Texas Hold’em is a form of poker that involves players creating their hands from cards dealt to them combined with community cards that are dealt faced up and shared. The way Texas Hold’em hands work is different from other forms of poker since the object of the game isn’t to win each individual hand but instead to make mathematically. Texas Holdem Starting Hands Infographic. This Cheat Sheet covers every kind of starting hand and gives you easy-to-follow instructions on how to play them before and after the flop. The infographic also includes helpful stats about how likely it is for someone else to have a bigger pocket pair than you before the flop. Poker Cheat Sheet. This article is the ultimate beginner’s guide to Texas Hold’em. It provides hand rankings, hand selection and basic tips to help at lower stakes. If you are new to poker, read our Poker Cheat Sheet and download for free too. Texas Holdem Buddy - Pogo This Texas Hold'em Poker Pogo cheat can be used to acquire badges on badge challenge days, and be used as a hint provider during manual-play days. Whatever play style you're in the mood for, you'll be happy to have found this Texas Hold'em Poker bot; Texas Holdem Buddy will prove to be your ultimate Texas Hold'em Poker.

Snap Poker Introduction

Snap poker is the quickest poker format offered by 888 Poker. It reduces time between hands and you’re moved to a new table hand instantly after folding (if you choose not to watch). The flexibility of this game is remarkable, allowing you to play cash game or tournament and on your mobile phone too. The ability to fold and instantly move onto the next hand is extremely convenient to both recreational and serious players. As if online poker wasn’t fast enough, now it’s faster!

How Snap Poker Works

There is no table selection with Snap poker. You are in a pool of players who have agreed to enter the cash game or tournament. Once you fold, you are moved to a new table instantly and seated randomly within a few moments. Please note that even though you may be folding fast e.g. in middle position, the game flows normally and people won’t see you fold until action is on you.

Adjusting to Snap Poker

The game of poker does not change just because it’s faster, but there is an impact on strategy that cannot be ignored. Without any thought, one may play snap poker the same way they would play their usual cash game or tournament. This is a mistake. In order to gain an edge on your opponents, you need to identify how they will play snap poker differently and adopt a strategy that is superior. Let’s look at two reasonably concrete facts about some of those who play snap poker.

How Beginners Play Snap Poker

Beginner players will make fewer pre flop mistakes. They are likely to play tighter in this format as the ability to fold fast and move on will encourage them to play stronger hands. The truth is, they play more hands in a regular game as they are keen to be involved in the action and are less patient.
Beginners are playing to hit hands, not win every pot that is there to be won. They will be playing more patiently because it’s convenient and they will not be making as many elaborate or desperate moves post flop. You can expect many beginner players to play fit or fold poker. This is contrary to how they sometimes play in regular games when they will stubbornly call down with ace king when they should be folding.

How to Beat Beginners at Snap Poker

As we’ve identified, beginners are likely to play much tighter before the flop. The best strategy to employ against these players is simple and two-fold – play for implied odds and play as many pots in position. Since we know our opponents are likely to play a tight range of hands, you can play post flop accordingly. If it comes high cards, it’s their range and you can get out the way. If it’s low you can take away pots, float or get value if you have better than an overpair and they are investing. The beauty is, beginner players get attached to their overpair or top pair hands, so you can stack them off easier. This format also means that a newbie who goes on tilt will be giving away a lot of money and quicker.

How Regs Play Snap Poker

Regulars are stealing more in late position. Any seasoned player knows that position is key and are opening wide in late position. This is even more true when it comes to snap poker. An experienced player knows people are instantly folding and can steal the blinds liberally, without contest. This is a perfectly fine strategy as they are probably waiting 3 seconds for action to get to them before stealing 1.5 big blinds or playing post flop in position. They are also likely to tighten up their stacking off range as they know players are less likely to move all in before the flop on a bluff.

