So having a little hand ranking cheat sheet can be very useful for players who still need some time to determine just exactly how strong their hand is. For this purpose, you can refer to the chart below:<\/p>\n
![\"Poker](\"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/coinpokerbrazil\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/10\/Poker-hand-odds-744x1121.png\")
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Poker hand odds<\/h2>\n
But just how often can you connect these hands? How reasonable are the odds of drawing them? Let\u2019s see the numbers for 5-card and 7-card poker games.<\/p>\n\n
| <\/td> | 5-card games<\/td> | 7-card games<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Royal flush<\/td> | 0.00015%<\/td> | 0.0032%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Straight flush<\/td> | 0.0014%<\/td> | 0.028%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Four of a kind<\/td> | 0.024%<\/td> | 0.17%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full house<\/td> | 0.14%<\/td> | 2.60%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Flush<\/td> | 0.20%<\/td> | 3.03%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Straight<\/td> | 0.39%<\/td> | 4.62%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Three of a kind<\/td> | 2.11%<\/td> | 4.83%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Two pair<\/td> | 4.75%<\/td> | 23.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A pair<\/td> | 42.3%<\/td> | 43.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| High card<\/td> | 50.1%<\/td> | 17.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n For obvious reasons, it\u2019s much easier to connect any of these hands in 7-card games. Still, some of these happen almost never \u2013 you need to play thousands of hands to even see a royal flush come out at some point. This table tells you a lot about which hands are worth waiting for on the flop, the turn, and the river, and which ones you shouldn\u2019t seriously count on. It also suggests that a pair, and even a two pair in 7-card games aren\u2019t too likely to win, especially on full ring tables.<\/p>\n Positions in poker<\/h2>\nStarting positions are extremely important in poker. Players at the early positions (players that act among the first by the order of play) are usually handicapped and players in late positions have an advantage over them.<\/p>\n This is because late positions have more info on other players, derived from their behavior and how much they bet at which point. Also, they can take advantage of the fact that some players will probably fold before their turn, which will leave them with less competition or no competition whatsoever. This will affect their decisions and players in late positions are generally encouraged to play more hands and make more risks.<\/p>\n 6max table positions<\/h3>\nThe names of positions, as well as the advantages they provide, depend on the number of players. On tables that have a maximum of 6 players, they usually go like this, from left to right:<\/p>\n Under The Gun (UTG)<\/strong> \u2013 this is the earliest position, as UTG acts first pre-flop. However, post-flop, UTG doesn\u2019t necessarily act first, if SB and\/or BB are still active.<\/p>\n Hijack (HJ)<\/strong> \u2013 also known as the middle position (MP), sits immediately to the left of UTG and acts right after him<\/p>\n Cutoff (CO)<\/strong> \u2013 acts after HJ<\/p>\n Button (BTN)<\/strong> \u2013 the player on the button is formally the dealer \u2013 the position got its name after the dealer button. BTN sits to the left of CO. It\u2019s probably the most beneficial position, as the button gets to act last in post-flop rounds, while in pre-flop only SB and BB act after him. However, BTN doesn\u2019t have to put any blind bets before the start of the hand, unlike SB and BB, so it could be argued that this is the best position.<\/p>\n Small Blind (SB)<\/strong> \u2013 SB gets to act second-to-last pre-flop, which is great, but gets to act first in every post-flop round. Also, SB has to put a small, pre-determined blind bet before the start of the hand to compensate for this fact.<\/p>\n Big Blind (BB)<\/strong> \u2013 BB acts the last pre-flop, which has its advantages, but in a way SB and BB act first, since they have to place a blind bet before the start (BB places a bet twice as big as SB). Also, post-flop, BB acts second, and if SB folds, BB will play first until the end of the hand.<\/p>\n In full ring games, where there are 6-9 players, the terminology may vary for different positions. But usually, you\u2019ll find these phrases to denote positions at the table:<\/p>\n What some beginners still don\u2019t understand is that poker is a game of careful calculations and well-optimized practices. We\u2019re not saying there\u2019s no room for inspiration and improvisation, but in the long run, it\u2019s smart to stick to some proven practices set by of players who\u2019ve played this game.<\/p>\n The opening hands\u2019 selection chart is based on such practices. Let\u2019s check out this chart:<\/p>\n What you see in this table are all the possible combinations of hole cards in Texas hold \u2018em poker in 6max games. Just to make it clear, \u201cs\u201d means that the two cards are suited, while \u201co\u201d means that they\u2019re off-suited.<\/p>\n This chart tells us which combinations of hole cards you should use to open-raise, and different colors denote different starting positions. Have in mind that a single field doesn\u2019t represent a single combination of cards but a number of them. For instance, there are 4 different KQs combinations, although they all fall under a single field: K\u2665 Q\u2665, K\u2660 Q\u2660, K\u2663 Q\u2663, K\u2666 Q\u2666.