Winningest Hand In Texas Holdem

Pocket Aces – statistically the best starting hand in Hold’em – are less than a 75% favorite against 2 or more opponents according to my Texas Hold’em hand rankings. If you’ve ever played Texas Hold’em you already know how important starting hand selection is. 1.10 Odds On the Flop in Texas Hold’em. 1.10.1 Outs; 1.10.2 Straight and Flush Draw Odds; 1.10.3 On the flop, when you have: 1.11 Odds of hitting a hand by the river from the flop. 1.11.1 On the flop, when you have: 1.12 All-in One-on-One in Texas Hold’em. 1.12.1 Preflop matchups when played to showdown: 1.13 Just-for-Fun Texas Hold’em odds.

• Winningest Hand In Texas Holdem Tournaments
• Winningest Hand In Texas Holdem
• Winningest Hand In Texas Holdem Odds
• Winningest Hand In Texas Holdem Rules
• Winningest Hand In Texas Holdem Tournament

In the poker game of Texas hold 'em, a starting hand consists of two hole cards, which belong solely to the player and remain hidden from the other players. Five community cards are also dealt into play. Betting begins before any of the community cards are exposed, and continues throughout the hand. The player's 'playing hand', which will be compared against that of each competing player, is the best 5-card poker hand available from his two hole cards and the five community cards. Unless otherwise specified, here the term hand applies to the player's two hole cards, or starting hand.

Essentials[edit]

There are 1326 distinct possible combinations of two hole cards from a standard 52-card deck in hold 'em, but since suits have no relative value in this poker variant, many of these hands are identical in value before the flop. For example, A♥J♥ and A♠J♠ are identical in value, because each is a hand consisting of an ace and a jack of the same suit.

Therefore, there are 169 non-equivalent starting hands in hold 'em, which is the sum total of : 13 pocket pairs, 13 × 12 / 2 = 78 suited hands and 78 unsuited hands (13 + 78 + 78 = 169).

These 169 hands are not equally likely. Hold 'em hands are sometimes classified as having one of three 'shapes':

• Pairs, (or 'pocket pairs'), which consist of two cards of the same rank (e.g. 9♠9♣). One hand in 17 will be a pair, each occurring with individual probability 1/221 (P(pair) = 3/51 = 1/17).

Alternative means of making this calculation

First Step

As confirmed above.

There are 1326 possible combination of opening hand.

Second Step

There are 6 different combos of each pair. 9h9c, 9h9s, 9h9d, 9c9s, 9c9d, 9d9s. Therefore, there are 78 possible combinations of pocket pairs (6 multiplied by 13 i.e. 22-AA)

To calculate the odds of being dealt a pair

78 (the number of any particular pair being dealt. As above) divided by 1326 (possible opening hands)

78/1326 = 0.058 or 5.8%

• Suited hands, which contain two cards of the same suit (e.g. A♣6♣). 23.5% of all starting hands are suited.

Probability of first card is 1.0 (any of the 52 cards)Probability of second hand suit matching the first:There are 13 cards per suit, and one is in your hand leaving 12 remaining of the 51 cards remaining in the deck. 12/51=.2353 or 23.5%

• Offsuit hands, which contain two cards of a different suit and rank (e.g. K♠J♥). 70.6% of all hands are offsuit hands

Offsuit pairs = 78Other offsuit hands = 936

It is typical to abbreviate suited hands in hold 'em by affixing an 's' to the hand, as well as to abbreviate non-suited hands with an 'o' (for offsuit). That is,

QQ represents any pair of queens,

KQ represents any king and queen,

AKo represents any ace and king of different suits, and

JTs represents any jack and ten of the same suit.

Limit hand rankings[edit]

Some notable theorists and players have created systems to rank the value of starting hands in limit Texas hold'em. These rankings do not apply to no limit play.

Sklansky hand groups[edit]

David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth^[1] assigned in 1999 each hand to a group, and proposed all hands in the group could normally be played similarly. Stronger starting hands are identified by a lower number. Hands without a number are the weakest starting hands. As a general rule, books on Texas hold'em present hand strengths starting with the assumption of a nine or ten person table. The table below illustrates the concept:

Chen formula[edit]

The 'Chen Formula' is a way to compute the 'power ratings' of starting hands that was originally developed by Bill Chen.^[2]

Highest Card

Based on the highest card, assign points as follows:

Ace = 10 points, K = 8 points, Q = 7 points, J = 6 points.

10 through 2, half of face value (10 = 5 points, 9 = 4.5 points, etc.)

Pairs

For pairs, multiply the points by 2 (AA=20, KK=16, etc.), with a minimum of 5 points for any pair. 55 is given an extra point (i.e., 6).

Suited

Add 2 points for suited cards.