How to Beat Regs at Snap Poker

We know the regs will be stealing the blinds as much as possible. An effective strategy to counter this is to 3 bet before the flop or defend the big blind wider and throw in check raises liberally. Regs do not have the ability to read opponents and get a feel for the table in this format, thus, they are more likely to play standard and give you credit. They don’t have history with you and without enough information, they will err on the side of caution and fold more in tough spots. I recommend making your 3 bets quite large before the flop to deter them from calling. It’s better to do this with junky hands or ace rag than playable hands with value like pocket sevens or king ten suited.

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Variance & Bankroll Management

Brace yourself for some big swings with snap poker. The fact you are playing so many more hands per hour means you are getting in some serious volume. Some people multi-table too, so just think about how many hands are being played. It’s best to have a larger bankroll behind you. I recommend having at least 100 buy ins for the stakes you are planning to play.

Pros

• More hands get played so you gain more experience and greater potential to earn more per hour.
• No need to be concerned with table selection as you are playing against random players every hand. This means you are facing different types and calibre of opponents.
• Opportunity to bluff more as less concern over table image. People won’t be picking up on your tendencies quite as much as if they were on a regular table.
• Playing poker faster is definitely more fun, you’re whizzing through hands at fantastic speed. On some tables, you may find yourself a little bored, this won’t ever be the case with this format.

Cons

• The dynamic nature of instantly folding and moving to the next hand makes reading opponents much more difficult. The best players get reads off their opponents based on the information gathered over time. This edge is lost somewhat with this format.
• If you are prone to tilt, you are in for trouble. Without proper care and bankroll management, someone liable to tilt can lose a lot of buyins at snap poker. You need to be strong mentally to be successful at this format.
• The high variance nature is a negative for those of us who like to win money with less risk. Enduring tough runs and 10 buyin down swings are painful and more common here due to the sheer volume of hands being played.

Conclusion

Snap poker is a great format and appeals to a wide pool of players. You get to play more hands, earn more money and see better hands than you would playing regularly. There are some drawbacks, as with all forms of poker. But if played correctly, there is a lot of money to be won. Please remember to play within your means and activate a stop loss if you are prone to tilt.

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Introduction

Ultimate Texas Hold'em® is a poker-based casino game in which the player may make one raise at any time during the course of the hand. The earlier the raise is made the higher it may be. Unlike other poker-based games, raises made after the ante still have action, even if the dealer doesn't open. This game was invented by Roger Snow of Shuffle Master. The same base game, with some minor rule changes, is also distributed by Galaxy Gaming under the name Heads Up Hold 'Em. Evolution Gaming, a supplier of live dealer games to Internet casinos, refers to the game as 'Extreme Texas Hold 'Em' in some jurisdictions, for legal reasons.

ULTIMATE TEXAS HOLD ’EM® is a registered trademark of Bally Gaming, Inc. and is used with permission on this website.

Where To Play Ultimate Texas Hold'Em Online for Real Money

• Bao Casino

How To Video

Rules

Following are the standard rules as played in the United States. There is a variant played in Auckland, New Zealand, I address following the standard rules.

1. The game is played with a single ordinary 52-card deck.
2. The player must make an equal bet on both the Ante and Blind, and can also make an optional Trips bet.
3. Two cards are dealt face down to the player and dealer. The player may look at his own cards.
4. The player can check or make a Play bet equal to three or four times the Ante.
5. The dealer turns over three community cards.
6. If the player previously checked, then he may make a Play bet equal to two times his Ante. If the player already made a Play bet, then he may not bet further.
7. Two final community cards are turned over.
8. If the player previously checked twice, then he must either make a Play bet equal to exactly his Ante, or fold, losing both his Ante and Blind bets. If the player already raised he may not bet further.
9. The player and dealer will both make the best possible hand using any combination of their own two cards and the five community cards.*
10. The dealer will need at least a pair to open.
11. The following table shows how the Blind, Ante, and Play bets are scored, according to who wins, and whether the dealer opens.

