Pineapple hold ‘em exists halfway between Texas hold ‘em and Omaha hold ‘em. Players are initially dealt three cards. Each player then discards one of the three cards, and the game proceeds exactly as in Texas hold ‘em. In Crazy Pineapple, the players discard their third card after the flop betting round, before the fourth community card is dealt. In Tahoe, players keep all three cards through showdown, but may not use all three of them to make a hand. Each player may use none, one, or two cards from his hand, combined with those on the board, to make his final five-card hand.
Crazy Pineapple and Tahoe are usually played high-low split.
WinHoldEm is an online Texas hold ‘em bot, created by Ray Bornert. Bots of this kind can sometimes be used in online poker play, but this is considered cheating by poker rooms, and grounds for account termination. The bot is loaded, and will play in lieu of a real human, calculating pot odds and making betting decisions based on these calculations. There is no way to accurately estimate the extent to which these bots are used.
The bot works through installing client software on your machine which interfaces with the poker room, i.e. it is able to read what cards have been dealt, what bets have been made, etc. The bot’s ‘intelligence’ ends there. Whether the bot wins, or no
David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth [1] assigned 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.
Pre-Flop Basic Strategy
A
K
Q
J
T
A
3
3
7
7
8
8
8
8
8
8
K
3
7
7
7
Q
3
4
3
8
J
3
4
4
3
T
4
7
8
7
6
9
8
7
3
6
8
8
4
6
7
4
6
6
5
8
5
5
4
5
3
5
2
5
Note: Unsuited on the bottom left, suited on the top right.
Chen Point Count
There is a way to compute the Skalansky Malmuth table for those people who have trouble memorizing. The results are almost identical to those generated using the Chen Point Count.[2] To compute the point count the following formula should apply:
Take the high card and score it. A=10,K=8,Q=7,J=6,T-2 = 1/2 value shown.
If the 2nd card pairs the first the value is either twice the high card point or 5 which ever is greater.
If they are not paired then calculate the gap for the lower card and subtract off a gap penalty:.
For a 0 gapper subtract 0,
For a 1 gapper subtract 1
For a 2 gapper subtract 2
For a 3 gapper subtract 4
For a 4 gapper or more subtract 5 (includes A2,A3,A4).
If the cards are of the same suit apply a flush bonus of +2 pts.
If the cards are a 0 or 1 gap and the top card is a J or lower apply a +1 straight bonus
Round 1/2 point up
Then 12 – Chen Point Count in general is the SM hand grouping. Examples:
8♣ 8♠: 4 pts for the first 8, double for the pair is 8 Chen points. This puts it in S&M group 4.
9♣ 7♣: 4.5 points for the 9, -1 for the 1 gapper, +2 for the same suit and +1 for the straight bonus. Round up to 7 Chen points which is in S&M group 5.
The following hands are the exceptions (off by 1): 55, AQs, A9, AX, 96s, 32s, 98, 97, 76.
Notes
^ David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth (1999). Hold ‘em Poker for Advanced Players. Two Plus Two Publications. ISBN 1880685221
^ Lou Krieger, Hold’em Excellence, ch Power Rating ISBN 1886070148
There are (52 × 51)/2 = 1,326 distinct possible combinations of two hole cards from a standard 52-card deck in hold ‘em, but since suits have no relative value in poker, many of these hands are identical in value before the flop. For example, A♣J♣ and A♥J♥ are identical, because each is a hand consisting of an ace and a jack of the same suit. There are 169 nonequivalent starting hands in hold ‘em (13 pocket pairs, 13 × 12 / 2 = 78 suited hands and 78 unsuited hands; 13 + 78 + 78 = 13 × 13 = 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).
Suited hands, which contain two cards of the same suit (e.g. A♠6♠). Four hands out of 17 will be suited, and each suited configuration occurs with probability 2/663 (P(suited) = 12/51 = 4/17).
Offsuit hands, which contain two cards of different suit and rank (e.g. K♠J♥). Twelve out of 17 hands will be nonpair, offsuit hands, each of which occurs with probability 2/221 (P(offsuit non-pair) = 3*(13-1)/51 = 12/17).
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,
AK (or, sometimes, AKo) represents any ace and king of different suits, and
In the poker game Texas hold ‘em, a player’s 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.
Some outs for a hand require drawing an out on both the turn and the river—making two consecutive outs is called a runner-runner. Examples would be needing two cards to make a straight, flush, or three or four of a kind. Runner-runner outs can either draw from a common set of outs or from disjoint sets of outs. Two disjoint outs can either be conditional or independent events.
Common outs
Drawing to a flush is an example of drawing from a common set of outs. Both the turn and river need to be the same suit, so both outs are coming from a common set of outs—the set of remaining cards of the desired suit. After the flop, if x is the number of common outs, the probability P of drawing runner-runner outs is
P = (x/47) x ((x – 1)/46).
