Mathematics: Flushes & Straights : Simple Pot Odds : Implied Odds : Reverse Implied Odds

Watch SplitSuit's video on Flushes and Flush Draws for 8 hand histories involving strategy on playing flushes in Texas Hold'em.

Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em Progressive is an optional progressive bet. The bet considers the best hand possible among all the player’s cards. PROGRESSIVE PAY TABLE Player’s Hand Payout. Royal Flush-Flop Only & Player’s 2-card hand-first 5 cards.100% Royal Flush-Community cards & minimum. A Texas Holdem cash game is played on a single table with 2 to 10 players. The goal in a cash game is to win as many chips as you can. A multi-table tournament will have a number of players divided into multiple tables with 9-10 players on each table. Under deuce-to-seven low rules, an ace always ranks high (so 5♠ 4♠ 3♠ 2♠ A♠ is an ace-high flush). Under ace-to-six low rules, an ace always rank low (so A♥ K♥ Q♥ J♥ 10♥ is a king-high flush). Under ace-to-five low rules, straight flushes are not possible (so 9♣ 8♣ 7♣ 6♣ 5♣ is a nine-high hand). The same holds true for the new Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker. The best 'hole cards' (2-card starting hand) sometimes will not win, and the worst starting hand (hole cards) sometimes becomes the winning poker hand after all the community cards are exposed. These hand rankings aren't specifically part of Texas hold'em rules, but apply to many different poker games. Royal Flush — five cards of the same suit, ranked ace through ten; e.g., A ♥ K.

You are on the flop with a pretty decent flush draw. You have two hearts in your hand and there are another two on the flop.

Unfortunately, some cool cat has made a bet, putting you in a tricky situation where you have to decide whether or not it is in your best interest to call to try and make the flush, or fold and save your money.

This is a prime example of where you are going to take advantage of 'pot odds' to work out whether or not it is worth making the call.

What are pot odds? What about flushes and straights?

Basically, just forget about the name if you haven't heard about it before, there's no need to let it throw you off. Just think of 'pot odds' as the method for finding out whether chasing after a draw (like a flush or straight) is going to be profitable. If you're on your toes, you might have already been able to guess that it is generally better to chase after a draw when the bet is small rather than large, but we'll get to that in a minute...

Pot odds will tell you whether or not to call certain sized bets to try and complete your flush or straight draw.

Why use pot odds?

Because it makes you money, of course.

If you always know whether the best option is to fold or call when you're stuck with a hand like a flush draw, you are going to be saving (and winning) yourself money in the long run. On top of that, pot odds are pretty simple to work out when you get the hang of it, so it will only take a split second to work out if you should call or fold the next time you're in a sticky drawing situation. How nice is that?

Texas Holdem Rules Flush On Table Tennis

How to work out whether or not to call with a flush or straight draw.

Now, this is the meat of the article. But trust me on this one, the 'working-out' part is not as difficult as you might think, so give me a chance to explain it to you before you decide to knock it on the head. So here we go...

Essentially, there are two quick and easy parts to working out pot odds. The first is to work out how likely it is that you will make your flush or straight (or whatever the hell you are chasing after), and the second is to compare the size of the bet that you are facing with the size of the pot. Then we use a little bit of mathematical magic to figure out if we should make the call.

1] Find out how likely it is to complete your draw (e.g. completing a flush draw).

All we have to do for this part is work out how many cards we have not seen, and then figure out how many of these unknown cards could make our draw and how many could not.

We can then put these numbers together to get a pretty useful ratio. So, for example, if we have a diamond flush draw on the flop we can work out...

The maths.

There are 47 cards that we do not know about (52 minus the 2 cards we have and minus the 3 cards on the flop).

• 9 of these unknown cards could complete our flush (13 diamonds in total minus 2 diamonds in our hand and the 2 diamonds on the flop).
• The other 38 cards will not complete our flush (47 unknown cards, minus the helpful 9 cards results in 38 useless ones).
• This gives us a ratio of 38:9, or scaled down... roughly 4:1.

So, at the end of all that nonsense we came out with a ratio of 4:1. This result is a pretty cool ratio, as it tells us that for every 4 times we get a useless card and miss our draw, 1 time will we get a useful card (a diamond) and complete our flush. Now all we need to do is put this figure to good use by comparing it to a similar ratio regarding the size of the bet that we are facing.

