Whether playing against a buddy for nothing at a kitchen table or competing in a prestigious major tournament, heads-up poker can present any player with a unique learning experience.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some very basic aspects of heads-up poker that beginning players should be aware of.

We’ll also lay out some rudimentary practice routines and mathematical equations that may assist in forming part of a knowledge-based foundation for poker enthusiasts who are not very familiar with heads-up play.

Before we begin, a quick disclaimer that this article is NOT intended to act as a substitute for poker lessons, poker training, or strategic for-profit play. Rather, it is intended to provide some very basic knowledge and tips that you may need to be aware of before seeking out a poker coach and/or attempting to become a professional player.

Heads-Up Poker and Heads-up Game Rules

Before we specifically get into poker, let’s take a look at heads-up, one-on-one games and how their rules can significantly impact one’s long-term expectation.

Take the 3×3 grid game of Tic Tac Toe, for example.

The rules of the game are very simple, and are constructed in a way in which the very best human players in the world are equally matched against the very best “computer” players.

Once the “best” skill level is achieved by a pair of heads-up opponents, players can only aspire to a perpetual series of tie games.

On the surface, one might not consider the mathematical aspects of such a game (especially when playing for the first time as a child) – yet a mathematical solution DOES exist.

So now you may be wondering to yourself, “How is this relevant to heads-up poker?

Heads-up Poker Rules

Heads-up poker rules are the same in terms of hand strength and betting rounds as they would be for a full ring game of the same variant.

The Small Blind player also has the button in heads-up poker play, while the Big Blind player will be out of position (and correspondingly will act first) in all postflop betting rounds in games like Texas Hold’em and Omaha, as well as draw poker games.

In ante games like Seven Card Stud, a heads-up format will not change betting positions – they will play out just as they would in a 7 Card Stud game with more players.

Heads-up Poker Basic One vs. One Math, Using Simulations

One fun heads-up poker experiment that beginners may learn from is the practice of playing offline versus a pre-programmed “bot” opponent – one that you can play against without the stress of real money competition.

In such a scenario, a first-time poker player may be able to more firmly grasp the concept of “math versus feel” or intuition as it relates to the game itself. By using a pre-programmed opponent, we can also clearly distinguish how a mathematical edge in heads-up poker is formed.

Let’s take the a play money scenario to illustrate a few things about heads-up poker.

BLINDS: 1000/2000

Player 1 (You): 2001 chips
Bot 1: 4000 chips (programmed to go all-in preflop every hand)

Player 1: 3s-2h
Bot 1: ?-?

Preflop Action: Bot 1 raises the action and goes all-in from the button with an unknown hand. There are now 6000 chips in the pot – with the action now on Player 1 who must decide whether to commit a single chip into the pot or fold and relinquish the pot.

In this controlled, non-real money situation, is there any justification at all to make a case for Player 1 to fold? And if there is only a justification (from a poker strategy perspective) for calling, does Player 1 know this by way of feel, intuition, or simply because Player 1 is presented with a scenario in which the math is so skewed that it is obvious a call is the correct play?

Due to Bot 1’s programming, we can assign a range of “any two cards” to Bot 1’s preflop hole card range.

So with a single chip remaining for Player 1 to commit, is there any hand that Player 1 can hold that has worse than a 1-in-6000 chance of eventually winning the pot at showdown?

The answer is no. Even with the worst heads-up poker hand (3-2 offsuit), Player 1 cannot (or perhaps more appropriately, IS not) a 1-in-6000 underdog versus Bot 1’s range. And it’s not even close.

Even if Bot 1 holds the best possible preflop hand in Texas Hold’em (pocket Aces), Player 1’s 3-2 offsuit is only (approximately) a 1-in-8 underdog to win the pot. That’s a far cry from 1-in-6000.

So Player 1 is faced with a mathematical solution that is so far skewed in favor of contributing the single remaining chip for a “call” that even Player 1 can “feel” or “divine” what the correct play is… but it’s still a math problem at the end of the day.

Let’s create another hypothetical play money scenario with our pre-programmed bot that is tasked with going all-in preflop on every hand.

BLINDS: 1/2

Player 1 Chips: 10000
Bot 1 Chips: 10000

Player 1: Qs-9h
Bot 1: ?-?

Bot 1 goes all-in, and Player 1 (from the Big Blind), is faced with a decision to either call with the remaining 9,998 chips or fold.

Since we know that Bot 1 is pre-programmed to go all-in on every hand, we can again assign a hole card range of “any two cards” to Bot 1.

So… Qs-9h is clearly winning against a range of “any two cards.” Q-7 is the “computer hand” that is typically described as the average hole card strength – and Qs-9h is superior to that hand.

Does this mean (from a poker strategy perspective) that Player 1 is going to make the call, knowing that Qs-9h is indeed a winning play against Bot 1’s range? Or is it better for Player 1 to wait (via folding) for a better situation in which the pot odds are more favorable?

Again, a human player may think that he/she feels or “divines” that folding is the correct play in this scenario, but in the end there is a mathematical solution that provides a clear answer.

How Are Pre-Programmed Scenarios Relevant to Actual Heads-up Poker Play?

These pre-programmed practice modes are relevant to illustrate (in a play-money environment) and define very clear-cut mathematical edges to a beginning player.

And subsequently, to demonstrate that these obvious scenarios will be – for lack of a better term – primarily “unavailable” in a competitive heads-up poker environment in which real money incentives exist for both human players to win.

Two poker players with the exact same heads-up ability who are competing against each other one-on-one is a wash. Add any rake into this environment and both players lose – regardless of whether they are the two best/two worst players, or anywhere in between.

Therefore, if you are genuinely interested in playing heads-up poker for a profit, you must overcome the following barriers or satisfy the following prerequisites before doing so:

• Your skill must be superior to that of your opponent’s
• Your edge must then be large enough to overcome the casino, cardroom, or home game’s rake

How Do I Find Inferior Heads-up Poker Players?

Wouldn’t we all like to know?!

For starters, heads-up private games are usually “not a thing” unless there’s a preliminary marketing effort along with a healthy amount of public interest that precedes them.

If you’re playing online poker, then your best bet may be to try out some of the various poker software programs and apps that may give you a better idea of an opponent’s heads-up poker playing ability.

These products may also be able to assist you with identifying and plugging your own leaks in heads-up play (as well as other poker formats).

Poker Heads-up Tips

The number one poker heads-up tip that I can personally think of is… don’t get cheated!

This may be easier said than done in certain scenarios, but is a risk/possibility that all heads-up poker players should remain acutely aware of.

READ MORE: Poker Cheat Sheets

The real money consequences of getting cheated in a heads-up poker game can present odds equally as devastating as the “play money bot” scenarios I’ve mentioned above.

• If an opponent knows one or more of your hole cards, and/or
• If an opponent knows the eventual community card/hole card/door card board runout

… then you’re already defeated, doomed, and the proverbial “fish” at the table regardless of how well you play the game of poker in a fair playing environment.

And while a lot of publicity exists in terms of being wary when playing high-stakes heads-up poker, the same risk of getting cheated can also exist at low-stakes games. As you might hear some poker players say, “it’s all relative.”

So, assuming you’re not getting cheated, the next two tips I can provide are to:

• Gain experience through actually playing heads-up poker
• Join a poker study group and/or get coached specifically on heads-up poker play

Heads-up Hold’em Strategy

If you are a beginning and/or low-skilled heads-up poker player who is playing as a means to improve, experience real-time training, and limit your losses – then you’ll want to play for the lowest stakes possible.

While $0.01/$0.02 online poker heads-up Hold’em games might become a tad boring or tedious, you’re probably better off using the micro stakes poker games to learn as you go (instead of jumping in to higher stakes games that may expose your poker bankroll to a higher “risk of ruin”).

Contrary to popular belief, higher stakes games may not be easier to master than lower stakes games – whether in a live setting or online.

Aside from this, my advice would be to enjoy the experience!

If you’re willing to engage with heads-up poker or heads-up Hold’em strategy in a way in which the journey is personally rewarding, that may represent enough incentive for you to actually improve upon your skills.

Don’t put your poker bankroll under excessive pressure; don’t toss away the experience and knowledge you’re gaining; and don’t get cheated. That’s about it as far as basic heads-up poker strategy tips go!

Starting Your Poker Experience Through Heads-up Play

Loosely speaking, heads-up poker play may be a great place for you to begin your poker journey.

Think of it as being similar to chess… if you start out training with fewer pieces (fewer variables), then perhaps you can learn from and avoid bad strategy habits before they manifest themselves in more complex scenarios.

By definition, you only have one opponent to concern yourself with when playing heads-up poker. Once a game attracts more players, you’ll be faced with more variables to consider.

If you’re in the mood for shot-taking, then there are seasonal live heads-up shootout events that take place during major tournament series, or you can enter an online heads-up tournament and try your luck.

There are also plenty of heads-up poker Sit & Gos online where you can attempt to defeat a random opponent in a mini-tournament that typically concludes in less than 15 minutes. Or try out a Hyper Turbo blind format that will reduce the skill edge enjoyed by a superior opponent.

