Texas Holdem Hands Printable Version

• Texas Holdem Poker Rules Printable
• Texas Hold'em Hands Names

The Rules of Texas Holdem. Texas Hold’em is the most widely played poker game in the world, and it’s generally considered to be a quite simple version of poker. It doesn’t really take long to learn the rules, because they.

Official poker rankings: ties and kickers. Poker is all about making the best five-card poker hand from the seven cards available (five community cards plus your own two hole cards). That means in the event of a tie with four of a kind, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, or high card, a side card, or 'kicker', comes into play to decide who wins the pot. If you're new to the game and want a reference of all of Texas hold'em hands, you can keep this page open or you could always download and print our poker hands ranking chart and keep it next to.

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.

• 2Limit hand rankings

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).

An alternative means of making this calculation

First Step As confirmed above.

There are 2652 possible combination of opening hand.

Second Step

There are 6 different combos of each pair. 9h9c, 9h9s, 9h9d, 9c9s, 9c9d, 9d9s

To calculate the odds of being dealt a pair

2652 (possible opening hands) divided by 12 (the number of any particular pair being dealt. As above)

2652/12 = 221

• 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 a 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,

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.

There are 25 starting hands with a probability of winning at a 10-handed table of greater than 1/7.^[1]

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^[2] 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.^[3]

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.

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]

Statistics based on real play with their associated actual value in real bets.^[4]

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.'^[5][6] 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. ^No-Limit Texas Hold'em by Angel Largay
2. ^David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth (1999). Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players. Two Plus Two Publications. ISBN1-880685-22-1
3. ^Hold'em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner by Lou Krieger, Chapter 5, pages 39 - 43, Second Edition
4. ^http://www.pokerroom.com/poker/poker-school/ev-stats/total-stats-by-card/
5. ^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.
6. ^Martain, Tim (2007-07-15). 'A little luck helps out'. Sunday Tasmanian. Retrieved 2010-01-10.

Texas Hold’em is the most widely played poker game in the
world, and it’s generally considered to be a quite simple version of
poker. It doesn’t really take long to learn the rules, because they
aren’t that complicated. Once you have learned them, then you are ready to
start playing the game. On this page we have provided a
straightforward explanation of the rules that should be easy for
beginners to understand.

Basics of the Game

The objective of each Texas Hold’em hand is to win the pot,
which can be done in two ways. You can force all your opponents
to fold based on your betting activity, or you can have the best
possible five card hand at showdown. You can make your hand
using any combination of the two hole cards you are dealt and
the five community cards that are dealt for all players to use.

Hand Rankings

The first thing you need to understand are the hand rankings
used in Texas Hold’em, as this shows the relative value of all
hands. The hand rankings are as follows, from the weakest to the
strongest.

Pre Flop Betting Round

Texas Hold’em can be divided into four distinct betting
rounds, the first of which is the pre-flop round. Prior to this
round, the cards are shuffled and the player to the left of the
dealer must make a forced bet known as the small blind. The
player to the left of the small blind must also make a forced
bet, of double the amount, known as the big blind. The size of
the blinds is determined before the game starts.

Each player is then dealt two cards, face down, known as hole
or pocket cards. The players can all look at their hold cards at
this point, and the first betting round begins. The player to
the left of the big blind acts first and can either fold, call,
or raise. Folding means discarding a hand and playing no further
part in the pot. Calling means matching the current bet (the big
blind at this point). Raising means matching the current bet and
betting an additional amount. Anyone wishing to call subsequent
to a raise has to match the total amount bet by the player
raising.

The play then moves clockwise around the table, each player
having the same options. The round is finished once every player
has either folded or called, and play progresses to the flop. If
only one player is left (i.e. all other players fold), then that
player wins the pot.

Flop Betting Round

Texas Holdem Poker Rules Printable

Three community cards are now dealt face up for all players
to see. These three cards are known as the flop. The flop
betting round starts with the player closest to the left of the
dealer and moves clockwise around the table. Each player has the
same options as in the previous round, with the additional
option of checking if no-one else has bet.

Checking means staying in the hand but not making a bet. If
everyone else still in the pot checks, play progresses to the
next betting round. If any player bets, then all other players
must either fold, call that bet, or raise. Play progresses to
the next round when every player has either folded or called.
Again if only one player is left at this stage, he wins the pot.

Turn Betting Round

A fourth community card is now dealt face up known as the
turn card. Another betting round takes place, again starting
with the player closest to the left of the dealer. The format
for this round is the same as the previous round, with players
being able to check, call, raise, or fold. If one player is left,
he wins the pot; if more than one player is left, play
progresses to the next round.

River Betting Round

A fifth, and final, community card is dealt face up, known as
the river card. The last round of betting takes place. If
more than one player is left, players show their cards to see
who has won. This is known as the showdown, and the player with
the best hand wins the pot. If two or more players have hands of
equal value, the pot is split between them.

Texas Hold'em Hands Names

Following the end of the hand, the player to the left of the
dealer becomes the dealer for the next hand. A new hand is then
dealt, starting at the pre-flop round as detailed above.