Since a flush would have 10 outs, the probability of a runner-runner flush draw is (10/47) x (9/46) = (90/2162) ~ 0.04163. Other examples of runner-runner draws from a common set of outs are drawing to three or four of a kind. When counting outs, it is convenient to convert runner-runner outs to “normal” outs. A runner-runner flush draw is about the equivalent of one “normal” out.
The following table shows the probability and odds of making a runner-runner from a common set of outs and the equivalent normal outs.
Likely drawing to
Common outs
Probability
Odds
Equivalent outs
Four of a kind (with pair)
Inside-only straight flush
.00093
080 : 1
.02
Three of a kind (with no pair)
.00278
59 : 1
.07
.00556
79 : 1
.13
.00925
07 : 1
.22
Two pair or three of a kind (with no pair)
.01388
1.1 : 1
.33
.01943
0.5 : 1
.46
.02590
7.6 : 1
.61
.03330
9.0 : 1
.78
Flush
0
.04163
3.0 : 1
.98
Disjoint outs
Two outs are disjoint when there are no common cards between the set of cards needed for the first out and the set of cards needed for the second out. The outs are independent of each other if it does not matter which card comes first, and one card appearing does not affect the probability of the other card appearing except by changing the number of remaining cards; an example is drawing two cards to an inside straight. The outs are conditional on each other if the number of outs available for the second card depends on the first card; an example is drawing two cards to an outside straight.
After the flop, if x is the number of independent outs for one card and y is the number of outs for the second card, then the probability P of making the runner-runner is
P = (x/47) x (y/46) x 2 = (xy/1081).
For example, a player holding J♦ Q♦ after the flop 9♥ 5♣ 6♠ needs a 0 and either a K or on the turn and river to make a straight. There are 4 10s and 8 kings and 8s, so the probability is (4×8)/1081 ~ 0.0296.
The probability of making a conditional runner-runner depends on the condition. For example, a player holding 9♥ 10♥ after the flop 8♦ 2♠ A♣ can make a straight with {J, Q}, {
, J} or {
,
}. The number of outs for the second card is conditional on the first card—a Q or
(8 cards) on the first card leaves only 4 outs (J or
, respectively) for the second card, while a J or
(8 cards) for the first card leaves 8 outs ({Q,
} or {J,
}, respectively) for the second card. The probability P of a runner-runner straight for this hand is calculated by the equation
P = ((8/47) x (4/46)) + ((8/47) x (8/46)) = 96/2162 ~ 0.0444.
The following table shows the probability and odds of making a runner-runner from a disjoint set of outs for common situations and the equivalent normal outs.
Drawing to
Probability
Odds
Equivalent outs
Outside straight
.04440
1.5 : 1
.04
Inside+outside straight
.02960
2.8 : 1
.70
Inside-only straight
.01480
6.6 : 1
.35
Outside straight flush
.00278
59 : 1
.07
Inside+outside straight flush
.00185
40 : 1
.04
The preceding table assumes the following definitions.
Outside straight and straight flush
Drawing to a sequence of three cards of consecutive rank from
-4-5 to 0-J-Q where two cards can be added to either end of the sequence to make a straight or straight flush.
Inside+outside straight and straight flush
Drawing to a straight or straight flush where one required rank can be combined with one of two other ranks to make the hand. This includes sequences like -7-8 which requires a plus either a or as well as the sequences J-Q-K, which requires a 0 plus either a or A, and -3-4 which requires a plus either an A or .
Inside-only straight and straight flush
Drawing to a straight or straight flush where there are only two ranks that make the hand. This includes hands such as -7-9 which requires a and an as well as A-2-3 which requires a and a .
Compound outs
The strongest runner-runner probabilities lie with hands that are drawing to multiple hands with different runner-runner combinations. These include hands that can make a straight, flush or straight flush, as well as four of a kind or a full house. Calculating these probabilities requires adding the compound probabilities for the various outs, taking care to account for any shared hands. For example, if Ps is the probability of a runner-runner straight, Pf is the probability of a runner-runner flush, and Psf is the probability of a runner-runner straight flush, then the compound probability P of getting one of these hands is
P = Ps + Pf − Psf.
The probability of the straight flush is subtracted from the total because it is already included in both the probability of a straight and the probability of a flush, so it has been added twice and must therefore be subtracted from the compound outs of a straight or flush.
The following table gives the compound probability and odds of making a runner-runner for common situations and the equivalent normal outs.