Enjoy heads-up poker with friends, online, or in a major live tournament and learn from experience about the potential real money edges that can make you a long-term winner at the tables!

His book, The Final Table, was on Gareth’s to-do list for a while, and then things lined up perfectly just at the right moment. The result is that aspiring tournament players across the globe have been gifted another poker strategy masterpiece.

As you can guess from the title, The Final Table is all about tournaments or, more specifically, about that last stage of any tournament, where there are only a few people standing between you and the coveted top spot.

James certainly doesn’t lack credentials as a player, so I was eager to read the book. While the topic was clear, I was curious to see how he approaches this extremely important segment of tournament play.

A Proper Tournament Textbook

If you’re looking for some light poker reading, this book isn’t it. Gareth James’ The Final Table feels more like a poker textbook designed to teach you everything you need to know about the final stage of any tournament. Some people may love this approach, and some may not, but it boils down to what you’re looking for. If your goal is to significantly improve your final table strategy, this book can definitely get you there.

What I really liked is that James makes no assumptions about his readers and thus makes sure the book is useful to everyone. The first part breaks down all the important theoretical concepts, such as ICM, risk premium, and bubble factor, offering detailed explanations and hand examples of each.

Even if you have no knowledge of poker theory and only play poker recreationally, you won’t feel lost reading this book. The first few sections set up the foundation for the lessons to follow, and you’ll be able to keep up.

At the same time there are a lot of examples and detailed calculations for different spots for more advanced players. These are useful on their own, but are also a great resource to help you come up with more examples to think about.

After laying down the groundwork, James continues to build upon it, combining ICM with postflop strategy, focusing on different board textures and situations involving different positions and stack sizes.

This is where things start to get more serious, as you’ll come across many tables, calculations, and breakdowns, and the only way you’ll profit is if you take the time to really read and understand them. Using a poker tool that lets you set up hands and play through them is probably a good idea here. It will allow you to visualize the concepts being discussed in the text, making it easier to remember the examples and making the learning process more engaging.

I was quite pleased to see that an entire segment of The Final Table was devoted to those final tables where you’re still not in the money. While this is not a situation that most players think of when discussing final tables, it happens quite often in small-field tournaments. So, if you happen to play a lot of these, this section will be very helpful.

READ ALSO: Course Review: Train and Play Like the Pros by Gareth James

Teaching Through Examples

There are many different approaches to teaching poker, and all of them have their good and bad sides. For his book, Gareth James decided to teach through examples of actual hands, breaking them down and offering solver-approved solutions for various situations.

You’ll get every segment of play covered in detail in its own section, from the start of the final table, with eight to ten players, all the way to the final skirmish. Every single example can help you learn something. However, this only works if you really apply yourself. Just skimming through the hand history and analysis will do you no good. There are a lot of numbers in there, so you will want to pause and really think about it all.

I don’t suggest trying to read The Final Table in one sitting. In fact, I don’t suggest trying to “read” it at all. Instead, I’d say it’s much better to treat this tome as a proper textbook. The first few chapters, can be read in one or two sittings. This will help get your fundamentals in order, especially if you don’t have a good theoretical poker background. Once the book moves on to actual examples, the best way to proceed is to take the time to go through a few hands and really think about what you’re reading.

You’ll find hundreds of hand charts and tables inside this book, and it’s impossible to memorize these in one or two sittings. Or, at least, it’s impossible for most people. If you happen to be someone who can do it, you probably have a very bright future in poker.

But even more than that, a methodical approach will help you develop a deeper understanding of  the advice and suggestions make sense, even if they seem counter-intuitive at first. Developing a deep understanding of the concepts will serve you much better in the long run than mechanically memorizing some charts.

Should You Read The Final Table?

If you enjoy reading and learning poker through books, I’d argue that The Final Table is worth your time for the introductory section alone. Gareth James does an excellent job of explaining some crucial concepts that will definitely change the way you approach tournament final tables.

As for the rest of it, you can really pace your study however you want. The hand examples provided inside the book are “evergreen,” so they’ll be just as relevant a couple of months from now or even a year down the line.

You can always combine hands from different segments, too, if you want to gradually improve all aspects of your play (three-hand, five-handed, etc.) instead of focusing on just one area before moving to the next one.

If you’re looking for purely fun poker content, you won’t find much of that inside The Final Table. Gareth’s style is very detailed and methodical. But as a resource for learning to play final tournament tables, this book delivers in every way.

Those high stakes poker players who make their way onto streamed or televised games started in the low stakes arena, just like everyone else. Luckily, since the majority of poker players are playing low stakes poker you have a ton of options to get into the game for a small amount of money.

Everything You Need to Know About Live Low Stakes Poker

If you prefer playing poker in a live casino setting then you’re in luck. There are thousands of poker rooms across the globe, most of which are in North America and Europe. All of these poker rooms will run low stakes poker games making the game accessible for beginners just learning how to play poker.

Blinds, Buy-Ins, and Bankrolls

The smallest No-Limit Texas Holdem game that live card rooms offer has blinds of $1 and $2 and shows on the list as $1/$2. While the buy-in range can vary by location it is usually a minimum of $60 and a maximum of $300. You may also hear people refer to it as a $300 cap game, meaning the buy-in is capped at $300. Some casinos including most MGM properties have a larger buy-in structure of $100-$500 but this isn’t as common. Additionally, some casinos will offer $1/$3 instead of $1/$2 with a similar buy-in structure.

Despite the ability to buy into these games for $100 or less you don’t want to come in for the minimum. Most poker players will tell you to only play a game if you are buying in for the maximum amount. If the maximum is a little too steep for your starting bankroll you should be fine buying in for at least 100 big blinds, so $200 at $1/$2 and $300 at $1/$3. At 100 big blinds, you still have enough money to maneuver postflop and won’t find yourself all in on every hand. Many solvers and poker training sites use 100 big blind stacks to study the optimal strategy of poker in various scenarios.

$2/$5 is the next step up in the poker world but is still considered low stakes in the live arena. In many casinos, $2/$5 is the biggest game in the room. Buy-ins can be capped anywhere from $500 to $1,000 depending on the room, although most are somewhere around $800 max. These stakes are still low but are considered the first stakes where you can be a professional and make a living from the game. Even if you have the bankroll for it you may want to start at $1/$2 and be a winning player before you move up.

Speaking of bankrolls, if you want to take low stakes poker seriously, you need to have a dedicated bankroll. While the exact number of recommended buy-ins can vary based on who gives the advice, the absolute lowest bankroll you want to have for live low stakes poker would be 20 maximum buy-ins. For a $300 cap $1/$2 game this means $6,000 as a starting bankroll. 20 buy-ins may be the minimum but it certainly isn’t suggested for a bankroll, so if you want to give yourself a little wiggle room 30+ would be safer. If you are just starting out you should aim for 40-50 buy-ins to account for expected losses at the beginning of your poker-playing career. It’s always better to be over-rolled than under-rolled for a game, so no need to stick to 20 buy-ins since you’ll be more comfortable with more.

How to Find Games

As mentioned earlier there are thousands of poker rooms worldwide. If you don’t immediately know which card room is closest to you there are a few apps you can use to find out. PokerAtlas and Bravo Poker are two very helpful apps/websites that can show you the poker games in your area. Not only can you see a list of casinos and what games are offered, but both sites offer a live look at the cash game waitlist. With most casinos on PokerAtlas and some on Bravo, you can even put your name on the list from the comfort of your home before you head over.

This makes scoping out games much easier than simply showing up at the local casino and hoping you get a table. Since most poker players are in the low stakes field, you should have plenty of tables running in the card room near you. If you want to ensure there will be games running, plan on playing Friday and Saturday nights since weekends are always busy.

Player Pool

Live low stakes poker has a very eclectic player pool. Since this is the most accessible option for poker, you will see a wide range of skill levels at the tables. Some players are studying hard and trying to build a bankroll to make it to $2/$5 and higher so they can play professionally. Others may not study or play full-time but have been playing regularly for years and have learned how to exploit other players in the pool. You’ll also find casual players happy to spend a few hours tossing chips in the middle with little-to-no strategy. Finally, you will get people who have never played but wandered in from the casino bars or blackjack tables and decided to give poker a shot. These last two groups are more plentiful on the weekends, another reason to block off Friday and Saturday nights for poker.

Since the skill range can vary so widely it is best to go into each game with little to no assumptions made on the player pool. Each player is a blank slate so until you see how they play and take some hands to showdown, assume they all play a decent strategy. One of the exceptions to the “no assumption” rule is that you can assume players are not 3- and 4-betting preflop correctly. Any $1/$2 regular can tell you there are very few 3-bets and almost no 4-bets at these stakes. Unless you have proof to believe the contrary, assume 3- and 4-bets are very strong in live low stakes poker.

At the $2/$5 level, you can assume your opponents will be better than the $1/$2 player pool. This certainly will not be true for everyone, as many of these players will simply have more disposable income and prefer to play for larger stakes. As a whole, this player pool will be more aggressive than $1/$2 but only slightly better.