Winningest Hand In Texas Holdem Tournaments

Closeness

Subtract 1 point for 1 gappers (AQ, J9)

2 points for 2 gappers (J8, AJ).

4 points for 3 gappers (J7, 73).

5 points for larger gappers, including A2 A3 A4

Add an extra point if connected or 1-gap and your highest card is lower than Q (since you then can make all higher straights)

Phil Hellmuth's: 'Play Poker Like the Pros'[edit]

Phil Hellmuth's 'Play Poker Like the Pros' book published in 2003.

Statistics based on real online play[edit]

Winningest Hand In Texas Holdem

Statistics based on real play with their associated actual value in real bets.^[3]

Nicknames for starting hands[edit]

In poker communities, it is common for hole cards to be given nicknames. While most combinations have a nickname, stronger handed nicknames are generally more recognized, the most notable probably being the 'Big Slick' - Ace and King of the same suit, although an Ace-King of any suit combination is less occasionally referred to as an Anna Kournikova, derived from the initials AK and because it 'looks really good but rarely wins.'^[4][5] Hands can be named according to their shapes (e.g., paired aces look like 'rockets', paired jacks look like 'fish hooks'); a historic event (e.g., A's and 8's - dead man's hand, representing the hand held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was fatally shot in the back by Jack McCall in 1876); many other reasons like animal names, alliteration and rhyming are also used in nicknames.

Notes[edit]

1. ^David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth (1999). Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players. Two Plus Two Publications. ISBN1-880685-22-1
2. ^Hold'em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner by Lou Krieger, Chapter 5, pages 39 - 43, Second Edition
3. ^http://www.pokerroom.com/poker/poker-school/ev-stats/total-stats-by-card/^{[dead link]}
4. ^Aspden, Peter (2007-05-19). 'FT Weekend Magazine - Non-fiction: Stakes and chips Las Vegas and the internet have helped poker become the biggest game in town'. Financial Times. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
5. ^Martain, Tim (2007-07-15). 'A little luck helps out'. Sunday Tasmanian. Retrieved 2010-01-10.

Texas hold ’em poker winning hands

The sequence of winning hands in poker is the single most important thing to know and memorise. Otherwise how will you know if you are winning the hand or on the losing end? This is important to understand if you want to make money in the casino or the reach the final table in a tournament. Sure, skill comes into it after that, and a Texas Hold’em winning poker strategy, but luck plays enough of a part that you can bypass those aspects if you recognise when you have a chance on the table. A good strategy for beginners Texas Holdem poker and part of learning how to get better at poker is to sit down and remember the types of hands below, the winning poker hands. For winning hands in Omaha poker check here.

Don’t forget that the best poker hand is made of a total five cards from any or all of the five cards on the table and the two in your hand. So the cards laid out below represent that, not just the cards on the table. So if you want to know how to be a better poker player this is the start.

Winning hand sequence; starting from the best,

1: Royal Flush.

Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten all of one suit, ie diamonds or hearts or clubs or spades. A rare hand, the best hand in p0ker, statistically you are only likely to see one every 650,000 hands. If you do flop, turn or river a Royal Flush, you need a good strategy to get the most chips off other players. This is where you need the best poker tournament strategy you can get. Your play depends on how the other players on the table are betting. If they are loose and call everything, you can raise or even go all in and try and get them to call you. But if they are tight you need to play it wisely and let them make the running, re-raise them if you get the chance, draw them into your winning web.

2; The straight flush.

Winningest Hand In Texas Holdem Odds

Five cards all of the same suit, in sequence.

3; Four of a kind.

Known as quads, four cards of the same value. If you have one or two of them you will win. If there are four of the same cards on the board, whoever has the highest card to go with them will win, ie ace, and if two people have the highest card its a split pot.

4; Full house.

This hand consists of two cards of one value and three or another. If the three cards are kings and the two cards are sevens, its called Kings full. Whichever value cards is the most, they are the full hand. Any three / two card combination will do it.

5; The flush.

A flush is five or more cards of one suit. If two people have a flush the one with the hightest card in the flush wins the hand. And if you have ever wondered if a flush beats three of a kind, now you know, it does.

6; Straight.

For a straight you need five cards in sequence. They can be of any suit. 6,7,8,9,10 is an example. Any straight needs to have a five or a ten in it. Sometimes people get confused about what is better, a straight or a flush. Even though a straight seems harder to get than a flush, its the flush that wins over a straight, every tine.

7; Three of a kind.

Three cards all the same rank.

8; Two pairs.

Any two pairs of two cards.

9; Pair.

Winningest Hand In Texas Holdem Rules

Two cards of the same value, such as 77 or KK.

Winningest Hand In Texas Holdem Tournament

10; High card.

If no one makes a hand out of all the cards that come down and the cards in their hand, then the highest card will win. The best highest card is an ace, but it could be a four depending how the hand plays out.