Drawing to
Probability
Odds
Equivalent outs
Flush, outside straight or straight flush
.08326
1.0 : 1
.98
Flush, inside+outside straight or straight flush
.06938
3.4 : 1
.65
Flush, inside-only straight or straight flush
.05550
7.0 : 1
.30
Some hands have even more runner-runner chances to improve. For example, holding the hand J♠ Q♠ after a flop of 0♠ J♥ 7♦ there are several runner-runner hands to make at least a straight. The hand can get two cards from the common outs of {J, Q} (5 cards) to make a full house or four of a kind, can get a J (2 cards) plus either a
or 0 (6 cards) to make a full house from these independent disjoint outs, and is drawing to the compound outs of a flush, outside straight or straight flush. The hand can also make {
,
} or {0, 0} (each drawing from 3 common outs) to make a full house, although this will make four of a kind for anyone holding the remaining 7 or 10 or a bigger full house for anyone holding an overpair. Working from the probabilities from the previous tables and equations, the probability P of making one of these runner-runner hands is a compound probability
P = 0.08326 + 0.00925 + (2×6)/1081 + (0.00278 x 2) ~ 0.1092
and odds of 8.16 : 1 for the equivalent of 2.59 normal outs. Almost all of these runner-runners give a winning hand against an opponent who had flopped a straight holding , [3], but only some give a winning hand against A♠ 2♠ (this hand makes bigger flushes when a flush is hit) or against K♣ Q♦ (this hand makes bigger straights when a straight is hit with 9). When counting outs, it is necessary to adjust for which outs are likely to give a winning hand—this is where the skill in poker becomes more important than being able to calculate the probabilities.
Notes
^ In the example, if the opponent is holding either 8♥ 9♥ or 8♦ 9♦, then the opponent wins with a flush if the player makes a straight using two hearts or two diamonds, respectively. If the opponent is holding 8♦ 9♦, then the opponent wins with a straight flush if the player makes a full house with 10♦ J♦.
It is useful to look at the chances different starting hands have of either improving on the flop, or of weakening on the flop. One interesting circumstance concerns pocket pairs. When holding a pocket pair, overcards (cards of higher rank than the pair) weaken the hand because of the potential that an overcard has paired a card in an opponent’s hand. The hand gets worse the more overcards there are on the board and the more opponents that are in the hand because the probability that one of the overcards has paired a hole card increases. To calculate the probability of no overcard, take the total number of outcomes without an overcard divided by the total number of outcomes.
Where x is the rank 3–K of the pocket pair (assigning values from 3–10 and J–K = 11–13), then the number of overcards is (14 – x) x 4 and the number of cards of rank x of less is 0 – (14-x) x 4 = 4x – 6. The number of outcomes without an overcard is the number of combinations that can be formed with the remaining cards, so the probability P of an overcard on the flop is
P = ((4x-6)/3)/(50/3),
and on the turn and river are
P = ((4x-6)/4)/(50/4) and P = ((4x-6)/5)/(50/5), respectively.
The following table gives the probability that no overcards will come on the flop, turn and river, for each of the pocket pairs from to K.
Holding pocket pair
Overcard on flop
Overcard by turn
Overcard by river
Prob.
Odds
Prob.
Odds
Prob.
Odds
KK
0.7745
0.29 : 1
0.7086
0.41 : 1
0.6470
0.55 : 1
QQ
0.5857
0.71 : 1
0.4860
1.06 : 1
0.4015
1.49 : 1
JJ
0.4304
1.32 : 1
0.3205
2.12 : 1
0.2369
3.22 : 1
TT
0.3053
2.28 : 1
0.2014
3.97 : 1
0.1313
6.61 : 1
99
0.2071
3.83 : 1
0.1190
7.40 : 1
0.0673
13.87 : 1
88
0.1327
6.54 : 1
0.0649
14.40 : 1
0.0310
31.21 : 1
77
0.0786
11.73 : 1
0.0318
30.48 : 1
0.0124
79.46 : 1
66
0.0416
23.02 : 1
0.0133
74.26 : 1
0.0040
246.29 : 1
55
0.0186
52.85 : 1
0.0043
229.07 : 1
0.0009
1057.32 : 1
44
0.0061
162.33 : 1
0.0009
1095.67 : 1
0.0001
8406.78 : 1
33
0.0010
979.00 : 1
0.0001
15352.33 : 1
0.0000
353125.67 : 1
Notice that there is a better than 35% probability that an ace will come by the river if holding pocket kings, and with pocket queens, the odds are slightly in favor of an ace or a king coming by the turn, and a full 60% in favor of an overcard to the queen by the river. With pocket jacks, there’s only a 43% chance that an overcard won’t come on the flop and it’s better than 3:1 that an overcard will come by the river.
Seven-card stud is a variant of stud poker. Until the recent increase in popularity of Texas hold ‘em, seven-card stud was the most popular poker variant in home games across the United States, and in casinos in the eastern part of the country. Seven-card stud is also played in western American casinos, but Texas hold ‘em is far more popular there. Two to eight players can play.
