 2. If you’re on the turn waiting for the river, also multiply the outs by 2. If you’re on the flop waiting for the river–that is, your opponent is all-in–multiply the outs by 4.
Two things need to be emphasized. This is meant to be a shorthand, so it’s not entirely accurate. In the example above, the 8.69% becomes 8%. Those dividing 46 by 4 might round up to 9%, if they’re an optimist, so understand you lose a little something in perspective by using a quick method. Also, a gambler is going to be divining their outs by 2 most of the time, because they won’t be all-in on the flop that often. Some players mistakenly use the 4 every time they’re on the flop, which causes a whole lot of busts. If you don’t like fractions and long division, Phil Gordon’s method should help you get pretty close at a fast rate.
Implied Odds
Simply figuring out the current set of probabilities is not always enough. Sometimes, you want to calculate the probable future bets, too. Since gamblers calculating pot odds are dealing with probability and possibilities anyway, it’s sometimes a more accurate measure to project what’s likely to be the odds next round. Let’s use an example.
If you have a drawing hand, then you are going to fold if you miss the card you want. Therefore, you know you won’t be betting any higher in that scenario. At the same time, if you hit the card you want, your opponent or opponents are likely to bet and you’re likely to make money off them. You need to calculate the odds not just of the current ratio, but implied future odds.
Why Make Calculations?
Any time you fold, raise, or make a call in Texas holdem, you’re weighing the odds (in some informal fashion) of what you should do. Pot odds let you do the same thing in a formal, mathematical way. If guesswork is a pitfall in gambling, then odds calculations takes some of the guesswork out.
Risk versus Reward
The more information you have and can process, the better for you. Most of the time, you’ll have a vague idea of when it’s good to raise a bet and when it’s a bad idea. That’s not always the case, though.
Texas Holdem Value Chart
When you don’t use precise math, you can make all sorts of mistakes and simply have fallacies about the game you just played. By doing the math on your pot odds, you eliminate some of the supposition. All of this can best be summed up as the risk/reward factor. Players want to know how much they need to risk and how much they’ll rake in if they win, so pot odds help you play a more mathematical game of Texas hold’em.
See also:
According to Five Decision Factors For Texas Hold Em Poker the statistics for 122,031,244 pairs of pocket cards dealt at real money tables were compiled and published on a now defunct website. This book lists all 169 hands along with the expected value that resulted, expressed as a multiple of the “big bet”, in descending order of expected value.
For example, the expected value for a pair of pocket aces was 2.32. This means that at a $5/$10 table, where the big bet is $10, the average profit from pocket aces was $10 x 2.32, or $23.20.
The following table shows the 44 hands with their expected values (E.V.) greater than or equal to zero, annotated with the group value and index within the group, according to Hand Rankings And Strengths. An “s” following the hand indicates “suited”.
Expected Value of Starting Hands
| Rank | Cards | E.V. | Group | Index |
| 1. | AA | 2.32 | 1 | 1 |
| 2. | KK | 1.67 | 1 | 2 |
| 3. | 1.22 | 1 | 3 | |
| 4. | JJ | 0.86 | 1 | 4 |
| 5. | AKs | 0.77 | 1 | 5 |
| 6. | AQs | 0.59 | 2 | 2 |
| 7. | TT | 0.58 | 2 | 1 |
| 8. | AK | 0.51 | 2 | 5 |
| 9. | AJs | 0.43 | 2 | 3 |
| 10. | KQs | 0.39 | 2 | 4 |
| 11. | 99 | 0.38 | 3 | 1 |
| 12. | ATs | 0.33 | 3 | 5 |
| 13. | AQ | 0.31 | 3 | 6 |
| 14. | KJs | 0.29 | 3 | 4 |
| 15. | 88 | 0.25 | 4 | 3 |
| 16. | QJs | 0.23 | 3 | 3 |
| 17. | KTs | 0.20 | 4 | 8 |
| 18. | AJ | 0.19 | 4 | 7 |
| 19. | A9s | 0.18 | 5 | 10 |
| 20. | QTs | 0.17 | 4 | 4 |
| 21. | KQ | 0.16 | 4 | 2 |
| 22. | 77 | 0.16 | 5 | 1 |
| 23. | JTs | 0.15 | 3 | 2 |
| 24. | A8s | 0.10 | 5 | 10 |
| 25. | K9s | 0.09 | 7 | 10 |
| 26. | AT | 0.08 | 6 | 2 |
| 27. | A5s | 0.08 | 5 | 10 |
| 28. | A7s | 0.08 | 5 | 10 |
| 29. | 66 | 0.07 | 6 | 1 |
| 30. | KJ | 0.07 | 5 | 5 |
| 31. | A4s | 0.06 | 5 | 10 |
| 32. | Q9s | 0.06 | 5 | 3 |
| 33. | T9s | 0.05 | 4 | 1 |
| 34. | J9s | 0.04 | 4 | 6 |
| 35. | QJ | 0.03 | 5 | 6 |
| 36. | A6s | 0.03 | 5 | 10 |
| 37. | 55 | 0.02 | 6 | 3 |
| 38. | A3s | 0.02 | 5 | 10 |
| 39. | K8s | 0.01 | 7 | 10 |
| 40. | KT | 0.01 | 6 | 5 |
| 41. | 98s | 0.00 | 4 | 5 |
| 42. | T8s | 0.00 | 5 | 4 |
| 43. | K7s | 0.00 | 7 | 10 |
| 44. | A2s | 0.00 | 5 | 10 |
Texas Holdem Value Bet
What this table shows is that only 40 of the 169 pocket pairs have a positive expected value, and realistically only the top 20 hands are worth playing. It is also a vindication of Sklansky’s hand rankings. It confirms that most hands should be folded since only just over 10% of hands are worth playing.
It is also confirmation of one of the general principles of Texas hold ’em: it takes discipline to play the game, because most hands should not be played, and one should resist the temptation to play inferior or garbage hands, due to the feeling of missing out on the pot, or boredom arising from folding more hands than one plays.
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Therefore, having noted that only the top 20 hands should be played according to the expected value, one should restrict oneself to betting on Groups 1, 2 and 3 of Sklansky’s hand rankings, which is a total of 16 hands or just over 9% of the 169 hands that one can be dealt, in effect folding 90% of hands before the flop.