The Evolution of Video Poker Machines

Evolution vs. Creation is always the sort of debate that can turn the most pleasant of parties into the sort of battle royal that would pry a grin from face of WWE Kingpin, Vince McMahon. The discussion usually starts when an evolutionist hears somebody joke at the holy theories expense, and then they spend the next few hours trying to explain how an amoeba at the start of the Cambrian period managed to keep evolving at a rate of at least three successful, accidental mutations per year until 350 million years later it was a T-Rex. When somebody points out that this is not only a silly idea, but asks why all this mutating came to a screeching halt when people entered the mix, they either throw a punch, or sulk in the corner. Fortunately for those of us who love gaming history, the progression of some of favorite casino offerings is more concrete and requires far less faith then the whole amoeba to a T-Rex thing.

Most people who play video poker either online or at their favorite casino probably don’t know that the game was invented long before Bugsy first put down the foundation for the Flamingo or Al Gore supposedly invented the internet. The first type of “video poker” machine was invented in 1891 by Pitt and Sittman. Their machine featured five rollers and absolute no mechanism for a winner to get paid. These machines were generally sold to folks who owned bars. When a patron won, they would show the bartender their five winning rollers and be rewarded for their luck with a free drink. While on the surface these machines seemed to be an evolutionary dead end; very few of them made it beyond the borders of New York, the first poker machine was actually an inspirational boon.

Charles Fey was inspired by this invention and later came up with the first true slot machine; the liberty bell. Even Fey’s invention was well outside the mainstream until the Flamingo went up in Vegas. As the gaming industry exploded, so did the popularity of such machines. Slots and poker machines went from a novelty to a huge business concern. The industry grew, and the technology got better and now poker machines are a staple of any good casino. This sort of evolution is probably safer to bring up at parties without doubters bringing up all sorts of uncomfy questions.

Best Poker Rakeback

The “perfect hand” in online poker, and how it can make or break someone’s day...

The "perfect hand” theory is something that is paid little attention to, especially by online poker players.
First of all, just to make things clear, I’d like to define what I understand by a "perfect hand”.

A perfect hand is a rather strong hand (by far not the best possible poker hand, though) that is made a sure big time winner by the fact that someone else at the table possesses an almost - but not quite - similarly strong hand.

This other person will also believe he/she has indeed the best hand and will commit large sums of money to protect it, thus filling up the pot, you’ll eventually end up taking. If several people have reasons to believe they have a chance to take the pot, it’s all the better for you.

However, sometimes you will find yourself on the lower end of such a ‘perfect hand’ situation. Besides being one of the most damaging factors in terms of your bankroll, such a situation also has a huge psychological impact, it can make players nervous and eventually send them on a tilt. I’d say, the extent to which you manage to stay out of such situations, will make or break your bankroll.

In online poker, players lose a lot more than they win. That’s a fact. Or better put, they lose more times than they win. A good, sound strategy is to seldom commit on a hand past the flop. Most hands are folded right away, (especially low offsuit holecards). When you post the blinds (big or small blinds) it is usually worth to consider defending them, because in a limit game (and not only there) blinds have the potential to noticeably influence your bankroll too.

Other than that, a good player only commits resources on a very few occasions. The task here is, to win the overwhelming majority of hands you decide to commit on.

A good player will either only commit on solid hands, or - according to the read he has on the opponents, and the way they act on that certain hand, (or for another reason) - he may decide to go for a bluff. Whatever the reason, he needs to be quite positive he can take that pot.

You may not know it but in real money poker, you pay rake on every hand that you play. Rakeback gives you part of that rake back. A 30% rakeback deal returns $3 on every $10 you generate in rake.

Let’s consider that you are playing as safe as possible - so the bluffing scenario is out from the start.

You only take your really good hands down the stretch, and you manage to win every time you do this. You’re a winning player. What do you suppose the worst single thing, the one that can ruin the day for you under such circumstances, is?

That’s right, the “perfect hand”...
The first time it happens, you shrug it off. The second time it strikes, you’re still ahead, but you start to worry. Nervousness is like a magnet for trouble in poker, and it’s only a matter of time before you get hit by another "perfect hand”. Pretty soon you start chasing your losses, and before you know it, you’re on a tilt. The other players notice it too, and the feeding frenzy begins. Like a bunch of blood thirsty sharks they throw themselves on your bankroll and rip it to pieces, as you desperately struggle to make up for lost ground.

What happened? How could such a nice-going game turn into the above described bloodbath ? After all, you made no mistakes, you played it absolutely safe, and you were winning...

Well, you did make a mistake. Nothing stupid our outstandingly foolish, you’ve just overlooked a few important things. The vast majority of online poker players are generally so focused on their own hand, they fail to pay any attention to what the other players might have in their pockets. No wonder this happens, since there are many players who play multiple tables at the same time, so the amount of attention they can afford to spare on each of these tables, is obviously quite limited. Whenever they get hit by the “perfect hand” they’ll blame it on bad luck.