The descriptions below assume that you are familiar with the general game play of poker, and with hand values. They also make no assumptions about what poker betting structure is used. In casino play, it is common to use a small ante and bring-in. In home games, it is typical to use an ante only.
Quick play overview
Play proceeds as follows (“player” refers only to those who have not folded and are still in the game), with betting rounds in-between.
Betting is clockwise, the player with the highest poker hand showing starts (ie 2-2 beats K-Q).
2 cards dealt face down to each player, 1 card dealt face up
For any given starting hand, there are 50 × 49 ÷ 2 = 1,225 hands that an opponent can have before the flop. (After the flop, the number of possible hands an opponent can have is reduced by the three community cards revealed on the flop to 47 × 46 ÷ 2 = 1,081 hands.) Therefore, there are
(52/2)(50/2) -: 2 = 812.175
possible head-to-head match ups in Hold ‘em. (The number of total number of match ups is divided by the two ways that two hands can be distributed between two players to give the number of unique match ups.) However, since there are only 169 distinct starting hands, there are 169 × 1,225 = 207,025 distinct head-to-head match ups.[2]
It is useful and interesting to know how two starting hands compete against each other heads up before the flop. In other words, we assume that neither hand will fold, and we will see a showdown. This situation occurs quite often in no limit and tournament play. Also, studying these odds helps to demonstrate the concept of hand domination, which is important in all community card games.
This problem is considerably more complicated than determining the frequency of dealt hands. To see why, note that given both hands, there are 48 remaining unseen cards. Out of these 48 cards, we can choose any 5 to make a board. Thus, there are
(48/5) = 1.712.304
possible boards that may fall. In addition to determining the precise number of boards that give a win to each player, we also must take into account boards which split the pot, and split the number of these boards between the players.
The problem is trivial for computers to solve by brute force search; there are many software programs available that will compute the odds in seconds. A somewhat less trivial exercise is an exhaustive analysis of all of the head-to-head match ups in Texas Hold ‘em, which requires evaluating each possible board for each distinct head-to-head match up, or 1,712,304 × 207,025 = 354,489,735,600 (≈354 billion) results.[2]
Head-to-head starting hand matchups
When comparing two starting hands, the head-to-head probability describes the likelihood of one hand beating the other after all of the cards have come out. Head-to-head probabilities vary slightly for each particular distinct starting hand matchup, but the approximate average probabilities, as given by Dan Harrington in Harrington on Hold’em [p.125], are summarized in the following table.
Favorite-to-underdog matchup
Probability
Odds for
Pair vs. 2 undercards
0.83
4.9 : 1
Pair vs. lower pair
0.82
4.5 : 1
Pair vs. 1 overcard, 1 undercard
0.71
2.5 : 1
2 overcards vs. 2 undercards
0.63
1.7 : 1
Pair vs. 2 overcards
0.55
1.2 : 1
These odds are general approximations only derived from averaging all of the hand matchups in each category. The actual head-to-head probabilities for any two starting hands vary depending on a number of factors, including:
Suited or unsuited starting hands;
Shared suits between starting hands;
Connectedness of non-pair starting hands;
Proximity of card ranks between the starting hands (lowering straight potential);
Proximity of card ranks toward A or 2 (lowering straight potential);
Possibility of split pot.
For example, A♠A♣ vs. K♠Q♣ is 87.65% to win (0.49% to split), but A♠A♣ vs. ♦ ♦ is 76.81% to win (0.32% to split).
The mathematics for computing all of the possible matchups is quite complex. However, a computer program can perform a brute force evaluation of the 1,712,304 possible boards for any given pair of starting hands in seconds.
Notes
^ ab By removing reflection and applying aggressive search tree pruning, it is possible to reduce the number of unique head-to-head hand combinations from 207,205 to less than 50,000. Reflection eliminates redundant calculations by observing that given hands h1 and h2, if w1 is the probability of h1 beating h2 in a showdown and s is the probability of h1 splitting the pot with h2, then the probability w2 of h2 beating h1 is w2 = 1 − (s + w1), thus eliminating the need to evaluate h2 against h1. Pruning is possible, for example, by observing that Q♥ J♥ has the same chance of winning against both 8♦ 7♣ and 8♦ 7♠ (but not the same probability as against 8♥ 7♣ because sharing the heart affects the flush possibilities for each hand.)
Another hold ‘em variant is Omaha hold’em. Each player is dealt four cards to his private hand instead of two. The betting rounds and layout of community cards is identical to Texas hold ‘em. At showdown, each player’s hand is the best five-card hand he can make from exactly three of the five cards on the board, plus exactly two of his own cards.
The most popular form of the game is high-low split, called many different names such as “Omaha Eight or better”, “Omaha HiLo” or “Omaha8″. Each player, using the above rules, makes a separate five-card high hand and five-card low hand, and the pot is split between the high and low (which may be the same player). To qualify for low, a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower. A few casinos play with a 9-low qualifier instead, but this is rare.