    Scoring Rules

    Winner	Dealer Opens	Blind	Ante	Play
    Player	Yes	Win	Win	Win
    Player	No	Win	Push	Win
    Dealer	Yes	Lose	Lose	Lose
    Dealer	No	Lose	Push	Lose
    Tie	Yes or No	Push	Push	Push

12. Winning Ante and Play bets pay 1 to 1. Winning Blind bets pay according to the following pay table.

    Blind Bet Pay Table

    Player Hand	Pays
    Royal flush	500 to 1
    Straight flush	50 to 1
    Four of a kind	10 to 1
    Full house	3 to 1
    Flush	3 to 2
    Straight	1 to 1
    All other	Push

13. The Trips bet will pay according to the poker value of the player's hand regardless of the value of the dealer's hand, according to one of the Trips bet pay tables below.

Notes:

* While the standard rules let both player and dealer use any five cards to make their best poker hand, in Auckland, New Zeland, both sides must make use of both hole cards and three of the five community cards. An analysis of the game under this rule can be found in my page on Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em -- Auckland Variant.

Analysis

There are 52 possible outcomes of each hand. The table below shows the probability of each and the contribution to the total return, assuming optimal strategy. A 4X raise is referred to as a 'large raise,' a 2X raise as 'medium,' and 1x as 'small.'

Return TableExpand

Raise	Dealer Qualifies	Player Hand	Winner	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Large	Yes	Less than straight	Player	5	3,671,050,165,880	0.131987	0.659933
Large	Yes	Straight	Player	6	246,174,692,160	0.008851	0.053105
Large	Yes	Flush	Player	6.5	241,047,929,080	0.008666	0.056332
Large	Yes	Full house	Player	8	295,405,180,920	0.010621	0.084966
Large	Yes	Four of a kind	Player	15	23,008,208,760	0.000827	0.012408
Large	Yes	Straight flush	Player	55	1,818,135,760	0.000065	0.003595
Large	Yes	Royal flush	Player	505	596,356,920	0.000021	0.010828
Large	No	Less than straight	Player	4	1,556,797,035,840	0.055972	0.223888
Large	No	Straight	Player	5	81,416,649,960	0.002927	0.014636
Large	No	Flush	Player	5.5	50,874,988,680	0.001829	0.010060
Large	No	Full house	Player	7	0	0.000000	0.000000
Large	No	Four of a kind	Player	14	0	0.000000	0.000000
Large	No	Straight flush	Player	54	229,686,840	0.000008	0.000446
Large	No	Royal flush	Player	504	90,386,280	0.000003	0.001638
Large	0	Push	0	285,142,270,600	0.010252	0.000000
Large	Yes	Dealer	-6	3,931,554,359,920	0.141353	-0.848116
Large	No	Dealer	-5	102,655,952,400	0.003691	-0.018454
Medium	Yes	Less than straight	Player	3	2,114,839,654,764	0.076036	0.228107
Medium	Yes	Straight	Player	4	133,100,158,992	0.004785	0.019142
Medium	Yes	Flush	Player	4.5	152,618,008,784	0.005487	0.024692
Medium	Yes	Full house	Player	6	289,401,836,880	0.010405	0.062430
Medium	Yes	Four of a kind	Player	13	18,537,793,620	0.000666	0.008664
Medium	Yes	Straight flush	Player	53	2,704,129,504	0.000097	0.005153
Medium	Yes	Royal flush	Player	503	112,333,500	0.000004	0.002031
Medium	No	Less than straight	Player	2	1,083,763,469,592	0.038965	0.077930
Medium	No	Straight	Player	3	45,053,788,356	0.001620	0.004860
Medium	No	Flush	Player	3.5	38,820,798,396	0.001396	0.004885
Medium	No	Full house	Player	5	0	0.000000	0.000000
Medium	No	Four of a kind	Player	12	0	0.000000	0.000000
Medium	No	Straight flush	Player	52	358,131,456	0.000013	0.000670
Medium	No	Royal flush	Player	502	8,830,620	0.000000	0.000159
Medium	Push	0	191,611,691,060	0.006889	0.000000
Medium	Yes	Dealer	-4	1,841,155,221,088	0.066196	-0.264783
Medium	No	Dealer	-3	7,978,353,108	0.000287	-0.000861
Small	Yes	Less than straight	Player	2	1,375,033,295,072	0.049437	0.098874
Small	Yes	Straight	Player	3	395,087,247,768	0.014205	0.042614
Small	Yes	Flush	Player	3.5	190,959,227,136	0.006866	0.024030
Small	Yes	Full house	Player	5	43,297,986,840	0.001557	0.007784
Small	Yes	Four of a kind	Player	12	859,737,984	0.000031	0.000371
Small	Yes	Straight flush	Player	52	1,962,591,576	0.000071	0.003669
Small	Yes	Royal flush	Player	502	42,135,660	0.000002	0.000760
Small	No	Less than straight	Player	1	720,579,458,748	0.025907	0.025907
Small	No	Straight	Player	2	136,018,223,484	0.004890	0.009781
Small	No	Flush	Player	2.5	40,911,000,804	0.001471	0.003677
Small	No	Full house	Player	4	0	0.000000	0.000000
Small	No	Four of a kind	Player	11	0	0.000000	0.000000
Small	No	Straight flush	Player	51	269,696,304	0.000010	0.000495
Small	No	Royal flush	Player	501	6,109,020	0.000000	0.000110
Small	Push	0	418,339,128,088	0.015041	0.000000
Small	Yes	Dealer	-3	2,700,150,685,692	0.097079	-0.291238
Small	No	Dealer	-2	47,223,220,344	0.001698	-0.003396
Fold				-2	5,335,144,079,760	0.191816	-0.383633
Total				27,813,810,024,000	1.000000	-0.021850

