Texas Holdem Insights
Here are some insights in the world of Texas Holdem:
- The average winning hand is two pair. Do no over-value top pair.
- Having position is very important. Being last to act has advantages.
- Unpaired hole cards will flop a pair or better 35% of the time. Therefore, when an opponent misses a pair or better 65% of the time, having position matters because I know they do not have even a pair after the flop (unless they are slow playing).
- Money (betting) flows clockwise around the table away from the blinds towards the players who are last to act. The blinds have a disadvantage because they are the first to act in betting.
- Playing pre-flop is very deterministic. Follow the odds table for the top hole cards to play. Throw in a bluff once in a while. Bet blind (i.e. without looking at cards) if you are feeling lucky.
- After the flop, decisions are automatic or nearly automatic. This stage is even more deterministic than pre-flop, however, there are more considerations to go through; it is not as straight-forward as looking up odds in a single table.
- Bluffing, changing things up even though decisions are automatic, reading the opponents, clash of different strategies are all examples of the human elements that make this game far more interesting and dynamic than the static mathematical odds would suggest.
- Watch your opponents at all times and read their minds!
The distribution of 5-card poker hands from 7 cards dealt for Texas Holdem is shown below. Note this is different than 5-card poker hands from 5 cards dealt. Sample size is 100 million hands dealt at random to 5 players with the distribution of hands for a single player.
straight flush 31,307 (0.03%)
four of a kind 167,193 (0.17%)
full house 2,592,807 (2.59%)
flush 3,027,228 (3.03%)
straight 4,619,221 (4.62%)
three of a kind 4,827,790 (4.83%)
two pair 23,492,917 (23.49%)
one pair 43,824,066 (43.82%)
high card 17,417,471 (17.42%)
Total hands 100,000,000
Points and Questions to Ponder:
- Can the best Texas Holdem bot beat the best human player?
- Can you make a living playing Texas Holdem?
- If you play every hand, you will end up in net loss overall.
- If you have a strong post-flop hand, it is best to force termination (e.g. bet high) to avoid going to the turn and river which will only allow the opponents a chance to beat you.
Related pages:
Texas Holdem my story
Texas Holdem Windows Program for your usage
The World of Online Texas Holdem
PokerStars Texas Holdem Poker Room
