# Texas hold 'em 🃏

In Texas hold ‘em, as in all variants of poker, individuals compete for an amount of money or chips contributed by the players themselves (called the pot). Because the cards are dealt randomly and outside the control of the players, each player attempts to control the amount of money in the pot based on the hand they are holding, and on their prediction as to what their opponents may be holding and how they might behave.

The game is divided into a series of hands (deals); at the conclusion of each hand, the pot is typically awarded to one player (an exception in which the pot is divided between two or more is discussed below). A hand may end at the showdown, in which case the remaining players compare their hands and the highest hand is awarded the pot; that highest hand is usually held by only one player, but can be held by more in the case of a tie. The other possibility for the conclusion of a hand occurs when all but one player have folded and have thereby abandoned any claim to the pot, in which case the pot is awarded to the player who has not folded.

The objective of winning players is not to win every individual hand, but rather to win over the longer term by making mathematically and psychologically better decisions regarding when and how much to bet, raise, call or fold. Winning poker players work to enhance their opponents’ betting and maximize their own expected gain on each round of betting, to thereby increase their long-term winnings.

Description Example
Highcard Simple value of the card. Lowest: 2 – Highest: Ace (King in example)
Pair Two cards with the same value
Two pairs Two times two cards with the same value
Three of a kind Three cards with the same value
Straight Sequence of 5 cards in increasing value (Ace can precede 2 and follow up King)
Flush 5 cards of the same suit
Full house Combination of three of a kind and a pair
Four of a kind Four cards of the same value
Straight flush Straight of the same suit

One of the most important things in Texas hold’em is knowing how to evaluate a hand. The strategy of playing each hand can be very different according to the strength of the hand. For example, on a strong hand, a player might want to try to appear weak in order to not scare off other players with weaker hands, while on a weak hand, a player might try to bluff other players into folding.

There are several ways to evaluate hand strength; two of the most common are counting outs and using calculators.

• Counting outs – this method consists of counting the cards still in the deck, which in combination with the cards the player already has can give the player a potentially winning hand.

Such cards are called “outs”, and hand strength can be measured by how many outs are still in the deck (if there are many outs then the probability to get one of them is high and therefore the hand is strong). The following chart determines the probability of hitting outs (bettering the player’s hand) based on how many cards are left in the deck and the draw type.

One Card % Two Card % One Card Odds Two Card Odds Draw Type
2% 4% 46 23 Inside Straight Flush
4% 8% 22 12 Pocket Pair to Set
7% 13% 14 7 One Overcard
9% 17% 10 5 Inside Straight / Two Pair to Full House
11% 20% 8 4 One Pair to Two Pair or Trips
13% 24% 6.7 3.2 No Pair to Pair / Two Overcards
15% 28% 5.6 2.6 Inside Straight & One Overcard
17% 32% 4.7 2.2 Open Straight
19% 35% 4.1 1.9 Flush
22% 38% 3.6 1.6 Inside Straight & Two Overcards
24% 42% 3.2 1.4 Open Straight & One Overcard
26% 45% 2.8 1.2 Flush & One Overcard
28% 48% 2.5 1.1 Flush & Inside Straight
30% 51% 2.3 0.95 Open Straight & Two Overcards
33% 54% 2.1 0.85 Flush & Two Overcards
34% 57% 1.9 0.75 Flush & Inside Straight & One Overcard
37% 60% 1.7 0.66 Flush & Open Ended Straight
• Two Times Rule and Four Times Rule: Multiplying the number of outs by two or four gives a reasonable approximation to the One Card % or Two Card %, respectively, in the above table. For example, an open straight draw on the flop has 8 outs so the odds to hit the straight on the turn is 16% (8 x 2) and the odds on the river is 32% (8 x 4).

• Calculators: calculators are poker tools that calculate the odds of a hand (combined with the cards on the table if there are any) to win the game. Calculators provide precise odds but they cannot be used in live games and are therefore mostly used on Internet poker games. The first known commercial poker calculator was marketed by Mike Caro. Michael Shackleford, the Wizard of Odds, later made one available to the public free of charge on his website.