The lower right cell shows a house edge of 2.185% per ante bet. What this means, for example, is if you bet $1 and both the Ante and Blind initially, then you can expect to lose 2.185 cents on average. However for comparison to other games I believe the Element of Risk is more appropriate to look at. The average total amount bet by the end of the hand is 4.152252 times the ante bet. So the element of risk would be 2.185%/4.152252 = 0.526%. The standard deviation, relative to the Ante bet, is 4.94.

Large bettors should be wary of maximum payouts. If your ante bet is more than 1/500 of the maximum payout, then you will get shortchanged on a royal flush. For every 100 the effective payout on a royal goes down, the house edge will go up by 0.308%. In other words, the increase in the house edge will be [500-(MP/500)]*0.0000308, where MP is the maximum payout.

The next table shows the average wager and return from each bet.

Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em® Return Table

Bet Type	Average Wager	Average Pays	Average Win
Ante	1	-0.165757	-0.165757
Blind	1	-0.314685	-0.314685
Play	2.152252	0.213076	0.458593
Total	4.152252	-0.02185

Wizard Strategy

The following is my 'Wizard Strategy' for Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em®.

Large Raise: The following table shows when to make the 4X raise.

Poker Hand Cheat Sheet Printable

Medium Raise: Make the 2X raise with any of the following:

• Two pair or better.
• Hidden pair*, except pocket deuces.
• Four to a flush including a hidden 10 or better to that flush

* Hidden pair = Any pair with at least one card in your hole cards (thus the pair is hidden to the dealer).

Small Raise: Make the 1X raise with any of the following, otherwise fold:

Texas Holdem Starting Hands

• Hidden pair or better.
• Less than 21 dealer outs beat you.

Example

What I mean by an 'out' is a dealer hole card that will cause you to lose. Let's look at this situation as an example.

In the example above, there 15 cards that will pair the dealer and beat you (three suits each of K, 7, 2, A, and 10). Then there are the two ranks (jacks and queens) which will out-kick the player. All four jacks and queens remain in the decks, so that is 2×4=8 more cards that will beat you. So, we're up to 15+8=23. We don't count the other three nines because those will result in a push. So, because there are only 23 outs (21 or more), we fold.

BTW, using my Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em® calculator, we see that the expected value of raising this hand is -2.136364, which is less than the -2 of folding.