The reality of the situation is, though, that such "perfect hand” curse-streaks can be avoided. How? By paying attention to the board texture, and to how many players are still in the game at the time a decision is made.

To make things as simple as possible I’ll give you a small (and apparently often controversial) example here.

You’re dealt a pair of Js in the pocket (Jh, Js). Naturally, you figure, this is something you’d definitely like to see the flop on. Despite the fact that a pocket pair is not really all it’s hyped up to be, you get lucky. The flop comes: 2c, 6c, Jd. You’ve flopped trips, the pot is yours. All, that many players do from here on, is to try to draw as many chips into the pot as possible - everybody using his/her own strategy for such situations, slow play, small consecutive raises, acting aggressively...you name it. And they’re surprised how well it works.

Let’s suppose you’re not the type of player who doesn’t care what the board has in store, once you’ve flopped a solid hand. You pay attention hoping you might get a full house on the turn. The turn comes 9c, so the board now looks like this: 2c, 6c, Jd, 9c. Somebody raises, so you call it and gleefully ponder how nicely the pot fattens up for you. The river comes Ac, and the four other players left in the game with you start raising like there’s no tomorrow. This is the point you decide to take control. Not only do you call their raises but you also raise the stakes a bit yourself. Then the showdown comes and you lose. On three jacks. Bad luck? I’d hardly say so... It’s more like a case of doing you know what with the bull, and then getting the horns...


If you know what rakeback is, I think you’ll agree that playing even a single hand without rakeback is senseless. Missing out on rakeback revenue which takes no extra effort on your part to obtain is contrary to the fundamental theorem of winning poker. Start getting your rake back today.

Let’s take another look at the board after the river. 2c, 6c, Jd, 9c, Ac. Again, there are four other players in the game with you. But all you see is you have trips. Trips usually win right? Well. Not here.

Look at the whole situation in a different light: what are the odds that out of the four players still in on the hand ( all four with 2 cards in the pocket, making up a total of 8 cards) one has a club. Doesn’t matter if it’s a 3 or whatever else just as long as it’s a club... it’s quite possible huh? As a matter of fact you can almost count on it that on of them has it, especially if they all raise. What are the chances that you take the pot with your trips now? Almost zero.

The same would go if there were a partial straight on the board. Call me stupid or whatever you want but I’d muck the jacks just as soon as the fourth club hit the table.
Of course, the decision would be a lot different if the previously mentioned situation occured in a heads up setup.

This is actually a rather extreme "perfect hand” situation I brought up here. The vast majority will be a lot less obvious ( you’ll have a full house or be stuck on the low end of a straight) but if you get used to paying attention to the board, and to actually considering what your opponents might have in their pockets, in time, you’ll develop a feel for such situations.

Of course, it’s not easy to give up your three Jacks after you’ve waited for a solid hand for a while, but in this case it’s the right thing to do.

Next time you blame something on bad luck, just ask yourself: "have I really paid enough attention to the board texture?”

- Written by Jim Jackson.

Beginners In Holdem Poker Should Wait to Play

We change our valuation of poker hands sometimes for bad reasons.

Some thoughts for beginner poker players:

If all things were equal at the poker table, you'd win, roughly, your share of hands: that is, around one-tenth of hands played if it's a regular 10-seat table. Assuming, for the moment, that nobody folds before showdown.

But nothing is ever equal at the poker table. You and the other players have different strengths; you sit in positions which drastically change your advantages; and you can choose to fold anytime it's your turn, changing the number of competitors. Your greatest point of control is whether to take part or not in that particular hand.

All players cut themselves out of the running by folding some of the time, because it's perfectly obvious that just showing up to play isn't a winning strategy. Too many of us, however, don't fold often enough -- as if relying on others to fold and get out of our way. I don't think it's simply an urge to do something rather than nothing; some excellent poker players believe there's an ingrained impulse to act once we've been dealt a hand. But I think it's a superstition. A feeling, a belief that we would win if others just cooperate a little. We regard folding as giving in, as failure. Deep down, we don't really, really believe that we should ever fold.

It's a superstition you have to reject. Even if we were sitting at the imaginary equal-chance table above, never folding is still not good strategy, is it? You are still losing far more often than you win.

You need to fold more often than other people, generally. Those selected hands you play you choose because you have a strong starting hand. This is in direct opposition to what you may feel at the poker table, though.

You may find your justification for staying in with those cards was thin, or just plain false. Setting rules for yourself is often useful in combating the impulse to call to stay in, and hence the popularity of starting hand charts. You'll adjust that group of hands you decide to stay in with according to your position, the level you're playing, and your impressions of the other players.

You can see, from the percentage of the times they win, which are always fairly good Holdem hands before the flop although they are not pairs: AK, AQ, AJ; KQ, KJ.
But just because your starting hand is a lot better than the other ones you've been getting all session -- like getting dealt QT after stuff like 89 offsuit and 72 off for hours -- that doesn't make this hand a strong hand. This is especially true if it hasn't been a particularly loose table. Evaluating your hand does NOT mean comparing it to your previous hands.