When high hands only are used, the game is generally called “Omaha high” to avoid ambiguity.
Omaha can be played fixed limit, pot limit (where it is often called “PLO”) or no limit. It is sometimes played where each player gets five cards instead of four. The same rules apply for showdown: each player must use two of his cards with three of the community cards.
In the game of “Courcheval”, popular in Europe, instead of betting on the initial four cards and then flopping three community cards for the second round, the first community card is dealt before the first betting round, so that each player has four private cards and the single community card on his first bet. Then two more community cards are dealt, and play proceeds exactly as in Omaha.
The probability of being dealt various starting hands can be explicitly calculated. In Texas Hold ‘em, a player is dealt two down (or hole) cards. The first card can be any one of 52 playing cards in the deck and the second card can be any one of the 51 remaining cards. This gives 52 × 51 ÷ 2 = 1,326 possible starting hand combinations. (Since the order of the cards is not significant, the 2,652 combinations are divided by the 2 ways of ordering two cards.) Alternately, the number of possible starting hands is represented as the binomial coefficient
(52/2) = 1,326
which is the number of possible combinations of choosing 2 cards from a deck of 52 playing cards.
The 1,326 starting hands can be reduced for purposes of determining the probability of starting hands for Hold ‘em—since suits have no relative value in poker, many of these hands are identical in value before the flop. The only factors determining the strength of a starting hand are the ranks of the cards and whether the cards share the same suit. Of the 1,326 combinations, there are 169 distinct starting hands grouped into three shapes: 13 pocket pairs (paired hole cards), 13 × 12 ÷ 2 = 78 suited hands and 78 unsuited hands; 13 + 78 + 78 = 169. The relative probability of being dealt a hand of each given shape is different. The following shows the probabilities and odds of being dealt each type of starting hand.
Hand shape
Number
of hands
Permutations
for each hand
Combinations
Pocket pair
13
(4/2) = 6
13 × 6 = 78
Suited cards
78
(4/1) = 4
78 × 4 = 312
Unsuited cards
78
(4/1)(3/1) = 12
78 × 12 = 936
Hand shape
Dealt specific hand
Dealt any hand
Probability
Odds
Probability
Odds
Pocket pair
/1326 ~ 0.00453
220 : 1
8/1326 ~ 0.0588
16 : 1
Suited cards
/1326 ~ 0.00302
331 : 1
12/1326 ~ 0.2353
3.25 : 1
Unsuited cards
2/1326 ~ 0.00905
110 : 1
36/1326 ~ 0.7059
0.417 : 1
Here are the probabilities and odds of being dealt various other types of starting hands.
This is the most popular community card game today. Each player is dealt two private cards, after which there is a betting round. Then three community cards are dealt face up (in no particular order or pattern), followed by a second betting round. A fourth community card is followed by a third betting round, a fifth community card and the fourth and final betting round. At showdown, each player plays the best five-card hand he can make using any five cards among the two in his hand and the five on the board.
Double-board hold ‘em
For double-board hold ‘em, two separate five-card boards are dealt, and the high hand using each board takes half of the pot. For example, after the first betting round, three community cards are dealt to each of two separate boards; after the second round, another community card is dealt to each board; and before the final round, a fifth community card is dealt to each board (so there will be in total ten community cards, comprising two separate five-card hold’em boards).
This variant of Texas hold ‘em is sometimes called “double-flop hold’em”, which is a bit of a misnomer, since there are not just two flops, but also two turns and two rivers.
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About the time of World War II, many modern poker games used community cards (also called “shared cards” or “window cards”), which are cards dealt face up to the center of the table and shared by all players. In these games, each player is dealt privately an incomplete hand (“hole cards”), which is then combined with the community cards to make a complete hand. The set of community cards is called the “board”, and may be dealt in a simple line or arranged in a special pattern. Rules of each game determine how they may be combined with each player’s private hand. The most popular community card game today is Texas hold ‘em, originating sometime in the 1920s.
In home games, it is typical to use antes, while casinos typically use only blinds for these games. Fixed limit games are most common in casinos, while spread limit games are more common in home games. No limit and pot limit games are less common. Later betting rounds often have a higher limit than earlier betting rounds. Each betting round begins with the player to the dealer’s left (when blinds are used, the first round begins with the player after the big blind), so community card games are generally positional games.
Most community card games do not play well with lowball hand values, though some do play very well at high-low split, especially with ace-to-five low values, making it possible to win both halves of a pot. When played high-low split, there is generally a minimum qualifying hand for low (often 8-high), and it is played cards speak.
Joe Hachem, winner of 2005 World Series of Poker main event
In 1998, the movie Rounders starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton gave moviegoers a romantic view of poker as a way of life. Texas hold ‘em was the main game played during the movie and the no-limit variety was described, following Doyle Brunson, as the “Cadillac of Poker”. There was also a clip of the classic showdown between Johnny Chan and Erik Seidel from the 1988 World Series of Poker incorporated into the film.