I get asked a lot about combinations of cards that will beat the player. For example, any two dealer spades that would give the dealer a flush in the example above. The answer is no. It would really make things complicated if the strategy accounted for double-card combinations that would beat the player.

Following my Wizard strategy will result in a house edge of 2.43% and an Element of Risk of 0.58%.

The second and third decision points are influenced by the James Grosjean strategy, for which I have great respect, as I do for all of Grosjean's work. I highly recommend his strategy if you want to something even more powerful than my simple strategy above.

Playing Blind

Texas Holdem Hands

I've been asked about 'playing blind,' meaning making the same raise bet every hand. The following table shows the win, combinations, probability, and contribution to the return for all possible event playing blindly with a 1x Play bet every hand. The lower right cell shows an expected loss of 40.7%, relative to the Ante bet. Compared to the total three units bet per hand (Ante, Blind, and Play), the element of risk, defined as the ratio of expected loss to total amount bet, is 13.57%.

Playing Blind with 1x Raise

Event	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Player loses, dealer doesn't qualify	-2	76,626,795,600	0.027550	-0.055100
Player loses, dealer qualifies	-3	1,257,498,573,692	0.452113	-1.356339
Push	0	113,130,263,816	0.040674	0.000000
Player wins with royal flush, dealer doesn't qualify	501	10,532,592	0.000004	0.001897
Player wins with straight flush, dealer doesn't qualify	51	85,751,460	0.000031	0.001572
Player wins with four of a kind, dealer doesn't qualify	11	-	0.000000	0.000000
Player wins with full house, dealer doesn't qualify	4	-	0.000000	0.000000
Player wins with flush, dealer doesn't qualify	2.5	13,060,678,788	0.004696	0.011739
Player wins with straight, dealer doesn't qualify	2	26,248,866,180	0.009437	0.018875
Player wins with three of a kind or less, dealer doesn't qualify	1	356,577,881,220	0.128202	0.128202
Player wins with royal flush, dealer qualifies	502	75,082,608	0.000027	0.013551
Player wins with straight flush, dealer qualifies	52	648,485,684	0.000233	0.012124
Player wins with four of a kind, dealer qualifies	12	4,240,864,800	0.001525	0.018297
Player wins with full house, dealer qualifies	5	62,810,500,464	0.022582	0.112912
Player wins with flush, dealer qualifies	3.5	58,462,516,500	0.021019	0.073567
Player wins with straight, dealer qualifies	3	77,436,209,892	0.027841	0.083523
Player wins with three of a kind or less, dealer qualifies	2	734,467,999,104	0.264066	0.528132
Total	2,781,381,002,400	1.000000	-0.407047

The next table shows the same information but with a 4x raise. Note that the bottom line shows an expected loss of the same 40.7% of the Ante bet. This is because the Play bet is perfectly balanced, if always made, so it contains no house edge. However, the total amount bet would be six units, making the element of risk 40.7%/6 = 6.78%.

Playing Blind with 4x Raise

Event	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Player loses, dealer doesn't qualify	-5	76,626,795,600	0.027550	-0.137750
Player loses, dealer qualifies	-6	1,257,498,573,692	0.452113	-2.712678
Push	0	113,130,263,816	0.040674	0.000000
Player wins with royal flush, dealer doesn't qualify	504	10,532,592	0.000004	0.001909
Player wins with straight flush, dealer doesn't qualify	54	85,751,460	0.000031	0.001665
Player wins with four of a kind, dealer doesn't qualify	14	-	0.000000	0.000000
Player wins with full house, dealer doesn't qualify	7	-	0.000000	0.000000
Player wins with flush, dealer doesn't qualify	5.5	13,060,678,788	0.004696	0.025827
Player wins with straight, dealer doesn't qualify	5	26,248,866,180	0.009437	0.047187
Player wins with three of a kind or less, dealer doesn't qualify	4	356,577,881,220	0.128202	0.512807
Player wins with royal flush, dealer qualifies	505	75,082,608	0.000027	0.013632
Player wins with straight flush, dealer qualifies	55	648,485,684	0.000233	0.012823
Player wins with four of a kind, dealer qualifies	15	4,240,864,800	0.001525	0.022871
Player wins with full house, dealer qualifies	8	62,810,500,464	0.022582	0.180660
Player wins with flush, dealer qualifies	6.5	58,462,516,500	0.021019	0.136625
Player wins with straight, dealer qualifies	6	77,436,209,892	0.027841	0.167046
Player wins with three of a kind or less, dealer qualifies	5	734,467,999,104	0.264066	1.320330
Total	2,781,381,002,400	1.000000	-0.407047