Everything You Need to Know About Low Stakes Online Poker

Despite the poker rules being the same, the online game is much different than live poker. You have many more options to play online through multiple large online poker sites and private poker clubs. Since you aren’t dealing with physical chips and cards, you will see more hands per hour and can have more variety in stakes.

Blinds, Buy-Ins, and Bankrolls

There are many more stakes offered due to the relative ease of making tables available on large sites. Due to the high demand for low stakes online poker, large sites have created games as small as $0.01/$0.02 with a $2 buy-in. This spawned a subcategory of low stakes online poker known as micro stakes. Micro stakes are considered $0.01/$0.02 through $0.10/$0.25. Low stakes online poker is $0.25/$0.50 through $0.50/$1.00.

Buy-in structures are a maximum of 100 big blinds on almost every poker site. Depending on the stakes you can buy in anywhere from $2 to $25 for micro stakes and $50 to $100 for low stakes. You will often see online poker games referred to by the buy-in rather than blinds. So $0.25/$0.50 is often shortened to 50NL, $50 buy-in No-Limit Texas Holdem. The micro stakes are 2NL-25NL and the low stakes are 50NL-100NL. Once you get to 200NL you are in the online poker mid-stakes.

Perhaps counterintuitively, even though games are spread for lower stakes online, if you want to play online poker you should have a larger bankroll than live poker. This is because online games can play more aggressively than live and the players tend to be better. Most players will tell you to start with a minimum of 50 buy-ins for online poker. If you are starting at 2NL that’s a very reasonable $100.

How to Find Games

Luckily, online poker is much easier to find than live poker. Depending on the country you live in there will be a variety of options open to you. There are numerous mega poker sites like WPT Global, PokerStars, and GGPoker. These sites are not available in America but you still have options like WSOP.com (if you’re located in regulated markets), or other offshore-regulated operators.

There are also plenty of private club options through various poker apps. These are not monitored or regulated in any way, however, so be very careful about signing up for one and depositing money. While these can be a fun way to play poker with friends it may not be the best investment as a site to play on full-time.

When searching for online poker sites, make sure you pay attention to the rake structure and find the best option for your stakes. You can find information online about how sites rake each stake and compare to find what the lowest is. Also, be sure to look for any rakeback deals. Rakeback is when a site will return a percentage of the rake you generated based on the number of hands you’ve played. This can be a huge incentive if you plan on playing a lot and will impact your win rate greatly.

Player Pool

The online player pool tends to be a bit stronger than the live pool. The main reason for this is you don’t have any “randoms” wandering in. Unlike a casino, you have to seek out online poker to play it. It’s not like someone would search online for a pizza place near them, stumble upon an online poker site, create an account, deposit, and start playing. These are people who want to play poker and for the most part, will be slightly better than the live player pool as a whole.

Online players also see more hands per hour so they have more experience. This won’t always make them better players but it certainly can (and should). The micro-stakes will still be fairly soft but low stakes online poker can become more difficult. Some players won’t mind punting off $2 at a time in 2NL, but players will be more careful in the 50NL and 100NL games.

A key difference with online poker is the ability to use a heads up display or HUD for short. HUDs will track hands played against opponents and give you statistics like their VPIP (voluntarily put in pot), 3-bet percentage, C-bet percentage, and many others. If you are playing against the same opponents regularly you can build a large enough sample size to make assumptions on their skill level and play style. If a player has a 50% VPIP over 1000+ hands they are playing far too many. On the other hand, if a player is only C-betting 10% of the time they are not being aggressive enough on the flop. HUDs can give you these insights to make adjustments based on your opponent.

Low Stakes Poker

There are so many options for players to get into the action with low stakes poker. Whether it’s at your local cardroom or online you can start playing with as little as $100. Be sure to have strict bankroll management and pay attention to your player pool to grow that bankroll and beat the low stakes.

Although bluffing is a key part of almost all poker games that are hosted at live cardrooms and online sites around the world, poker hands possess a showdown value once the action on the final “street” has concluded with two or more players still remaining in the pot.

The higher ranked your poker hand is at showdown, the more “made” hands it can defeat. The lower ranked your poker hand is at showdown, the fewer “made” hands it can defeat.

It’s pretty simple actually… and with a little practice, a first-time poker player can quickly learn the rules of poker and grasp which hands are better than others in terms of showdown strength.

Poker Cards Ranked

For the sake of this article, we will be ranking poker hands in accordance with the rules of “community card” games like Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, etc.

POKER CARDS RANKED FROM HIGHEST TO LOWEST
Ace-King-Queen-Jack-Ten-Nine-Eight-Seven-Six-Five-Four-Three-Two

POKER SUITS RANKED
All suits are equal in strength (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs)

If you’re playing a “Hi/Lo” poker variant like Omaha 8 or Better (or Razz), these card and hand strength rules will NOT apply for the “low” portion of a hand.

However, the game you’ll most likely be playing as a beginner is Texas Hold’em (either “Limit” or “No Limit”), which is spread in just about every poker room – live and online.

It’s also important to know that poker hands are ranked as 5-card hands, even if there are seven cards with which to make your best 5-card hand. This means that hands such as “three pairs” along with “six or seven-card straights and flushes do not exist in community card games like Texas Hold’em or “door card” poker variants like 7 Card Stud.

Poker Hands Ranked

NO PAIR

The worst possible 5-card hand in poker games like Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Stud is 7-5-4-3-2 (with no flush). The second worst hand is 7-6-4-3-2 (with no flush). The third worst hand is 7-6-5-3-2, and so on.

A hand like “7-high nothing” is rarely seen at showdown in Texas Hold’em. The best “unmade” hand you can have is an “Ace-high nothing,” A-K-Q-J-9 (with no flush), which will beat all other “unmade” 5-card hands at showdown, but will lose to any pair or better.

ONE PAIR

A pair of Aces is the best “one pair” hand that you can have in Hold’em games, and a pair of Twos is the worst “one pair” hand.

Ace-Ace-King-Queen-Jack is the best “one pair” that you can possibly make with five cards, while Two-Two-Five-Four-Three is the worst possible “one pair” hand.

Player 1: A-A-K-7-6
Player 2: A-A-Q-J-T

In this scenario, Player 1 wins the hand at showdown because of the King “kicker” compared to Player 2’s Queen “kicker.”

TWO PAIRS

Two pairs in poker will beat any single pair in terms of hand strength as well as any unmade hands, but will lose to superior holdings like Three-of-a-Kind or better.

The best possible two pair poker hand is A-A-K-K-Q. The worst possible two pair poker hand is 3-3-2-2-4

Player 1: Q7
Player 2: Q6

Community Cards: Q-9-9-2-3

Player 1 Showdown: Q-Q-9-9-7
Player 2 Showdown: Q-Q-9-9-6

Player 1 will win the showdown over Player 2 in this situation due to the superior Seven kicker.

THREE OF A KIND

The best possible 3 of a Kind poker hand is A-A-A-K-Q. The worst possible 3 of a Kind hand is 2-2-2-4-3.

Player 1: JT
Player 2: J9

Community Cards: J-J-4-3-2

Player 1 wins at showdown with the better 5-card made hand, which is Three-of-a-Kind: Jacks with a Ten kicker (J-J-J-T-4 vs J-J-J-9-4).

Any Three of a Kind will defeat all Two Pairs, One Pair, and unmade hands at showdown.

STRAIGHT

A Straight in most poker games is defined as a five-card hand in which there is a full numerical or face card sequence without interruption. A four-card straight is NOT a made hand in poker.

Straights (along with Straight Flushes) are also the only hands in poker games like Texas Hold’em where an Ace can be placed at the “high” or “low” end of a sequence.

For example: A-K-Q-J-T is an Ace-high straight (the best Straight possible); 5-4-3-2-A is a Five-high straight (the worst Straight possible).

Player 1: 6-5-4-3-2
Player 2: 5-4-3-2-A

Player 1 will take the pot at showdown versus Player 2 here, as a Six-high straight defeats a Five-high straight. The interchangeable Ace in straight hands can only go before a Two or after a King – it cannot be otherwise placed or complete a different sequence of 5 cards.

FLUSH

Flush hands in poker are the only made hands in which card suits (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades) are relevant.

Although flushes of different suits made by multiple players are not possible in Texas Hold’em, they are possible in 7 Card Stud. Community card flop games like Texas Hold’em and Omaha must have at least three of the same suit on the face-up board in order for any flush to be possible.

But in 7 Card Stud, each player is in sole possession of his or her face-up “door cards.”

In Texas Hold’em:

Player 1: Ad-2d
Player 2: Kd-Qd

Community Cards: Jd-Td-8d-5s-5c

Player 1 has the superior diamond flush in this circumstance and will win against Player 2 (Ad-Jd-Td-8d-2d vs Kd-Qd-Jd-Td8d).

