Gambling Guide

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.

Contents 1 Essentials 2 Texas hold 'em hand groups 2.1 Chen Point Count 3 See also 4 Notes 5 External links

Essentials

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

JTs represents any jack and ten of the same suit.

Texas hold 'em hand groups

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	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2
A	1	2	2	3	3	7	7	8	8	8	8	8	8
K	2	1	2	3	7	7	7
Q	3	4	1	3	8
J	3	4	4	1	3
T	4	7	8	7	2	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:

1. Take the high card and score it. A=10,K=8,Q=7,J=6,T-2 = 1/2 value shown.
2. If the 2nd card pairs the first the value is either twice the high card point or 5 which ever is greater.
3. If they are not paired then calculate the gap for the lower card and subtract off a gap penalty:.
   1. For a 0 gapper subtract 0,
   2. For a 1 gapper subtract 1
   3. For a 2 gapper subtract 2
   4. For a 3 gapper subtract 4
   5. For a 4 gapper or more subtract 5 (includes A2,A3,A4).
4. If the cards are of the same suit apply a flush bonus of +2 pts.
5. If the cards are a 0 or 1 gap and the top card is a J or lower apply a +1 straight bonus
6. 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.

See also

• List of slang names for poker hands

Notes

1. ^ David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth (1999). Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players. Two Plus Two Publications. ISBN 1880685221
2. ^ Lou Krieger, Hold'em Excellence, ch Power Rating ISBN 1886070148

External links

• Percentage of Pots Won with Hold'em Hands Ranked by Percent
• More Detailed look at Starting Hand Statistics
• Essay discussing the different hand groups
• Texas Hold'em Poker