In conclusion about playing blind, it is a terrible idea. However, if you must do so, make the maximum 4x raise.

Trips Bet

Shufflemaster literature mentions the following four possible pay tables on the Trips bet.

Trips Bet - Pay Table 1

Player Hand	Combinations	Pays	Probability	Return
Royal flush	4324	50	0.000032	0.001616
Straight flush	37260	40	0.000279	0.01114
Four of a kind	224848	30	0.001681	0.05042
Full house	3473184	9	0.025961	0.233649
Flush	4047644	7	0.030255	0.211785
Straight	6180020	4	0.046194	0.184775
Three of a kind	6461620	3	0.048299	0.144896
All other	113355660	-1	0.8473	-0.8473
Total	133784560	1	-0.009018

Trips Bet - Pay Table 2

Player Hand	Combinations	Pays	Probability	Return
Royal flush	4324	50	0.000032	0.001616
Straight flush	37260	40	0.000279	0.01114
Four of a kind	224848	30	0.001681	0.05042
Full house	3473184	8	0.025961	0.207688
Flush	4047644	6	0.030255	0.18153
Straight	6180020	5	0.046194	0.230969
Three of a kind	6461620	3	0.048299	0.144896
All other	113355660	-1	0.8473	-0.8473
Total	133784560	1	-0.01904

Trips Bet — Pay Table 3

Player Hand	Combinations	Pays	Probability	Return
Royal flush	4324	50	0.000032	0.001616
Straight flush	37260	40	0.000279	0.01114
Four of a kind	224848	30	0.001681	0.05042
Full house	3473184	8	0.025961	0.207688
Flush	4047644	7	0.030255	0.211785
Straight	6180020	4	0.046194	0.184775
Three of a kind	6461620	3	0.048299	0.144896
All other	113355660	-1	0.8473	-0.8473
Total	133784560	1	-0.034979

Pay table #3 seen at the Mirage.

Trips Bet - Pay Table 4

Player Hand	Combinations	Pays	Probability	Return
Royal flush	4324	50	0.000032	0.001616
Straight flush	37260	40	0.000279	0.01114
Four of a kind	224848	20	0.001681	0.033613
Full house	3473184	7	0.025961	0.181727
Flush	4047644	6	0.030255	0.18153
Straight	6180020	5	0.046194	0.230969
Three of a kind	6461620	3	0.048299	0.144896
All other	113355660	-1	0.8473	-0.8473
Total	133784560	1	-0.061808

Pay table #4 seen at Shufflemaster TableMax units.

In Florida, the player must also beat the dealer to win the Trips bet. There is also an increase in the pay table to adjust for this. For the full rules, please see my page on the Florida Variant of Trips Bet.

Common Progressive

This is the most common progressive jackpot, in my experience, so I'll title it the 'Common Progressive.' I used to title it the 'Michigan Progressive,' when the only known placement was in Michigan, but now it is seen all over the place.

There is just a single bet amount, which can be $1 or $5, depending on the table. Wins are based on the player's two hole cards and the three flop cards. The following table shows the probability and contribution to the return for the various wins. Wins are relative to the amount bet and are on a 'for one' basis.