In 7 Card Stud:

Player 1: Ad-Kd |||4d-3d-8h-9h||| Qd
Player 2: Ah-Kh |||4h-3h-8s-9c||| Qh

In this scenario, Player 1 and Player 2 will “tie” (a.k.a., chop the pot) at the conclusion of the hand because each player makes a 5-card flush of equal value.

Ad-Kd-Qd-4d-3d Diamond Flush versus Ah-Kh-Qh-4h-3h Heart Flush is a tie in 7 Card Stud because no single suit is more (or less) valuable than another.

FULL HOUSE

A Full House is defined as a 5-card hand that contains Three of a Kind plus One Pair.

The best possible full house is A-A-A-K-K while the worst possible full house is 2-2-2-3-3.

Player 1: 4-4-4-2-2
Player 2: 3-3-3-K-K

Although a bit counter-intuitive at first glance, Player 1 wins this hand at showdown against Player 2 because the Three of a Kind cards are valued higher. So Player 1 has a Full House: Fours over Twos – while Player 2 has a Full House: Threes over Kings.

FOUR OF A KIND (QUADS)

A Four of a Kind hand is relatively rare in the game of poker, but its strength will defeat all Full Houses and below in games like Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

The best possible Four of a Kind hand is A-A-A-A-K while the worst possible Four of a Kind hand is 2-2-2-2-3.

Player 1: 99
Player 2: 88

Community Cards: 7-7-K-7-7

If these two players reach a showdown, they will chop the pot (or tie) because neither pocket pair can improve what is already shown on the board, which is Four of a Kind: Sevens with a King kicker.

Player 1: AK
Player 2: KK

Community Cards: 4-3-3-3-3

In this hand, Player 1 will win the pot at showdown because Player 1 has Four of a Kind: Threes with an Ace kicker versus Player 2’s hand of Four of a Kind: Threes with a King kicker.

STRAIGHT FLUSH

A Straight Flush is defined in poker as an uninterrupted 5-card sequence of cards that all have the same suit. As with simple straights, an Ace can be used to complete the high-end of an Ace-high Straight Flush or the low-end of a Five-high Straight Flush.

Player 1: As-Ks
Player 2: 7d-6s

Community Cards: 2s-3s-4s-5s-Ac

In this example, we see that there is a simple Straight already dealt on the board. However, Player 1 has the Ace of Spades, meaning that Player 1 can complete a Five-high Straight Flush (5s-4s-3s-2s-As).

However, Player 2 has the better hand in this instance, with a Six-high Straight Flush (6s-5s-4s-3s-2s) and will, as a result, be awarded the pot at showdown.

ROYAL FLUSH

A royal flush is a 5-card, Ace-high Straight with cards of the same suit. Basically, it’s an Ace-high Straight Flush.

Ah-Kh-Qh-Jh-Th is a Royal Flush. It is the outright best hand in Texas Hold’em and Omaha and cannot be beaten or tied.

In 7 Card Stud, it is possible for a Royal Flush to tie with another player’s Royal Flush, as the suits are all valued equally.

There is no “better” or “more difficult to make” hand possible in traditional 52-card, single-deck “high” poker games than a Royal Flush.

Player 1: Ac-Kc

Community Cards: Qc-Jc-Tc-?-?

Player 1 has flopped a Royal Flush and is guaranteed to have the best hand at showdown with a Royal Flush: Clubs, in Texas Hold’em. Regardless of what cards appear on the board during the Turn or River, Player 1 cannot be beaten, or even tied, in terms of hand strength.

Player 1: Ac-Kc
Player 2: 9c-8c
Player 3: 7d-7h

Community Cards: Qc-Jc-Tc-7c-7s

Player 1 has a Royal Flush: Clubs (Ac-Kc-Qc-Jc-Tc).
Player 2 has a Queen-high Straight Flush: Clubs (Qc-Jc-Tc-9c-8c).
Player 3 has Four of a Kind: Sevens with a Queen kicker (7d-7h-7s-7c-Qc).

Poker Hand Probabilities

One of the best public resources available for newcomers who want to learn poker hand probabilities is Wikipedia.

The Wiki “poker probability” webpage will provide you with far more in-depth mathematical detail for calculating poker probabilities than this author has the skill to relay to the reader.

But basically speaking, the more unlikely it is for a player to make a certain hand, the more value that hand has at showdown.

For games like Texas Hold’em in which a total of seven cards can be used by each player to make the best possible 5-card hand, here is a look at poker hand probabilities.

• Royal Flush: 1 in 30940 (0.0032%)
• Straight Flush: 1 in 3589.6 (0.0279%)
• Four of a Kind: 1 in 594 (0.168%)
• Full House: 1 in 37.5 (2.6%)
• Flush: 1 in 32.1 (3.03%)
• Straight: 1 in 20.6 (4.62%)
• Three of a Kind: 1 in 19.7 (4.83%)
• Two Pairs: 1 in 3.26 (23.5%)
• One Pair: 1 in 1.28 (43.8%)
• No Pair: 1 in 4.74 (17.4%)

Although it is rarer to have a “no pair” hand in Texas Hold’em than to have One Pair (or Two Pairs), a “no pair” hand is valued less because it is the lowest-ranking 5-card hand. If you are playing a 5-card poker variant like 5 Card Stud, then you will experience more “no pair” hands than “one pair” hands.

Poker Odd Calculator

A poker odd calculator is a study tool that players can use away from the tables to learn more about the probabilities in poker.

To start with the very basics, it is imperative to define that a standard poker card playing deck contains 52 cards – the two jokers are discarded before play begins – with four of each numerical value and 13 of each suit.

So to practice: if you shuffle a 52-card deck and then deal a single card face-up, there is a 1 in 13 chance that you will see an Ace. There is also a 1 in 4 chance that the dealt card will be a Heart, but only a 1 in 52 probability that the dealt card will be the Ace of Hearts.

If the entire 52-card deck is reshuffled for another round, then the odds remain the same.

But… if the Ace of Hearts remains face-up and another card is set to be dealt to place alongside the first card, then the poker odd calculator process is different.

This is because there are now only 51 cards in the entire “pool” of remaining cards. There are 13 Spades, 13 Clubs, 13 Diamonds, but only 12 Hearts. And there are four of each numerical value except Aces (there are only three Aces remaining in the deck).

The chances that the next card will be a Heart (12 in 51) are slightly less than a Spade (13 in 51), Club (13 in 51), or Diamond (13 in 51) appearing.

Summary: The Best Poker Hands Ranked

Poker hand rankings are an important part of any poker game, and are part of the rules that should be openly posted, consulted, and learned by all players.

The more poker hands you play, the higher the chances of eventually making one of the rarest hands in poker are.

Play the game of poker for fun and increase your knowledge in the process to add more depth to your very own poker experience!

Hand rankings are constant throughout most poker games. The hand rankings from high to low are as follows: straight flush (royal being the best), four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pairs, one pair, high card. Whenever you make a flush and your opponent has three of a kind, you will win no matter what. You aren’t worried so much about high cards in this scenario. However, when both players have the same type of hand the high card poker rules will determine who wins the pot.

Texas Holdem High Card Poker

Let’s take a look at the most popular game: No-Limit Texas Holdem. When two players have the same category of hand such as a flush, the Texas Holdem high card rules dictate the player with the highest top card in their flush will win. The cards are ranked traditionally, from high to low as ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

For example, if player one is holding A4 of hearts and player two has KQ of hearts, on a board of J9752 with three hearts, player one will win. Let’s say the flop was all hearts, so the J, 9, and 7. Player one will have a AJ974 heart flush while player two will have KQJ97. Since the ace is higher than the king player one wins the pot according to the high card flush rules.

The same rules are true for straights. The Texas Holdem high card rules dictate that the straight with the highest top card will win the hand. So if player one has a straight TJQKA and player two has 789TJ, player one will win.

When it comes to four-of-a-kind, three-of-a-kind, and pairs it is obvious. The larger pair will always beat the smaller pair. For full houses, the larger three-of-a-kind will win. For example, on a board of A322K player one has 33, and player two has A2. Player one has the higher full house, 33322 so they beat player two’s 222AA.

There are plenty of high card rules that dictate which hand wins in each hand ranking category. So how can players use these rules to their advantage? Like all spots in poker, the strategy begins with your first decision. Preflop in Holdem and the other Flop games or third street for Stud variants.

In order to put yourself in a better position to win, you want to be entering pots preflop with large cards. For example, AK is the best unpaired hand you can play due to the ability to win due to poker’s high card rules. When you make a pair with AK you automatically have the best kicker. The most obvious straight you can make is the ace-high straight, also known as Broadway, which is the highest straight you can have. When you make a flush you always have the highest flush possible. Due to all these properties, people play AK very strongly.

To see the advantage of playing high card hands, let’s take a look at a marginal hand. J9 is a hand a lot of players get suckered into playing, especially when it is suited. This hand is troublesome in Texas Holdem. You can make a straight, but it could be vulnerable. On a TQK board, you lose to AJ and are vulnerable to any ace in case another jack hits the turn or river. When you make a flush with J9, most of the time it will be the fourth or third nut flush, leaving plenty of suited aces, kings, and queens that can beat you in a big pot. Finally, when you make pairs you are vulnerable either way. Making a pair of jacks leaves you with a less-than-desirable kicker. Making a pair of nines means you likely won’t have a top pair by the river and when you do the board will have plenty of straights and reasonable two pairs available.