After you get your head around working out how many cards will help you and how many won't, the only tricky part is shortening a ratio like 38:9 down to something more manageable like 4:1. However, after you get used to pot odds you will just remember that things like flush draws are around 4:1 odds. To be honest, you won't even need to do this step the majority of the time, because there are very few ratios that you need to remember, so you can pick them off the top of your head and move on to step 2.

2] Compare the size of the bet to the size of the pot.

The title pretty much says it all here. Use your skills from the last step to work out a ratio for the size of the bet in comparison to the size of the pot. Just put the total pot size (our opponent's bet + the original pot) first in the ratio, and the bet size second. Here are a few quick examples for you...

• $20 bet into a $100 pot = 120:20 = 6:1
• $0.25 bet creating a total pot size of $1 = 1:0.25 = 4:1
• $40 bet creating a total pot size of $100 = 100:40 = 2.5:1

That should be enough to give you an idea of how to do the second step. In the interest of this example, I am going to say that our opponent (with a $200 stack) has bet $20 in to a $80 pot, giving us odds of 5:1 ($100:$20). This is going to come in very handy in the next step.

This odds calculation step is very simple, and the only tricky part is getting the big ratios down into more manageable ones. However, this gets a lot easier after a bit of practice, so there's no need to give up just yet if you're not fluent when it comes to working with ratios after the first 5 seconds. Give yourself a chance!

To speed up your pot odds calculations during play, try using the handy (and free) SPOC program.

3] Compare these two ratios.

Now then, we know how likely it is that we are going to complete our draw, and we have worked out our odds from the pot (pot odds, get it? It's just like magic I know.). All we have to do now is put these two ratios side to side and compare them...

• 5:1 pot odds
• 4:1 odds of completing our draw on the next card

The pot odds in this case are bigger than the odds of completing our draw, which means that we will be making more money in the long run for every time we hit according to these odds. Therefore we should CALL because we will win enough to make up for the times that we miss and lose our money.

If that doesn't make total sense, then just stick to these hard and fast rules if it makes things easier:

If your pot odds are bigger than your chances of hitting - CALL
If your pot odds are smaller than your chances of hitting - FOLD

So just think of bigger being better when it comes to pot odds. Furthermore, if you can remember back to the start of the article when we had the idea that calling smaller bets is better, you will be able to work out that small bets give you bigger pot odds - makes sense right? It really comes together quite beautifully after you get your head around it.

What if there are two cards to come?

In this article I have shown you how to work out pot odds for the next card only. However, when you are on the flop there are actually 2 cards to come, so shouldn't you work out the odds for improving to make the best hand over the next 2 cards instead of 1?

No, actually.

Even if there are 2 cards to come (i.e. you're on the flop), you should still only work out the odds of improving your hand for the next card only.

The reason for this is that if you work using odds for improving over two cards, you need to assume that you won't be paying any more money on the turn to see the river. Seeing as you cannot be sure of this (it's quite unlikely in most cases), you should work out your pot odds for the turn and river individually. This will save you from paying more money than you should to complete your draw.

I discuss this important principle in a little more detail on my page about the rule of 2 and 4 for pot odds. It's also one of the mistakes poker players make when using odds.

Note: The only time you use odds for 2 cards to come combined is when your opponent in all-in on the flop. In almost every other case, you take it one card at a time.

Playing flush and straight draws overview.

I really tried hard to keep this article as short as possible, but then again I didn't want to make it vague and hazy so that you had no idea about what was going on. I'm hoping that after your first read-through that you will have a rough idea about how to work out when you should call or fold when on a flush or straight draw, but I am sure that it will take you another look over or two before it really starts to sink in. So I advise that you read over it again at least once.

The best way to get to grips with pot odds is to actually start working them out for yourself and trying them out in an actual game. It is all well and good reading about it and thinking that you know how to use them, but the true knowledge of pot odds comes from getting your hands dirty and putting your mind to work at the poker tables.

It honestly isn't that tough to use pot odds in your game, as it will take less than a session or two before you can use them comfortably during play. So trust me on this one, it is going to be well worth your while to spend a little time learning how to use pot odds, in return for always knowing whether to call or fold when you are on a draw. It will take a load off your mind and put more money in your pocket.

To help you out when it comes to your calculations, take a look at the article on simple pot odds. It should make it all a lot less daunting.

Go back to the sublime Texas Hold'em guide.

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Ultimate Texas Hold ’Em is one of the newest variations of poker to be created and it has become widely available in most U.S. casinos over the last several years. Today it is one of the most popular niche table games in almost every casino that offers it.

When Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em was first introduced, the game was only available on multiplayer electronic machines. Since that time, its popularity has exploded and it has been expanded into a live table game which is the most common variety played in casinos today. It is now a registered trademark of Bally Gaming.

Currently Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em is available at most Las Vegas casinos and many others throughout the country. Like other forms of poker, Ultimate Texas Hold ’Em is played with a single 52-card standard deck of cards. Players start off by making a blind and ante bet. Unlike traditional Texas Hold ‘Em variations, however, these two wagers must be equal. There is also an optional Trips side bet which pays regardless of whether your hand wins or loses. Read on to learn more about Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em payouts, rules and how to play.

Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em Articles

Texas Holdem Rules Flush On Table Game

– Read Our Guide to Playing Ultimate Texas Hold’em Online

Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em Payouts & Winning Hands

The blind, ante and play bets are each scored slightly differently depending on the outcome of the hand. The blind bet has its own special pay table, according to the strength of the overall hand. For the blind, winning hands of a straight or better have special payouts. Winning ante and play bets are paid out at 1:1. Below we have put together a basic chart outlining each of these:

Overall Payouts Based on Winning Hand

Blind Bet Payout

– Royal Flush: 500-1
– Straight Flush: 50-1
– Four of a Kind: 10-1
– Full House: 3-1
– Flush: 3-2
– Straight: 1-1

Trips Bet Payouts

The Trips side bet is optional and pays regardless of whether the hand wins or not. It even wins if the board makes the hand, making it one of the most popular features of Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em. It is also worth noting that players may fold and still win the Trips bet. Below we have outlined payouts based on the winning hand:

– Royal Flush: 50-1
– Straight Flush: 40-1
– Four of a Kind: 30-1
– Three of a Kind: 8-1
– Full House: 8-1
– Flush: 6-1
– Straight: 5-1

How to Play Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em

The format used in Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em is similar to other versions of Texas Hold ‘Em that are spread in poker rooms. The biggest draws are that unlike other poker varieties, Ultimate Hold ‘Em is played against the dealer and there is an optional trips bet (which we go over below). Another draw comes from the raise format, which offers the player an opportunity to raise as a multiple of of ante. These factors help add a higher level of excitement to the game. Below we’ll outline the rules and payouts associated with Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em.

1. To start off, players receive two cards and so does the dealer. The players look at their cards and decide whether to check or to raise. If they opt to raise, it must amount to four times the ante. There is also an option to raise only three times – however, there is never a hand where basic strategy calls for this move. A raise at any point in the hand ends any player action.

2. After this decision, three cards (known as the flop) are shown. Players that did not raise before the flop now have the option of raising two times the ante. Checking is also an option here.

3. After the post-flop betting has been resolved, the last two cards are shown. At this point, players must either match their ante or fold.

4. The dealer then exposes his two cards and grades the hand. The dealer must have at least one pair to qualify. A paired board is considered a qualifier, even if the dealer did not match it.

5. If the dealer does not qualify, then the ante pushes; even if the player’s hand loses to the dealer. If the dealer’s hand qualifies, the best hand wins the ante bet. This is the same whether playing in a casino or online at top poker sites for real money.

Additional notes: Regardless of whether the dealer qualifies, the blind and raises are in play. If the dealer beats the player then the blind bet and raise lose. If the player beats the dealer, the raise is matched. Ties push the raise and blind bet.

Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em Progressive

When it comes to the excitement level of Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em, the possibility of hitting a progressive certainly adds to the game. There are generally two types of progressive available at a table. This includes a “small” and “big” progressive. Obviously, this will vary from casino to casino, and sometimes even state to state. Most commonly, to qualify for the progressive requires the player to place a $1 side bet.

Small Progressive

A “small progressive” refers to a player making certain hands by using at least 1 hole card. The highest payout comes from hitting a Royal Flush. Doing so will mean you get paid out the entire small progressive jackpot. Other hands qualifying for the progressive are community royals, straight flushes, four of a kinds and full houses.

Texas Holdem Rules Flush On Tables

Big Progressive

Texas Holdem Rules Flush On Table Games

A “big progressive” refers to when a player makes the same hands listed above without using any hole cards. Instead, the player must flop a Royal Flush to win the jackpot. The jackpot for big progressives are generally much higher than the small progressive, since the odds are much lower on hitting one. You can still, however, win by using hole cards. For example, making a royal with a hole card still pays 5% of the jackpot, while a community royal will generally pay $3,000.