Common Progressive

Event	Pays	Envy Bonus	Combinations	Probability	Return	Envy Return
Royal flush	100% of jackpot	1000	4	0.000002	0.000000	0.001539
Straight flush	10% of jackpot	300	36	0.000014	0.000000	0.004156
Four of a kind	300	624	0.000240	0.072029	0.000000
Full house	50	3,744	0.001441	0.072029	0.000000
Flush	40	5,108	0.001965	0.078616	0.000000
Straight	30	10,200	0.003925	0.117739	0.000000
Three of a kind	9	54,912	0.021128	0.190156	0.000000
Total	74,628	0.028715	0.530569	0.005695

What the table above immediately shows us is fixed wins return 53.06% to the player. For each additional player at the table, besides yourself, your return goes up by 0.57% from the Envy Bonus.

For a $1 bet, every $10,000 in the meter adds 2.924% to the return. Likewise, for a $5 bet, every $50,000 in the meter adds 2.924% to the return.

The next table shows the break-even point, where the Progressive side bet has zero house edge, according to the bet amount and number of other players (not counting yourself).

Common Progressive

Other Players	$1 Bet	$5 Bet
0	$160,530.53	$802,652.63
1	$158,583.16	$792,915.79
2	$156,635.79	$783,178.95
3	$154,688.42	$773,442.11
4	$152,741.05	$763,705.26
5	$150,793.68	$753,968.42

Small Progressive

Many tables in Las Vegas offer a $1 progressive side bet. The top win is for a royal flush using at least one hole card, which I call a 'hidden royal flush.' There is also a $100 envy bonus if another player gets a hidden royal. The following table shows the return of the fixed wins only, not counting the envy bonus. It shows a return of 45.68%, before considering the jackpot and envy bonuses.

Small Progressive

Event	Pays	Envy	Combinations	Probability	Return
Hidden royal flush	Jackpot	$100	86,480	0.000031	?
Community royal flush	$1000	$0	4,324	0.000002	0.001539
Straight flush	$250	$0	782,460	0.000279	0.069627
Four of a kind	$75	$0	4,721,808	0.001681	0.126050
Full house	$10	$0	72,936,864	0.025961	0.259610
All other	$0	$0	2,730,943,824	0.972047	0.000000
Total	2,809,475,760	1.000000	0.456827 + ?

The return per $1000 in jackpot is 3.08%. The return for the Envy Bonus is 0.308% for each additional player at the table. So each additional player at the table is worth $100 in the meter.

The next table shows how big the jackpot has to be for the Small Progressive to have exactly a 100% return, or zero house advantage.

Break Even Jackpots

Other Players	Jackpot
5	$17,146.07
4	$17,246.07
3	$17,346.07
2	$17,446.07
1	$17,546.07
0	$17,646.07

Buffalo Thunder Progressive

The Big Progressive tends to be much larger, because the player must flop a royal flush to win it. In other words, the player cannot make use of the Turn and River cards to win the progressive, unlike in the Small Progressive. There is no Envy Bonus. It was seen at the Buffalo Thunder casino in New Mexico.

Buffalo Thunder Progressive

Event	Pays	Permutations	Probability	Return
Player flops royal	100% of jackpot	1037760	0.000002	?
Royal partially on board	5% of jackpot	19717440	0.000029	?
Royal entirely on board	3000	1037760	0.000002	0.004617
Straight flush	250	187790400	0.000279	0.069627
Four of a kind	100	1133233920	0.001681	0.168067
Full house	10	17504847360	0.025961	0.25961
All other	0	655426517760	0.972047	0
Total	674274182400	1	0.502077 + ?

The return for at any given time is 50.19% plus 3.00% for each $10,000 in the meter. For exactly zero house edge, the meter would need to be $165,959.74. I'm told the meter is seeded at $5,000, and 27% of money bet goes towards the meter. Fixed wins are not deducted from the meter. That would make the overall return 77.96%.

Bad Beat Bonus

At the Admiral casino in Liechtenstein there is a Bad Beat Bonus side bet. It pays if either the player or dealer lose with a three of a kind or better. Gaming literature mentions two different pay tables. My analysis of both is below. The bottom line is a house edge of 14.79% on pay table 1 and 20.39% on pay table 2.