Examining these two hands clearly shows that it pays off to play big cards. When you look at preflop charts for Texas Holdem you find that high cards are always favored. For instance, it is always optimal to open AK, AQ, and KQ suited from any position. As you get into later positions like the cutoff and button the recommended opening range is much wider. You see hands like A3 suited and K6 suited becoming good hands to open when they weren’t before. While the pairs could be problematic due to poker high card rules, the flushes these hands make are very strong.

7-Card Stud High Card Poker

While Texas Holdem is the most popular game, it is by no means the only game where you need to pay attention to high card rules. Stud games, mainly 7-Card Stud high and 7-Card Stud 8 or better (high/low) utilize the same high card rules as Holdem. The straights and flushes with the highest top card will win the pot.

You may not have many options to watch Stud cash games played, but there is usually coverage of big Stud tournaments. You’ll see many players opting to fold three low straight and flush cards in Stud high on third or fourth street (the first two betting rounds). Other times players will continue with those high card straight and flush draws. This happens for multiple reasons.

First, those higher flushes and straights are more valuable. This isn’t a surprise of course. As we saw earlier the ace-high flush will beat all the other flushes.

Second, in Stud, you get seven cards that only you can use. If you’re chasing a high flush or straight you might not make it, but you can make pairs. Those pairs will be much more valuable since they are high pairs with high kickers and your opponents are much less likely to also have them.

For our Stud example, let’s say player 1 starts with 567 two spades and player two starts with AKJ two hearts. On fourth street, player one gets the 9 of spades and player two gets the Q of hearts. Both players here have a very strong draw. Player one needs any 8 to make a straight and is two spades away from a flush. Player two needs a 10 for a straight or two hearts for a flush.

It would be absurd if player one folded to a bet on fourth street. They have an immediate gutshot and the possibility to pick up a flush draw on fifth street. As this hand plays out, however, you can see ways that player two is in better shape due to the poker high card rules.

Let’s say both players catch a J on fifth street, neither giving them a flush draw. Player one’s hand hasn’t changed. They still have a gut shot and can hit running spades for a flush. Player two, however, now has a pair. Since they were chasing the high straight and flush catching this jack turns their hands from a draw to a value hand.

If both players miss their draw then player two will easily win the hand. Even if both players were to hit a pair player two would still be way ahead with the higher pair. This is the power of high card poker. When you play high cards you are setting yourself up to win the hand more often, whether your immediate draw comes in or not.

High cards are also uniquely important to Stud since there are no community cards. Your face-up cards (you get four in 7-Card Stud) can tell a story. You may have 23 face down, but if you have AKJ showing you can represent many hands. You can have strong pair or three-of-a-kind combinations, straights, or flushes depending on the suits.

A few high cards showing in a Stud game give you more opportunities to bluff. If you have 569 showing you may have a straight, but if you don’t it’s harder to bluff. Most strong pairs will feel inclined to keep you honest and certainly, two pairs should be calling a single bet.

High Card Poker

One hand that is often neglected is the high card itself. While the weakest hand you can have is just a high card, you’ll be surprised how many pots you can scoop with it, especially in tournaments.

In tournaments, you will find yourself in many all-in situations. Since the blinds are constantly increasing your stack is getting shorter and shorter as the tournament progresses. There will be a point when most players have 75+ big blinds early on. Later you may find the average stack is only 20-25 big blinds. Playing short like this makes the high card poker rules much more important.

Hands like AK and AQ become very valuable when you get short-stacked. While most low-stakes cash players will have a variety of opinions on these hands, tournament players tend to look upon them more favorably. When you have less than 40 big blinds there are tons of scenarios where getting AK all-in preflop is the right move. With 20 or less it’s almost always a good idea to go all-in with these hands preflop if someone opens the pot.

There are a few reasons for this. Due to the diminishing stack sizes, you have to find more all-in spots to increase your chip stack. When you are this short getting people to fold preflop and winning the blinds and antes are very valuable. When you have 20 big blinds and the ante + small and big blinds equal 2.5 blinds you can increase your stack by over 10% just by picking up the blinds.

Most importantly, AK and AQ become valuable because of the Texas Holdem high card rules. Your opponents will be more incentivized to call your all-in. It’s a relatively small all-in with 20 big blinds and knocking you out means they get closer to that #1 spot. Many tournaments are won or lost based on the 15-25 big blind all-ins that occur as the field shrinks. Having high card hands will help you win these pots for the many reasons we’ve visited today. Your straights and flushes will be very strong. Your pairs will have good kickers. And in many cases, your high card will beat your opponent’s high card.

Tournament poker strategy has many spots where getting all the chips in with high card hands preflop makes sense. You may not find as many in cash games since you’ll be deeper stacked, but tournament players use high card rules to their advantage and get their short stacks all-in frequently with these types of hands.

Whether you are making straights, flushes, or pairs the poker high card rules matter. Across all poker variants high cards and kickers can make all the difference between a winning and losing session. While poker strategy varies between games and scenarios it always pays to take advantage of the high card rules.

It takes considerable skill to play effectively against such an opponent. However, when done well, it can be very profitable. I had just such an experience. I was playing an online no-limit hold’em game on a site that was recommended to me by lucky-7-bonus.ca and one player was such a maniac, often going all-in before the flop. The way he was playing, he may have been on tilt.

Those of you who have followed my column through the years will note that normally I much prefer playing limit hold’em in live games. I was playing online in this instance because I was still uncomfortable playing in live games since the coronavirus pandemic began. In this particular online game, we played for points –  not real money.

Over the long run you can expect fewer than 25 percent of your hole cards to be playable – worthy of investing your chips. But this “maniac” played every hand he was dealt. He won small pots – the blinds – when all of the other players folded to his big bets before the flop. On one occasion, an opponent called his all-in and beat him out when he connected on the flop. Maniac folded without revealing his hand. Then he promptly bought in again for another $1,000.

What would you do in this case?

Maniac was seated to my right, so he acted every hand just before me. He was in the cut-off position, and I was the button. A few players before him had limped in to see the flop. Then he pulled his all-in move. I studied my hole cards – pocket Aces. My hand was well ahead of his. As you may know, pocket aces become an underdog if more than three opponents stay in the pot. Fortunately, I was well ahead. So, I responded to the maniac by going all-in myself. All of the other players folded their hands, leaving us heads-up.  It was no surprise when I won the pot – a huge one!

READ ALSO: Poker Tips by George: Betting Patterns

That did not change the maniac’s ways. After a few hands, he was back to going all-in. This time, I was in the hijack position, again with the maniac to my right. Once again, maniac went all-in before the flop. This time I held A-Q off-suit. With only two limpers, I again went all-in, so it was heads-up again. Neither of us improved our hands and I was pleased to take a huge pot once again.

The next day, a loose player who seemed to be on tilt went all-in from a middle position. The players before me all folded so, with a strong starting hand and lots more chips, I again went all-in and took another huge pot with only a small improvement.

It is so much fun when you win big pots, especially against a maniac – or a player who plays like one when he is on tilt.

In tournaments, by contrast, you aren’t allowed to top up your stack once you’ve entered. If the tournament is a re-buy or re-entry affair, then you can do so after busting your stack, but while in the midst of tournament play you can’t just decide to add on any additional chips unless there’s a provision for that in the tournament rules.

When Do You Go All-In?

There are several different situations when you might go all-in:
(1) An opponent bets (or raises), and you decide to call but you don’t have sufficient chips. So you go all-in for your remaining chips in play.
(2) A player may go all-in as a bet (or raise) as a value bet to build the pot size.
(3) You might go all-in to force opponents out of the hand.
(4) And finally, there may be occasions when you go all-in by raising an opponent who has gone all-in before you – all-in vs. all-in.

The latter has become my favorite since I started playing no-limit Texas Hold’em on-line. So let’s explore this concept…

Image Credit: Poker Divas

You are playing in an aggressive game with several loose players. One of them is a maniac, open-betting and raising in almost every hand dealt. Sometimes, he goes all-in hand after hand. We can expect playable starting hands on average no more often that one out of four hands dealt in the long run. So, apparently, our maniac is shoving all-in with weak hands also – before the flop.

READ ALSO: Learn the Top 7 Poker Actions

In such a case, when the situation is “right,” my plan is to go all-in over the top, provided that no one has called his all-in bet before the action gets to me. I assume that any opponent who calls the maniac’s all-in bet must hold a powerful hand, possibly better than mine. Of course, an exception would be if I held the nuts; then I could move ahead with my own all-in bet. (Can you imagine the size of that pot?)

Most often, in this situation, after the maniac’s all-in bet, the opponents will fold to me. With a strong hand, my goal is to isolate him – expecting my hand to be significantly better than his. (At least, I hope so.) As indicated above, I should take that pot about one out of four times. That’s what we call a Positive Expectation for a huge pot. (That makes me feel so good!)