CommanderBond.net reports that the centerpiece card game in the next James Bond film, Casino Royale, will be no-limit Texas hold ‘em instead of Baccarat as in the original Ian Fleming novel.
Spectator sport
Hold ‘em first caught the public eye as a spectator sport in the United Kingdom with the Late Night Poker TV show in 1999. The popularity of the show led to lipstick cameras also being used for American poker programs.
In 2003, hold ‘em exploded in popularity as a spectator sport in the United States. This was due to several factors, including the introduction of lipstick cameras that allowed the television audience to see the players’ hidden cards. ESPN’s coverage of the 2003 World Series of Poker featured the unexpected victory of Internet player Chris Moneymaker, an amateur player who gained admission to the tournament by winning a series of online tournaments. Moneymaker’s victory initiated a sudden surge of interest in the WSOP, based on the egalitarian idea that anyone – even a rank novice – can become a world champion.
In 2003, there were 839 entrants in the WSOP Main Event. In 2004, that number tripled. The crowning of the 2004 WSOP champion, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, a patent attorney from Connecticut whose trademark holographic sunglasses have become legendary, further fueled the popularity of the event among amateur (and particularly internet) players. In the 2005 Main Event, an unprecedented 5,619 entrants vied for a first prize of $7,500,000. The winner, Joseph Hachem of Australia, was a semi-professional player. The runner-up, Steve Dannenmann, an amateur from Maryland, opined that he was only “the fourth or fifth best player” in his regular home game.
Two additional hold ‘em series debuted in 2003, the World Poker Tour and Celebrity Poker Showdown. All three of these shows are still currently in production and garner a large and loyal viewership.
With the ability to edit a tournament that lasts days into just a few hours, ESPN’s World Series of Poker focuses on showing how various star players fared in each event. Key hands from throughout the many days of each event are shown, and similar, highly edited coverage of final tables is also provided.
The World Poker Tour does not offer general coverage of the multi-day poker tournaments. Instead, WPT covers only the action at the final table of each event. With aggressive play and increasing blinds and antes, the important action from a single table can easily be edited into a two hour episode. Although the tournament fate of fewer stars are chronicled this way, it allows the drama to build more naturally toward the final heads up showdown.
Celebrity Poker Showdown coverage is a single table like World Poker Tour, however, the players are much less skilled and are invited to participate instead of winning their way on.
In poker, the nut hand, or just the nuts, is the strongest hand possible in any particular situation. The term applies mostly to community card poker games to mean the individual holding that makes the strongest hand possible with the given board of community cards. By extension, the term is used more loosely to refer to any very strong hand.For example in Texas hold ‘em, if the board is ♠ 6♠ A♣ 9♠ 5♥, a player holding
♠ 8♠ has the nuts (a -high straight flush in spades), and cannot lose. Sometimes it is useful to know that your hand is the second or third best possible. On this same board, the hand ♣ 5♦ would be the second-nut hand, four fives; and the third-nut hand would be any pair of the remaining three aces, making a full house A-A-A-5-5.
In high-low split games one often speaks of “nut low” and “nut high” hands separately. With an Omaha board identical to the one above, any hand with
-3 makes the nut low -5-3-2-A, while -4 is the second-nut low (the nut high hands remain the same).
Finally, one also hears terms such as “nut flush” or “nut full house” to mean the highest hand possible in that particular category in the circumstances, even though that may not be strictly the nut hand. For example, a pair of aces with the above board could be called the “nut full house”, even though there are two higher (but very unlikely) hands possible.
The phrase originates from the historical poker games in the colonial west of America. If one bet to the sum of everything he possessed, he would place the “nuts” of his wagon wheels on the table. Most likely, this was to ensure that, should the wagerer lose the hand, he would be unable to flee and would have to make good on the bet. Obviously, to make such a bet one would need to be sure that he has the best possible hand.
There is also a possibility of having a nut losing hand (a hand that will lose to anything). For example, this occurs when the board has four of a kind and a deuce. In this situation, if you hold pocket 2′s, there is no possibility of this hand winning a showdown with any other hand, as any opponent must have a better kicker than you.
In poker, a dominating hand is one with an overwhelming statistical advantage over another specific hand. For example, in Seven-card stud, while a Starting hand of K♠ K♥ Q♦ has the lead over A♦ K♦ 10♥, the latter has many outs (ways to improve) to beat the former (catching an ace, the straight, the flush, etc.), making it a roughly even contest. However, the first hand dominates in a contest with a hand like Q♥ Q♠ J♣, because this hand has no ways to improve that the first one doesn’t also have (two pair, trips, straight), and the first hand has some of the second hand’s outs as well (unseen cards include two kings, but only one queen), giving it a significant advantage.This concept is most important in no limit play, where it is possible to bet all your money early in the hand. One must judge not only whether your opponent’s hand might be better than yours, but whether or not it might dominate yours to such a degree that long-run fluctuations of luck will amplify the consequences of a mistaken play rather than mitigating them.
