The different Texas Hold Em Poker hands are exactly the same as normal poker hands. If you don’t know these don’t worry because I am going to explain them all. There are ten different hands that you can have. In order from worst to best, they are: low, 1 pair, 2 pair, 3 of a kind, straight, flush, full house, 4 of a kind, straight flush and royal flush. I will explain each of these in detail. The person with the highest hand wins.
When people talk about cards in text they will type the number of the card, and also a letter denoting the suit. H=hearts, D=diamonds, S=spades, C=clubs. Jack is J, Queen is Q, King is K and Ace is A. So for example a nine of clubs is 9C and a queen of hearts is QH. Some people put a hyphen ‘-’ in between, some not. For multiple cards in a hand some people will just use a space i.e. 7D 8D 9D 10D JD or some people will use a hyphen i.e. 7D-8D-9D-10D-JD. Sometimes people wont put anything and this is usually hard to read. It takes a little getting used to but you should be able to decode most peoples explanations with little effort.
Now for all of the Texas Hold Em Poker Hands:
Low: This hand is very bad. A low hand is essentially nothing. You have no good hands. An example would be 7D-5S-4C-3C-2H. Its nothing. Although for the most part this hand is very bad, if two people have a low hand the person with the single highest card wins.
1 Pair: This is the first hand you will usually make. A pair is having a single pair of a type of card. The number must match and obviously the suit won’t be able to. An example would be 2H-6H-10C-JC-JS. So in this example the player has a pair of jacks. When two more more players have a pair the person with the highest pair will win.
2 Pair: This is a fairly good hand you can usually get quite easily. 2 pair is just like have a pair two times. An example would be AC-7H-7D-QC-QH. So in this example the player has a pair of 7’s and a pair of Queen’s. When two players both have 2 pair the player with the single highest pair out of all of them wins. It doesn’t matter if his second pair is lower then the other players.
3 of a kind: This is a good hand that you can make quite easily if you start with a pair in the hole. This hand is simply having three cards all of the same, like JH-5S-8C-8S-8D. This player has three 8’s so has 3 of a kind. If multiple players have 3 of a kind the player with the highest wins.
Straight: Here we deviate from the standard number matching. A straight is any five consecutively numbered cards. It doesn’t matter what suit just the numbers must be consecutive. For example 7D-8H-9S-10C-JH. If more then one player has a straight the player with the highest overall card at the end of the straight wins. An Ace can be used as either a low ace, like 12345, or a high ace, like 10JQKA. It cannot be used in the middle. QKA23 is not a valid hand and would be considered a low hand.
Flush: A flush is simply any five cards with the same suit. It doesn’t matter the number of the cards they just all have to be the same suit. An example would be AS-2S-6S-JS-9S. See how they are all spades? That is a flush. If two or more players both have a flush the person with the highest overall card will win. So having just one Ace, King or Queen in your flush tends to pay off.
Full House: A full house is a 3 of a kind plus a pair. An example is KD-KH-3S-3C-3D. See the 3 of a kind of three’s and the pair of king’s. This hand is very good but harder to get. The more important numbered card is the one in the 3 of a kind. If there is a showdown the player with the higher number in their 3 of a kind will win.
4 of a kind: As the name suggests, this hand is having 4 of the same kind of card. Like QC-QD-QH-QS-10C. Four queens makes 4 of a kind. Like with all the other hands, if two players have a four of a kind the player with the highest numbered card in their 4 of a kind will win.
Straight Flush: This hand is extremely hard to get and is a combination of the straight and the flush. So the numbers of the cards must be consecutive and all the suits must be the same. James Bond wins with a straight flush in Casino Royal. An example is 4S-5S-6S-7S-8S. Consecutive numbers plus all spades. If more then one player has a straight flush the player with the highest numbered card on the end of their’s will win.
Royal Flush: This is just a straight flush but at the top end. Its essentially the highest straight flush you can get. Its the ultimate: 10H-JH-QH-KH-AH. Nothing beats this hand. This is the best hand you can get.
Still with me?
So I have explained all of the different Texas Hold Em Poker hands that you can get. I put them in order from worst to best. Of course, each better one beats any one under it. So a 3 of a kind beats a pair automatically, and a flush beats that easily. Take the time to read through them again to remember them better. Its worth memorizing these so you immediately know who has won a poker hand, without having to refer to anything. Always remember, when two people have the same hand the winner is the person with the highest overall card making that hand.
Alex is an avid Texas Hold Em Poker player and has dedicated his time, effort and money to learning the art and skill of successfully winning rounds of No Limit Hold Em. Shoot him an email at alex@mytexasholdempokertips.com or head on over to his informative website http://MyTexasHoldemPokerTips.com and read his free newsletter
Texas Hold Em Poker Hands – Basic Play Of Hands
August 28th, 2010 — Poker
Whenever you are playing Texas Hold Em Poker the hands you play can often depict whether you are one round away from being a massive winner or one round away from losing absolutely everything because in No Limit Texas Hold Em Poker, all your chips are at risk every single time you play a hand. The only exception to this is if your opponent has less chips then you of course.
In ever poker game you play your goal is to win the most chips possible. Your secondary goal is to lose the least amount of chips possible. You need to remember these goals when you are playing. You should always play good starting hands if you can. Since you usually aren’t dealt very good starting hands that often you should probably be folding most of the hands you get before seeing the flop. Generally speaking, the hands you want to stay in for are pockets of high pairs; so aces, kings and queens, or two premium cards like ace-king or king-queen, suited or unsuited. Depending on your position at the table you may be able to play a few different other hands.