Try it. You’ll like it…

It seems so simple on the surface.

After all, what about poker could possibly be so complex that it requires such an enormous amount of poker strategy consideration in order to consistently increase one’s chances of success over the long term?

How do superior players distinguish themselves over inferior competition in some of the highest stakes poker cash games and tournaments on the planet?

And is it possible for some poker players to be “luckier” than others over the course of their poker careers?

In this article, we’ll delve into the distinctions between luck and skill in poker, how these two terms can be defined for novice players, along with a few basic explanations of concepts such as sample size, variance, and bankroll management.

Luck in Poker Makes Short-Term Losers out of Long-Term Winners

There aren’t many games in the universe in which the (provably) least-skilled players can utterly demolish the (provably) best players in a single hand, point, play, game, contest, stanza, lap, attempt, frame, inning, quarter, period, round, or set – especially when real money incentives exist for winners.

Yes… a “pro” might throw a gutter-ball in bowling; might double-fault on a serve in tennis; might drop the baton in a relay race (and so on), but such “unforced errors” aren’t very relevant when it comes to the most highly skilled poker players in the world.

The best poker players don’t actually “beat themselves,” rather they suffer from a lack of infinite knowledge (or a short-term bout of “bad luck”) just as all human beings do.

And so much knowledge is unknown in a single poker hand – despite the most highly skilled players’ constant efforts to gain as much information as possible in the name of increasing one’s profit-based “expectation” or “edge” at the tables.

A “bad” poker player can easily – relative to many other games that pay something of value to winners – defeat a great poker player in one or more hands, days, sessions, tournaments, etc.

But the larger quantity of hands (a.k.a., “examples”) that take place, the more likely it is for superior players to approach whatever positive expectation truly exists over their inferior poker competition, and vice versa.

Crudely speaking, if a low-skilled poker player bests a far superior player in one hand (or over a few hands), it’s not really newsworthy. After all, that’s poker!

However, sooner or later, the most-skilled players are going to outperform lesser competition. Even if it takes some vague amount of time or precise “sample size” number for this to become increasingly obvious to third-party observers (or the players themselves).

How Much Are Skill and Luck Needed to Succeed in Poker?

It depends.

Are you heading to Las Vegas with a $500 bankroll and looking to quadruple your money in a high-rake $2/$5 No Limit Hold’em poker game by the end of a weekend? If so, you’re probably going to require a relatively large amount of short-term luck in order to be successful – regardless of your skill level.

Have you entered a $100+9 buy-in, 10-handed Sit & Go event that’s fully occupied by “go all-in on every hand” opponents in which first place is awarded $500 compared to $300 for second place and $200 for third place? If that’s the case, a fold-to-win strategy might not require much luck (or thought) to realize an overall positive, profit-based expectation for that tournament.

However, the rudimentary examples provided above don’t competently explain how much luck or skill is needed in poker for professional players.

So to put it more bluntly, successful poker players need skill in poker.

The more skill (loosely defined as knowledge or information plus the physical capacity to execute on the wisdom that has been accrued over one’s poker-playing career – from the first hand ever played up to the moment of a decision), the better!

As for luck, well…

Let’s Talk about Poker Luck in an Abstract Setting

A coin flip is generally regarded as a 50-50 proposition (no crooked coins, please) and can be wagered on in a simple manner that can then be moved into the abstract.

You call Heads: the coin lands on Heads, so you got lucky? Or the coin lands on Tails, so you got unlucky?

How about 10 consecutive coin flips? Six land on Heads so you got lucky? Or six land on Tails so, again, you got unlucky? Because the expectation before any coin was flipped was that the odds will eventually even out?

What if the coin lands on the same side 9 out of 10 times? Talk about a streak of good (or bad) luck!

Similar to poker (but far less complex than poker), a coin landing on one side or another over the short-term is not a news item. But if you’re simulating 1 octillion coin flips and 51% of them land on the same side, then the integrity of the software that’s performing the simulations will be brought into question.

Somewhere between one coin flip and a bunch of coin flips resides a mathematical formula, equation, and/or group of insertable variables that will numerically define just how “lucky” or “unlucky” the results are.

Fortunately for non-math people, there exists a broad database of poker-related “how-to” guides that have been published over the years by experts within poker forums and poker books; on poker content websites and social media channels.

So How Much Luck is Needed in Poker?

Whether luck is “needed” in poker at all is a question that can be debated. But whether it’s needed or not, luck (or rather, a gap between long-term expectation and actual short-term outcomes) exists.

Precisely who needs luck in poker then? And why?

Is it professional players who rely on inferior players’ luck in order to keep them returning to a game in which superior players have an edge? Is it the poker game host/cardroom who needs luck in poker so the regulars can justify grinding away without raising too much of a fuss about rake rates?

Is it casual, non-winning players who depend on luck so they can occasionally have a winning session, trip, or weekend at the tables?

It’s unclear to what extent any of this really matters over the long-term, but exactly HOW do we define “long-term” over “short-term?” Especially given the amount of variables that exist in the game of poker?

Can Poker Players Be Lucky or Unlucky Over an Entire Poker Career?

Of course they can! Keep in mind that the fewer hands that are played, the larger the gap between overall expectation and short-term outcomes can be.

Due to potential sample size (amount of hands), live poker-playing grinders are going to be more susceptible to luck (either good or bad) since they cannot possibly see as many hands at a brick and mortar cardroom as they can online.

A poker player might see a total of 20 hands over the course of one hour in a retail cardroom – while a poker player can see hundreds of hands online during that same hour.

This is one reason why so many aspiring players use online poker games to gain the experience needed not only to improve on their skills, but also to more accurately gauge what their long-term expectation might be in a particular format, variant, or stake level.

Can Luck in Poker Be Negated by Cheating?

In this author’s opinion – yes, it can! For a little while longer at least.

And what’s more (again, in this writer’s view), some victimized poker players have inadvertently enabled poker cheaters to abscond with a LOT of money over the years/decades by:

• utilizing platforms such as forums and social media to publicize their griefs in a manner in which (arguably) converts a potential crime into a personal matter
• failing to bond-out participants of a poker game through commercial mechanisms such as notarial services, contracts, and agreements
• refusing by default to actively enhance (or even study) local and state ordinances, guidelines, and codes that relate to criminal cheating in contests in which “something of value” is awarded to the winner(s)
• ignoring the disruptive nature of poker software (and/or making personal use of it) as it relates to questions involving ethics, premium-only availability, and the inevitability of future technological advances
• burdening third-party individuals with the task of commercial arbitration and in some select cases, having a supposed grievance overruled (or even proven to be incorrect)
• opting to participate in unregulated, third-party monetary exchange systems and in turn, bypassing existing infrastructure (for criminal prosecution and commercial compacts) that are based in traditional forms of monetary currencies
• arriving at partial and/or private settlements with accused offenders for the sake of expediency as opposed to following through with formal evidence gathering plus enforcement procedures for the sake of posterity

So, is there any good news for poker cheating victims (or bad news for poker cheaters who will go to any lengths to bypass the luck element in games of chance) on the horizon?

Subjectively speaking, yes.

As soon as poker cheating accusations veer away from “performance art” and move into the realm of “due diligence,” the incentives for cheating in poker will be reduced (in this author’s view).

But the road to capable deterrence of poker cheating probably STARTS with local and/or state jurisdictions – not with “universal” rhetoric about ethics that get posted (and subsequently debated) on global platforms. Each case is unique, after all.

Is Poker a Game of Skill or Luck?

Poker is a game of both skill and luck. It’s a game that includes competition and fun; work and leisure.

If you’re looking to improve your skills at the poker tables and willing to give yourself a sufficient bankroll to compete, learn, and improve at the stake levels you’re playing, then you’ll have a better shot at a rewarding skill-based poker journey.

What Resources Are Available to Improve My Poker Skill?

Aside from poker forums, books, websites, and social media outreach, poker training sites are a great way to shorten the learning curve and work with experienced poker professionals who can directly relate to (and advise on) the games you’re looking to beat.

You can also join online groups that focus on poker-related topics, including poker strategy.

Other than that, there’s really no substitute for actual poker-playing experience. There’s no other way to become so intimately involved with the game of poker than to actually participate in it – with real money or something else of value in order to satisfy the element of risk that goes hand-in-hand with games of chance.

If you’re on a limited budget and would like to try your hand at a real money poker game, there are large, ultra-popular poker sites on the internet that offer micro-stakes poker tournaments and cash games for pennies.

As a rule of thumb, online poker games offer superior opportunities for budget-minded individuals compared to their retail counterparts. You’re not going to get much (if any action) in a live setting with a $25-$50 starter’s bankroll, but you will have plenty of micro-stakes options online after making an initial $25-$50 deposit.

Make the most of your opportunities to learn how to play poker, improve, and give yourself the best chance of having a positive, winning expectation in the games you play.