One of the things that makes no limit Texas hold ‘em strategically rich and interesting is the unusual relationship of advantage and dominance among various Starting hands. For example, the hand A♣ K♦ is a slight favorite over J♠ 10♠; this hand is a slight favorite over ♠ 4♣; and in a non-transitive relationship, the fours are a small favorite over A♣ K♦. None of these hands dominates any other, but A♣ K♦does dominate A♥ Q♦, ♠ 4♣ is dominated by ♠ ♥, and J♠ 10♠ is dominated by Q♣ J♣.
In a fixed-limit poker game, a big bet (BB) is the larger of two fixed bet amounts. A big bet is used in the final rounds of a game to increase the pot amount and thereby enable the possibility of a bluff. Big bets are generally double the wager of the initial or small bet. Any multi-round poker game can use big bets to standardize wagers while maintaining a sufficient risk-ratio to encourage bluffing. Casino poker tables use big bets to set a limit to the amount of money a patron can lose in each wager.
Statistical Analysis
Big bets are used in place of variable limit raises to add considerable risk to staying in a game until a hand is shown. This added risk enables other players to bluff or to win a considerable pot when proving that they weren’t bluffing. Other methods of adding structure to poker games include buy-in limits and maximum raise limits. Some sort of table or bet limits are required in poker to keep a person with the “deepest pockets” from “buying the game.”
Examples
While any multi-round poker game can use big bets, the unlimited buy-in nature of casino style play is best suited for BB limits. Casinos can advertise the relatively low maximum wager of the BB as a way of attracting players, and players can join the table at any time.
Casino style draw poker
Big bets are used in draw poker during the final round of betting to weed out tentative players. In theory, only those committed to their hand after seeing their final cards will be motivated to wager twice as much as their previous bet. In practice, however, additional motivation for players to fold is usually needed in a single draw game such as: a half-pot limit, a pot limit, or a spread limit. No limit poker is only employed when table limits are imposed, thereby disallowing casino guests to join the table after play has started.
Texas hold ‘em
In a $2/$4 Texas hold ‘em game, the big bet would be $4, wagered in each bet of the last two cards. The $2 would be the small bet, wagered during all other bets of the game. Given that a small bet is generally half of a big bet and that a small blind is generally half of the small bet, the minimum BB in casino style holdem is four cents. On the other side of the scale, the largest required BB in regular play is that of $8000 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. At this table, professionals like Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Chau Giang, and Gus Hansen, along with wealthy tourists, are required to wager $8000 in each bet of each of the final two rounds of the game.
Omaha hold ‘em
Big Bets are used in Omaha poker to allow buy-ins of players at any time. The American casino variant of Omaha, called Omaha Eight-or-Better has a greater odds of winning and therefore less motivation to fold with a tentative hand. For that reason Omaha Eight-or-Better is sometimes played in a pot limit betting structure instead of big bets.
Casino style seven-card stud
Big bets are used in seven-card stud, generally after the last upcard, to motivate tentative players who already have a lot of money in the pot to fold anyway. By the last upcard, seven-card stud players have wagered an ante and three rounds of betting. With that much money already in the pot, there is little motivation to drop out during the final two rounds of betting, especially when there is a possibility that another player may be bluffing. The effect of adding the requirement of a big bet to the final two rounds of seven-card stud betting is that the game becomes one more of skill than of luck.
In poker, a bad beat occurs when a hand, which was at one time a big favourite to win, loses. Typically the term is only applied in this way when the player holding the eventual winning hand misplayed it spectacularly.Alternatively, the term is also applied when a particularly strong hand loses to an even stronger one. In some casinos there is a “bad beat jackpot” awarded whenever a player suffers a particular beat.
A typical example of the first type of bad beat, in No Limit Texas hold ‘em:
Alice (the hero) holds A♦ A♣ – pocket aces, the strongest possible starting hand.
Bob (the villain) holds Q♣ 8♥ – a weak hand.
The players have the same amount of chips. Before the flop, Alice raises to 15 times the big blind, placing a fifth of her stack in the pot, and only Bob calls. The flop comes A♥ 8♠ 7♠. Although Alice has the nuts at this point, making 3 aces, she is concerned about possible draws to a straight or flush, and goes all-in with a bet that is twice the size of the pot. Bizarrely, Bob, who has only middle-pair, calls.