The hands you can play and which ones you can’t will be greatly affected by your position in the betting sequence for that round. You will need progressively better hands the closer you get to the big blind. So in last position you will be able to get away with a much worse starting hand then if you were under the gun.
With all other things being equal, if you are in first or second position you only ever want to play exceptionally great hands, like a premium pair. If you are in one of the middle positions you can probably play any good pair and or two high cards headed by an ace or a king. When you are sitting on the button you can play practically any pair and also suited connectors. Remember though, you must be very careful and particular about what hands you play when you are the small or big blind.
So when you are playing any of the Texas Hold Em Poker hands you need to remember your primary goal. You are trying to win the most chips possible. Keep in mind your secondary goal; to lose the least chips possible. If you are playing very weak hands you may not be able to reach these goals. Generally you want to be playing only good starting hands. If you are on the button you can play slightly weaker hands and get away with it. The fact of the matter is, you just have to fold alot of cards waiting for the good hands.
Alex is an avid Texas Hold Em Poker player and has dedicated his time, effort and money to learning the art and skill of successfully winning rounds of No Limit Hold Em. Shoot him an email at alex@mytexasholdempokertips.com or head on over to his informative website http://MyTexasHoldemPokerTips.com and read his free newsletter on how to get the best Texas Hold Em Poker Hands
Texas Hold Em Poker Rule Discussion
August 25th, 2010 — Poker
Alot of times some people have small questions about a specific Texas Hold Em Poker rule or another little nuance of the game. I’ll discuss a couple of the rules around betting.
Q: What if you want to call someone’s bet but don’t have enough chips to?
If you don’t have enough chips to call someone’s raises, or bet, you still can call them. You will essentially have to call with all your chips, so you’ll be going all-in. If you do this and win the pot you will win all of your own chips you put in the pot plus an exact proportion of the your opponents bets from the pot. So yes, even if you don’t have enough chips to call, if you think you are going to win call him (with what you can.)
Q: What if there are three players in a pot after the flop but one of them doesn’t have enough chips to call a bet later like on the turn or the river?
Its similar to the last example. The player without enough chips can still call the bet, they just do so with whatever chips they have, essentially going all-in. In this case, that players bet goes into the pot and the whole pot, so everything up to and matching that players bet, is up for grabs for that player. Any bets above and beyond that bet goes into a side-pot so the two players with the more chips can continue betting/playing. At the showdown the all-in player is only eligible to win his pot and the other players can win both pots.
Q: What if another player and I have the same hand at the end of the game?
If two players have the same hand at the end of the game then each of them receive one half of the chips in the pot. So suppose you have J-10 and your opponent has Q-10 and the community cards are A-K-Q-J-6. You both have an ace-high straight so you have the same hand so the pot is split.
These are just some basic questions people have when they are trying to learn every Texas Hold Em Poker rule. The rules in Texas Hold Em Poker are pretty straight forward and learning them 100% in full in very advisable if you want to succeed. Once you learn every Texas Hold Em Poker rule your stress created by not really knowing the outcome will reduce and you can concentrate more on strategy and odds etc.
Alex is an avid Texas Hold Em Poker player and has dedicated his time, effort and money to learning the art and skill of successfully winning rounds of No Limit Hold Em. Shoot him an email at alex@mytexasholdempokertips.com or head on over to his informative website http://MyTexasHoldemPokerTips.com and read his free newsletter
Texas Hold Em Poker Tip – Pay Attention
August 14th, 2010 — Poker
You need to pay attention to this Texas Hold Em Poker tip and keep paying attention for the rest of your poker career. The number one thing you can do, right now, to immediately increase your poker game is to pay attention! You can become remarkably better just by watching what is going on, observing the other players and taking notice of all the little, subtle things. This goes double for when you aren’t involved in the pot (because you folded).
Firstly this is the easiest thing you can do to improve your poker game. Secondly, this is the best thing you can do. What a double whammy. You would be amazed at how many people don’t even pay attention when they are playing poker. They look at their hole cards, bet a little, look at the flop, bet a little and they are done. There is so much more to this game then meets the eye.
For most people, when they aren’t playing a pot, which is more then half the time, they aren’t even paying attention to the game anymore. They are sitting their, daydreaming about their girlfriend, what they will have for lunch, wondering what movie they are going to go and see next. Some people will start watching other things happening in the casino, or another table, or a TV somewhere. Jeepers. Players who do this will not succeed in the long run.
This Texas Hold Em Poker Tip is all about remaining mentally focussed on the game at hand. Your focus will get blurry if you are drinking alcohol. Have you ever noticed what the top professional players drink at the table? Yes, water. Getting drunk is a surefire way to head towards the losers corner. Remaining focussed means that when you are tired you stop playing poker. Pass on the game if you don’t feel up to it because you will get less then desirable results if you play tired.
If you let you mind wander off when you are playing poker you will suffer for it. You won’t be playing the best you can and you will start to lose. But if you constantly pay attention to everything that is happening by watching every single thing that’s going on, you will have so much good information to work with making decisions will be that much easier. This is how to figure out the best moves to make. Implement this Texas Hold Em Poker tip the next time your playing poker – pay attention to the game.
Alex is an avid Texas Hold Em Poker player and has dedicated his time, effort and money to learning the art and skill of successfully winning rounds of No Limit Hold Em. Shoot him an email at alex@mytexasholdempokertips.com or head on over to his informative website http://MyTexasHoldemPokerTips.com and read his free newsletter revealing a great new <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://MyTexasHoldemPokerTips.com/my-best-texas-hold-em-poker-tips/”>Texas Hold Em Poker Tip</a> everyday.