Learn to live with the element of luck in poker because there’s nothing you can do about things that are provably beyond your control. It’s better to instead focus on what you CAN control in poker – your own personal level of knowledge, experience, know-how, and skill.

Have fun at the poker tables!

In this article, we will take a look at how to play two pairs in poker, which hands 2 pairs will defeat at showdown, and how to be on the lookout for low “kickers” that are often counterfeited.

Poker 2 Pair Rules

First, let’s start with some very simple examples related to poker 2 pair rules when it comes to showing down a winning hand.

Two pairs in poker (assuming you’re playing in a “high” or “best hand” game as opposed to a Hi/Lo format (like Omaha Hi/Lo) or “low” variant such as Razz).

Two pairs are better than one pair (or hands like Ace-high, King-high, etc.), regardless of the number or face card strength of the cards in a “high” game.

So two pairs: Threes and Twos will always defeat one pair: Aces.

If two or more players showdown hands that contain two pairs – then the numerical of face-card value of the two pairs DOES play a role, starting with the highest-ranking pair.

So Two Pairs: Kings and Fours will defeat Two Pairs: Queens and Jacks. The second pair of a 2 pair hand is only considered if the highest-ranking pair is similar.

Two Pairs: Kings and Sixes will beat Two Pairs: Kings and Fives because the second pair of Sixes rank higher than the Fives.

However, 2 pairs in poker will NOT showdown successfully against superior hands including Three of a Kind, Straights, Flushes, Full Houses, Four of a Kind, Straight Flushes, or Royal Flushes. Two Pairs: Aces and Kings will lose to Three of a Kind: Deuces in all “high” poker game formats.

Kicker Counterfeiting of 2 Pairs in Poker

It’s very important to keep in mind that 2 pairs in poker can be “counterfeited” in a number of ways, which can be confusing at first for new players who are starting out in “community card” games like Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

Let’s say Player 1 is dealt Pocket Twos and Player 2 is dealt Pocket Tens in a Texas Hold’em game – and that these two players go to a showdown with a community card board of:

Qh-Qs-Jc-Jd-As

In this instance, the pot will be CHOPPED (a.k.a., “tied”) because neither player’s hand can improve what is already displayed on the community-card board. The best hand both players can make is Two Pairs: Queens and Jacks, with an Ace “kicker.” It matters not that Player 2’s hole cards are superior to those of Player 1 – the pot will be chopped at showdown.

Now let’s assume Player 1 has Ace-Jack and Player 2 has Jack-Ten. The community board is dealt as follows, and the hand goes to a showdown:

Ks-Kc-Qd-Jh-5h

In this example, Player 1 DEFEATS Player 2 as showdown because of the superior “kicker” (an Ace). Both players have Two Pairs: Kings and Jacks – but Player 1 makes a superior 5-card “high” hands because of the Ace, while Player 2 cannot improve the Queen kicker that is on the community board.

Dealing with “Ace-Rag” Counterfeiting with 2 Pairs in Poker

One of the most common circumstances in which you’ll witness a “chopped pot” is when two players go all-in preflop with “Ace-Rag” starting hands in No Limit Texas Hold’em.

While A8 is a better hand than A3 before any community cards are dealt, you will notice that these two hands often split the eventual pot at showdown due to how easy it is for the “rag” in an Ace-Rag hand to get counterfeited – especially with two pairs.

Player 1: A8
Player 2: A3

BOARD CARDS: Ah-6d-6c-Jc-2s

This hand is a tie at showdown. Neither player wins – and the pot is chopped because the “rags” in each player’s hand has been counterfeited by the Jack of Clubs that was dealt on the Turn.

Player 1 has Two Pairs: Aces and Sixes with a Jack kicker
Player 2 also has Two Pairs: Aces and Sixes with a Jack kicker

For a 5-card hand, the “rags” can’t improve what’s already displayed by the community cards.

However, there are instances in which Player 1’s “eight-high” kicker will be in play at showdown.

BOARD CARDS: Ah-6d-6c-4c-2s

In this scenario, Player 1 WINS at showdown because that player has a superior 5-card hand.

Player 1 has Two Pairs: Aces and Sixes with an Eight kicker
Player 2 has Two Pairs: Aces and Sixes with a Four kicker, and loses at showdown.

Premium 2 Pair Poker Starting Hands in Omaha Hi/Lo Games

One thing a new poker players should be mindful of when playing Omaha Hi/Lo games is the potential decreased value of premium 2 pair poker starting hands – especially when three or more “low” cards appear on the community board.

For example: As-Ac-Ks-Kc is a premium “high” starting hand in a 9-handed or 10-handed Limit Omaha Hi/Lo ring game, but you can only use two of those cards to make your final “best 5 card hand.” Plus, a “high” hand will have to split the pot with another “low” winner if there are three or more different numerical-value cards on the community board (8-7-6-5-4-3-2-A).

In a Limit Omaha Hi/Lo hand in which six players reach a showdown, premium 2 pair poker starting hands (like As-Ac-Ks-Kc) aren’t going to compete very well against the showdown field on a board of Qs-Qc-7h-6d-2d.

What you would have as a “high” hand in this situation is Two Pairs: Aces & Queens with a Seven kicker (again, you can only use two or your four hole cards to make your Omaha hand.

And even if – by some miracle – you don’t run into a superior “high” hand at showdown, you’ll STILL be splitting the pot with the best “low” hand. If you don’t have at least two “low” hole cards at the start of an Omaha Hi/Lo hand (8-7-6-5-4-3-2-A), then you are automatically disqualified from making a “low” hand, regardless of how many “low” cards appear on the community board.

This is why As-Ac-2s-3c is considered to be a superior starting hand in Omaha Hi/Lo when compared to premium 2 pair poker starting hands like As-Ac-Ks-Kc.

Premium 2 pair poker starting hands are less likely to hold up in Omaha games (High or Hi/lo) if there are no other cards to make a Set, Full House, or Quads on the community board.

Of course, if your As-Ac-Ks-Kc starting hand sees a Turn board of Ad-Ah-9h-2d – then by all means – you WANT as many players as possible “donating” on the Turn in an Omaha Hi/Lo game. That’s because you are going to have the best possible “high” hand no matter which card is dealt face-up on the River, and you’re more than happy for opponents to chase each others’ potential “low” hand.

READ MORE: Learn How to Master the Math at Poker Tables

Even if the River comes Ad-Ah-9h-2d-4s you’re still winning the “high” hand and will split the pot evenly with whoever made the best “low” hand. But again, your Pocket Kings won’t enter the picture in such a scenario – your 5-card “high” hand will be: Quad Aces with a 9 kicker.

Making Two Pairs on a “Paired Board” in Texas Hold’em Games

Another example of when to be wary of making two pairs is when the community board is paired in Texas Hold’em games.

Your Ts-Tc may be one of the stronger starting hands possible in Texas Hold’em, but you face a danger of going up against “Trips” if a community board flop of 9s-9c-2d is dealt.

Yes… you have two pairs so far (Tens and Nines with a 2 kicker), but you are way behind if one or two of your opponents happen to have a nine in their starting hand, and you’re also way behind if one of your remaining opponents was dealt Pocket Twos at the beginning of the hand.

You DO have two pairs on the flop described above, but are behind to any Three-of-a-Kind hands, Full Houses, or Quad Nines. You will also be a several showdown underdog to other premium pocket pairs such as JJ/QQ/KK/AA – which will have superior 2 pair poker hands compared to you.

The Importance of “Kickers” in Two Pair Poker Hands

In a hypothetical Texas Hold’em poker game, let’s assume that there are two players who have reached showdown, and both players have Two Pairs.

Player 1: As-Ks
Player 2: Kc-Qc

COMMUNITY BOARD: 5d-5h-Kd-Tc-8s

Player 1 will win this showdown outright, due to the superior “kicker” that accompanies the two pair poker hand.

Player 1 has. Two Pairs, Kings and Fives with an Ace kicker
Player 2 has: Two Pairs, Kings and Fives with a Queen kicker

Simply put, Player 1 makes a superior 5 card Texas Hold’em hand in this situation thanks to the Ace of Spades. Player 2 CAN improve the board “kicker” with the Queen, but it loses to the Ace kicker.

Two Pair Poker Hands – Learn The Rules

As with any card game, it is important to learn the rules of poker BEFORE stepping into a competitive environment in which real money is at stake.

Two pairs can be a formidable hand in certain scenarios, and can be clearly outmatched in others. After all, the only hands that two pairs will always beat are one pair hands (or “no-pair” hands such as Ace-high).

Two pairs are defeated outright by any Three-of-a-Kind or better – meaning that Two Pair hands like Aces & Kings will lose to a hand like Three-of-a-Kind: Twos.

Two Pairs in Poker: The Difference Between Poker Rules and Poker Skills

As with all poker games, it is important to distinguish between poker “rules” and poker “skills” when playing any hand, including 2 pairs.

Learning how to best your opponents in a game in which the rules are clearly stipulated, posted, and available for all players to consult falls under the realm of poker “skills” – which may require a lot of experience as well as poker training to accomplish.