<\/p>\n For the KQo field, there are even more potential hands \u2013 as many as 14. In total, there are 169 fields that represent 1326 unique combinations.<\/p>\n This chart entails that nobody has entered the pot before you, and all the white fields mean that you shouldn\u2019t either. It\u2019s usually better to fold in these situations. This amount of folding may surprise a novice player, but drawing a winning hand with any of these combos is very difficult.<\/p>\n We can also notice that early positions are supposed to raise tighter and be more careful. For instance, UTG should raise only with a very tight range of hands, while the player on the button has much more freedom to raise the bet. So BTN should raise with cards in purple fields, but also with those in green, red, and blue fields. SB has the widest range, which makes sense since SB has already put some money in the pot before that start and folding would mean he loses that money automatically.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that this chart can\u2019t be applied to games with antes. If you play with antes, you\u2019d need a new chart that will suggest raising with a wider range of pocket cards. This happens for the same reason that forces SB to play more aggressively pre-flop \u2013 it\u2019s harder to give up on a hand in which you\u2019ve already invested something.<\/p>\n Finally, this chart is in no way engraved in stone. It\u2019s conditional and simply serves as a good starting point for players, especially if you have no additional info on other players. However, the way you play your opening hands should always depend on how aggressive other players at the table are as well as on your own style of play.<\/p>\n However, you also have to remember that different variants of poker will sometimes be wildly different when it comes to determining the best possible starting hands.\u00a0We\u2019ll take the example of PLO.<\/p>\n If you just tried to use the similar logic you would use in Texas hold \u2018em, you wouldn\u2019t be completely wrong. Some high pairs, when combined, do bring players a lot of equity. And that\u2019s no surprise.<\/p>\n But notice how straight draws are also highly rated \u2013 much higher than in Texas hold\u2019em. This also makes sense, as you have more opportunities to connect these hands with 4 hole cards, even though you can use only 2 of them. So a hand like 8, 9, 10, J is actually the 8th<\/sup> strongest starting hand despite the fact that you need to draw 3 suitable cards in order to connect a straight.<\/p>\n This is the nature of PLO, since a lot of it comes down to your chances to have as many outs as possible post-flop. And with straight draws like 8, 9, 10, J, you\u2019ll have so many opportunities on the flop. The number of possible straight outs after the flop can be much bigger than in Texas hold \u2018em. The maximum straight draw in Texas has 8 outs, while PLO can have as much as 20. Straight draws that give a player more outs than any Texas hold \u2018em hand (9 or more) are called \u201cwraps\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can also see that the second best possible hand in PLO is not a pocket two pair. It\u2019s rather A, A, J, 10. With A, A, J, 10 you have good chances to hit a high straight, plus you hold the pocket aces as a backup. Thus J, 10 is more valuable with these aces than a pair of queens, simply because you won\u2019t be able to use both your pocket pairs at the end of the hand anyway. On the other hand, with A, A, J and 10 you can legitimately hope for two high pairs.<\/p>\n The pot odds basically represent the reward to risk ratio post-flop, based on the size of your opponent\u2019s bet and the size of the pot. What you need to spend in order to call is the risk, and the size of the pot is the potential reward.<\/p>\n So if for instance, you need to bet $50 to call, and the pot is worth $150 after that, this means that your pot odds are 3:1. You can use this formula:<\/p>\n risk\/(risk\/reward) <\/strong><\/p>\n to turn that into percentages, which turns out to be 25% in this case.<\/p>\n Pot odds are very important if you\u2019re calculating whether a bet is worth calling. The rule is quite easy \u2013 if you calculate your equity and it\u2019s smaller than this percentage, you should generally fold. If your equity is larger than that, it is advised that you call.<\/p>\n The quickest way to get to a rough estimation of your equity is by counting the number of outs. For instance, if you have 8 outs on the flop, your equity is around 34%, but if you have 20 it goes up to 86%. After the turn, if you don\u2019t connect the desired hand, your chances will naturally fall since there\u2019s only 1 card left to be drawn. In this stage, every out you have will amount to around 2% of equity.<\/p>\n However, sometimes it\u2019s not easy to calculate all that in your head in real-time, so here\u2019s the chart that turns the number of your draws into an estimation of your equity. Remember, you should only call if your equity is higher than your pot odds.<\/p>\n\n If you manage to calculate the ratio of your equity and your pot odds right and play consistently over longer periods of time, you can expect these periods to be reasonably profitable. But you\u2019ll also need to watch other players\u2019 moves and try to figure out their hands in order to get a better estimation of your true equity.<\/span><\/p>\n |
![\"6max](\"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/coinpokerbrazil\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/10\/6max-table-positions-744x494.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"chart](\"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/coinpokerbrazil\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2022\/10\/chart-2-744x494.png\")
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