At this point, Bob’s chances of winning are precisely 1 in 990. [1] He can only win if both the turn card and the river card are eights. Since this is a bad beat story, the turn and river naturally bring precisely that, and Bob scoops the pot, leaving Alice cursing Bob’s appalling play – he should not have called such a big bet before the flop, nor on the flop.
Reacting to bad beats
Bad beats can be infuriating, but mathematically “Alice” actually wants “Bob” to play in this manner. Bob took a gamble that should not have worked; his odds were 989-to-1 against. It worked this time, but if he continues to play in such a careless manner, he will almost certainly lose more than he wins. He is essentially giving away his money—and if Alice is careful, it will all go to her. Thus, the more stoic poker players accept bad beats as an unpleasant but necessary drawback to a tactic that works the vast majority of the time (989 of 990 instances, in this case). Nevertheless, a bad beat is often a profound psychological blow, and can easily lead to a player going on tilt. Professional player Phil Hellmuth, among others, is notorious for his pronounced reactions to bad beats.
In online poker rooms, bad beats often lead to accusations that the random number generator is “rigged”, even though such beats occur in offline games.
Bad beat jackpot
A bad beat jackpot is a prize that is paid when a sufficiently strong hand is shown down and loses to an even stronger hand held by another player. Not all poker games offer bad beat jackpots, and those that do have specific requirements for how strong a losing hand must be to qualify for the jackpot. For example, the losing hand may be required to be four-of-a-kind or better. There may be additional requirements as well. For example, in Texas hold ‘em there is usually a requirement that both hole cards play in both the losing and winning hands. These rules vary from one cardroom to the next.
Bad beat jackpots are usually progressive, often with a small rake being taken out of each pot to fund the jackpot (in addition to the regular rake). When the jackpot is won, it is usually split among all players sitting at the table at the time of the bad beat, including players that folded their hands (usually a 25% share), with the largest shares of the jackpot going to the players holding the winning (usually 25%) and losing hand (usually 50%). Because such bad beats are rare, jackpots can grow to be quite large, sometimes reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars.
There are (52 × 51)/2 = 1,326 distinct possible combinations of two hole cards from a standard 52-card deck. However, since suits are only relevant for flushes, many of these hands are indistinguishable from the point of view of pre-flop strategy. In fact, considering suits to be equivalent unless both cards are the same suit, there are precisely 169 distinct possible starting hands in hold ‘em.
As an example, although J♥ J♣ and J♦ J♠ are distinct combinations of hole cards, they are indistinguishable as starting hands. Any starting hand comprising two Jacks is called pocket jacks and is denoted JJ. Similarly, any starting hand comprised of two Aces is called pocket Aces and is denoted AA, and any starting hand comprised of two 7′s is called pocket sevens and is denoted 77. Each of these starting hands is called a pocket pair or a wired pair.
The starting hands which are not pocket pairs fall into two classes – the suited hands and the unsuited hands. An example of a suited hand is 8♠ 7♠. Any starting hand comprised of an 8 and a 7 of the same suit is called 8-7 suited and is denoted 87s, where “s” is an abbreviation for “suited”. An example of an unsuited hands is Q♣ 9♦. Any starting hand comprised of a Queen and a 9 of different suits is called queen-nine offsuit and is denoted Q9 (or sometimes Q9o, where “o” is an abbreviation for “offsuit”). Remember, an “s” always denotes a suited starting hand, while the absence of an “s” always denotes an offsuit starting hand.
In almost all poker writing, the rank of 10 is abbreviated with the letter “T”, so that all the ranks can be written with a single character, unless cards are featured pictorially when “10″ is often used.
Consecutive cards of the same suit are called suited connectors. Many starting hands have colloquial names.
Strategy
Most poker authors recommend a tight-aggressive approach to playing Texas hold ‘em. This strategy involves playing relatively few hands (tight), but betting and raising often with those that one does play (aggressive). Although this strategy is often recommended, some professional players successfully employ other strategies as well. While most poker authors focus on playing primarily premium starting hands, some authors claim that the importance of starting hands is overstated.
Almost all authors agree that position is an important element of Texas hold ‘em strategy. Players who act later have more information than players who act earlier. As a result, players typically play fewer hands from early positions than later positions.
The no-limit and fixed limit versions of hold ‘em are strategically very different. Doyle Brunson states, “In fact, the games are so different that there are not many players who rank with the best in both types of hold ‘em. Many no-limit players have difficulty gearing down for limit, while limit players often lack the courage and ‘feel’ necessary to excel at no-limit.” Because the size of bets are restricted in limit games, the ability to bluff is somewhat curtailed. Since one is not (usually) risking all of one’s chips in limit poker, players are sometimes advised to take more chances.
Lower stakes limit games also exhibit different properties than higher stakes games. Small stakes games often involve more players in each hand and can vary from extremely passive (little raising and betting) to extremely aggressive (many raises). The difference of small stakes games have resulted in several books dedicated to only those games.
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