Bad Beat Bonus — Pay Table 1

Losing Hand	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Straight flush	7,500	10,300,592	0.000004	0.027776
Four of a kind	500	471,040,512	0.000169	0.084677
Full house	50	8,435,225,376	0.003033	0.151637
Flush	30	19,434,208,592	0.006987	0.209618
Straight	20	18,271,076,976	0.006569	0.131381
Three of a kind	9	64,049,759,448	0.023028	0.207252
Low hand win*	-1	2,557,579,127,088	0.919536	-0.919536
Tie	-1	113,130,263,816	0.040674	-0.040674
Total	2,781,381,002,400	1.000000	-0.147868

Bad Beat Bonus — Pay Table 2

Losing Hand	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Straight flush	10,000	10,300,592	0.000004	0.037034
Four of a kind	500	471,040,512	0.000169	0.084677
Full house	40	8,435,225,376	0.003033	0.121310
Flush	25	19,434,208,592	0.006987	0.174681
Straight	20	18,271,076,976	0.006569	0.131381
Three of a kind	9	64,049,759,448	0.023028	0.207252
Low hand win*	-1	2,557,579,127,088	0.919536	-0.919536
Tie	-1	113,130,263,816	0.040674	-0.040674
Total	2,781,381,002,400	1.000000	-0.203873

*: A 'low hand win' is a winning hand of two pair or less.

Hole Card Bonus

I'm told this side bet can be found in Washington state, the Flamingo in Las Vegas, and Norwegian cruise ship casinos. It pays based on the player's hole cards, except the top award also involves the dealer's hole cards. The lower right cell in the following table shows a house edge of 8.54%.

Hole Card Bonus

Bet	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Player and dealer have aces	1000	6	0.000004	0.003694
Pair of aces	30	7,344	0.004521	0.135636
A/K suited	25	4,900	0.003017	0.075415
A/Q or A/J suited	20	9,800	0.006033	0.120664
AK off-suit	15	14,700	0.009050	0.135747
Pair J's - K's	10	22,050	0.013575	0.135747
A/Q or A/J off-suit	5	29,400	0.018100	0.090498
Pair 2's - 10's	3	66,150	0.040724	0.122172
All other	-1	1,470,000	0.904977	-0.904977
Total	1,624,350	1.000000	-0.085406

Australian Rules

I have an unconfirmed report that at the Crown casino in Perth, Australia, the blind bet pushes if the dealer doesn't qualify and the dealer wins. Assuming no change in strategy, this happens 1 in every 176 hands. When it happens, the player will lose one less unit. The effect is a reduction in the house edge from 2.185% to 1.617%.

6-Card Bonus

Some casinos add on a side bet known as the 6-Card Bonus. This side bet is found on multiple poker-derivative games, so I created a special page for it. For more information, please see my page on the 6-Card Bonus.

Millionaire Progressive

This is a $5 'red light' progressive side bet that pays $1,000,000 for a royal flush in spades, I believe using the player's two hole cards and the flop. For all the rules and analysis, please see my page on the Millionaire Progressive.

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Calculator

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Internal Links

• Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em® game. Play for free with an advice feature to catch your mistakes.
• Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em® calculator. Put in any cards to determine the best play.
• Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em® appendix 1. Details on the odds before the flop.
• Heads Up Hold 'Em. Similar game, offering bad beat bonuses, but 3x raise only after two cards.
• Florida Variant of Trips Bet, where the player must also beat the dealer.

External Links

• Wikipedia — Entry on Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em.
• Discountgambling.net has an outstanding analysis of this game, including what I call his 'nut kicker' strategy for the second and third decision points.
• Shufflemaster's Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em® page.
• Demo game — Play this licensed demo game at our sister site Latest Casino Bonuses.

Best Texas Holdem Cheat Sheet

Texas Holdem Rules For Beginners

Written by:Michael Shackleford