However, the rules of any poker game should be “open-face” at all times. You’ll want to keep an eye out during home games in which a dealer’s choice format is in effect.

If deuces are “wild” during a particular hand, then this is PERTINENT information that all competing players NEED to know (on an equal comprehension footing) before any real money is risked.

The same can be said for novelty TV show poker games in which starting hands like Seven-Deuce win an extra bounty – from either the house or other players at the table – if that hand is successful (a.k.a., deemed the winning hand) at showdown.

Despite the popularity and domination of poker variants like Texas Hold’em, there are many more mixed game variants that can be played and that can be fun… as long as each player is aware (and has access to) the “rules” of the game.

As a card game host, you want ALL players at a table to be 100% aware of the poker game rules, as this makes for a more competitive (not to mention “fair”) environment when real money or something else of “value” is at stake.

Summary: Two Pairs in Poker

Playing poker with hands like Two Pairs is part of the game, and can result in taking down an entire pot or getting beaten at showdown for all your chips.

Make sure to know the relative strength of your 2 pair poker hand when competing at the tables for real money, and keep any specific rules that may enhance (or devalue) your 2 pair poker hands in mind at all times.

Have fun at the tables, and make the most out of your 2 pair poker hands to win more!

Poker, however, is a game that is not played against the house. Players come together at a table and try to take each other’s money, the casino just facilitates the game by providing the table, chairs, chips, cards, and dealers. Since they aren’t involved in the betting, do casinos make money on poker? Of course they do!

Real estate in a casino is incredibly valuable. That is why you see the most square footage being devoted to slot machines; they make the most money. The casino would never dedicate an entire ballroom-sized piece of property to a game that doesn’t make them money. So how does the house make money on poker?

Casinos make money on poker in two ways, either by taking a part of the pot commonly referred to as “rake” or by having players pay an hourly rate to pay, also known as “timed rake”. It may not sound like there is much difference between the two but there is. Let’s take a closer look at these options and see how casinos make money on poker.

Rake

Rake is the most common way casinos take a cut out of poker. At a typical low-stakes casino game the house will take out 10% of the pot up to a certain amount, typically around $5-$6. There can also be an extra dollar or two taken out for promotions. For example, most casinos in the Northeast U.S. will take out 10% up to $5 with an additional $1 being taken out for the bad beat jackpot or high hand depending on which promotion is running. So if a pot is $100, $5 goes to the house and $1 goes to the promotions. If a pot is only $20, then the house gets $2 and $1 to the promotions.

This doesn’t sound too bad on the surface, right? If you are winning pots that are over $50 then it isn’t really even 10% due to the cap. Also, players may like this structure at first because only the winner is paying the casino. It may not be easy to see but especially in low-stakes games rake is taking an absurd amount of money off the table.

When you have a quick dealer you can play roughly 30 hands per hour. Let’s say you are playing $1/$2 at a casino with a 10% rake capped at $5. If the average hand is $40, there is roughly $4 per hand coming off the table. At 30 hands per hour, you are looking at $120 per hour off the table. If 6 players all bought in for $200 and nobody busted or added money in, after about 10 hours there would be no more money on the table. Sounds extreme right?

If that is the case, how do casinos make money on poker when they rake so much? Wouldn’t players decide to go elsewhere or play different games? We can see from the popularity of poker this isn’t the case because most players don’t even notice the money coming off the table.

Players don’t see how much is being taken out of the game because there is typically a list of patrons coming in and joining the cash games. In the above scenario, it is painfully obvious how much money is coming off the table because everyone started with $200 and nobody added more chips. In a casino, however, not only do you have people reloading and re-buying but you have new players entering the game. This makes it a lot easier to miss the fact that anywhere from $80-$120 could be coming off the table every hour in rake.

The extra money taken off for promotions is another thing to look out for. Since this money doesn’t go to the casino, it isn’t technically part of the rake. That money goes back to players in the form of high hands and bad beat jackpots. If you are traveling, you will likely never see any of that money. If you are a regular, that money will eventually make its way back into the games you are playing.

High-hand promotions are better for everyone since they are paid out frequently and are small enough increments that they will make their back to the tables. Bad beat jackpots aren’t as good for the player pool. Of course, winning $50,000 playing $1/$2 would be amazing, but for everyone else, it is a bad thing. You likely won’t find a low-stakes player ready to lose that $50,000 back over the next year, so most likely that is money the player pool will never see again.

Drop

Taking a “drop” instead of “rake” isn’t as common, but there are some casinos (mainly in the Los Angeles area) that do this. A drop is very similar to rake since the casino is taking money out of each pot. The big difference is the drop is a set amount per street rather than a percentage of the pot. If a casino is taking $6 per hand in drop for a $2/$3 game, that typically means $1 preflop, $2 on the flop, $2 on the turn, and $1 on the river. Sometimes it could be $1, $2, $3, or even $2, $4. This is significantly worse for the players because small pots will be raked the same as large ones.

For example, in $2/$3 a game that takes a drop, let’s say the BTN and SB players both limp and the BB checks their option. The casino takes $1 out of the $9 preflop. Now on the flop the action checks through and the house takes another $2. The players have already given 33.33% of the pot to the house, more than triple the rate in a raked game. The worst part is, if it folds to the SB and they want to chop, the SB player still has to pay $1 preflop to chop! So they can either call for one more dollar and play the hand, or lose $1 to fold and move on. If you find yourself in L.A. it’s best to just play those blind vs. blind pots than sacrifice your dollar.

Taking a drop instead of a rake is extremely harmful to the player pool and it requires a huge pool or deep-pocketed players to sustain. This is why the casinos in L.A. can get away with it, there are so many poker players in that city so they can sustain the terrible drop.

Paying Time

Paying time, or a timed rake, is another way casinos make money on poker. A timed game has a set dollar amount per hour that each player must pay. Some card rooms like those in Texas clock the time you sit down and when you leave the front desk attendant will calculate your total and collect payment. In Vegas and other areas with timed games, the dealer or floor will come around once per hour or half hour to collect the rake. This is usually lined up with the dealer change, which is every 30 minutes.

Timed rake is the standard in Texas since local laws allow for private clubs that can run poker games if they choose, but don’t allow for raked poker games. You can buy a membership and each time you visit you must pay the hourly rate to play poker.

Timed rake is also a favorite among high-stakes cash game players. Many casinos offer timed rake for $10/$20 no-limit and higher. Some may even offer it for $5/$10 if that is the biggest game in the room. Big mixed games like the $200-$400 limit games in Las Vegas will also be timed. There’s a good reason the high-stakes players prefer the timed rake: less money goes to the house.

Think about our earlier example. When six players sat down playing average pots of $40 at 30 hands per hour, $120 was being taken off the table each hour, so roughly $20 per hour per player. Most popular poker clubs in Texas charge anywhere from $10-$12 per hour, meaning half what the raked game was taking. Not only is it less money in the timed games, but the money stays on the table. If two players go all-in for $200 in Texas, the winner gets a $400 pot. In a raked game, the winner gets $395 or less depending on promotions. By keeping all the money on the table the game can go on for longer and will be deeper stacked.

The only real downside to timed games is when you are losing. In a raked game, if you don’t win any pots you don’t pay the house any money. Of course, it’s no fun playing poker and winning no hands, but it’s even less fun when you have to pony up more cash on your way out the door. In a raked game, when you bust you can high-tail it to the parking lot and get out of there quickly. In a timed game, you have to stop at the door and pay extra after getting stacked. It is not a great feeling, but in the long run you will make more in a timed game than a raked game.

How Does the House Make Money on Poker Tournaments?

Much like cash games, poker tournaments also have a rake or house fee. Casinos don’t rake pots or make you pay time in tournaments though. The chips in play have no monetary value and it wouldn’t make sense to have people who bust the tournament early pay extra for the time they sat. Instead of the two normal methods, casinos will rake the tournament buy-in. For example, in a $150 daily poker tournament, the casino may take $15-$30 depending on the property. In a tournament with a $25 fee, that means $125 goes into the prize pool and the $25 goes to the house.

If you play online poker, you will generally see tournaments listed with their rake involved. For example, a $20 tournament online could be listed like this: $20 ($18+$2). This means $18 goes to the total prize pool and $2 goes to the casino. 10% is very standard for online tournaments, live tournaments will vary based on the casino.

How Important is Rake?

Paying attention to rake is integral to being a successful poker player. A few dollars for each pot may not sound like much, but rake can be the difference between a winning and losing player in the long run. Micro and low-stakes games have high rake so it is important to find the most reasonable rake structure you can. Casinos will post information about their rake, so spend some time and do some digging to find the lowest rake possible.

This isn’t something just for professionals either. If you love poker and want to play as much as you can recreationally you should still hunt for the lowest-raked games. Much like looking for soft games with easy opponents, you should be looking for soft rake structures that can be beaten easily.

Whether you find yourself with many or just a few options available, searching for lower-raked games will help improve your win rate in the long run. We’ve seen a number of ways casinos can make money on poker, so do your best to give them as little as possible and keep that money on the table.