Bad Beats and Lucky Draws

As they say, Welcome to the Hellmuth.

There is a reason Phil Hellmuth Jr. wrote a book titled Bad Beats and Lucky Draws, as I found out personally at a table in New York City’s East Village.

One of the developments that came out of the poker explosion of the past few years -- besides getting everyone on earth playing online -- is that companies began using poker as the new way to get people to attend events.

Netflix did just that a year ago when they held a poker tournament for editors of male-audience magazines in a townhouse in the East Village of New York City to help garner coverage for their service. You would have to think their PR people would know that Maxim and Stuff wouldn’t be writing stories about renting videos online, but damned if over 100 editors and writers weren’t in the house.

Especially since the first prize was a seat (and free hotel and airfare) in the World Series of Poker. Factor in that it was an open bar and had a free cigar room, who in his right mind would skip this party?

The guest emcee of the tournament was Phil Hellmuth, who, besides garnering I am sure a pretty sizable appearance fee, was there promoting his new book Bad Beats and Lucky Draws. The book illustrates the point that even if you play the hand perfectly you can still lose the hand. Something I was about to find out for myself in about a half-hour.

My two co-workers and I arrived about an hour early to the event, so after our little tutorial on how to use Netflix, we were just sitting around waiting for the tournament to start. So Hellmuth, equally bored, decided to start up a side game with the 10 people sitting around. It sounded good to me and my comrades, so we grabbed one of the dealers and started up at one of the tourney tables.

All of us playing got $5,000 in chips and Hellmuth was just as mouthy and arrogant as the reputation that precedes him. I am not saying he isn’t a nice guy, but if you were the one of the best players in the world playing against a bunch of amateurs how would you act?

After about a half-hour, six people were already out, with Hellmuth taking about 60 percent of their chips. It was his turn to act first. He takes a quick peek at his cards and then does something nobody was expecting; he pushes all-in.

As the three players following him fold, I pull up the corners of my two cards and find pocket aces. So my decision to call has been made for me, as there is no way he could have a better starting hand. Even though I assume he must have a great hand himself.

Everyone else folds to me and I call, for which Hellmuth immediately says, "Got you beat," and flips over a King and Eight of Spades. "No you don’t," I reply and flip over the pocket rockets. By now there's about 40 people watching the game waiting for the tournament to start, and they all started to ooh and ahh. "You got me dominated," Hellmuth responded.

The flop comes; 3-5-10 of mixed suits, meaning that the flush draw is gone. The only way I could lose is with running Kings, and what are the odds of that with a King already accounted for? Another player at the table announces that he'd had a King in his hand, so there are only two Kings left in the deck.

Fourth Street, King. A murmur starts to rise from the crowd as Hellmuth remarks, "Only one card in the deck can help me." The fifth and final card is flipped, and it is another King. The crowd erupts as I sit in complete disbelief. "That is a bad beat," Hellmuth says to me, "it happens to the best of us."

While waiting for the tables to get set up for the tournament I decide to get some air with a glass of Scotch on the terrace. One after another, people are coming up to me offering their condolences with phrases like "Can’t believe he caught two Kings," and "That’s Hellmuth for you."

Despite that terrible start to the evening, I was able to rally and finish 25th in the tournament, which got me in the money, meaning I got a gift bag. Amazingly I was knocked out by my co-worker whom I taught how to play Texas Holdem in the office before we left.

He had called my all-in with a Q-8 offsuit against my pocket Jacks and caught a Queen on Fifth Street.

I guess it just wasn’t my night.

Germany Bans Online Gambling

Germany Institutes Online Gambling Ban -- American pols indeed enjoyed the vacation, but their German counterparts were busy in December implementing the Deutsche version of a nanny state. All 16 German states ratified a law passed in December that not only bans citizens from online gambling, bans foreign gambling firms from advertising in Germany, and attempts to block financial transactions connected to online sites, it even authorizes the blocking of gambling-related sites by German ISPs. The law was immediately assailed by European online-gambling executives and is expected to face legal challenges at once, both within Germany and in the European Court of Justice.

Aussie Millions Kicks Off, "gobboboy" Wins Prelim -- Underway at Melbourne’s Crown Casino are preliminary events in the 2008 Aussie Millions championships. Last year’s Main Event saw internet whiz Jimmy "gobboboy" Fricke overtaken by eventual champ Gus Hansen during heads-up action after several unusual and dramatic hands. "gobbo" got his Aussie win this year, if only in a preliminary "mixed stud games" event, featuring stud, stud hi-lo and razz. Fricke pocketed $16,800 after finishing off Graeme "Kiwi G" Putt for the win.

FTOPS VII Announced -- Three times each year, Full Tilt runs its Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), and the seventh edition of the popular online event is scheduled to run from February 6-17, 2008. FTOPS VII features 20 events spread out over its 12 days, with $10 million in guaranteed prize money. The Feb. 17th main event ($535 buy-in) alone offers a $2 million guaranteed purse, and the unique two-day, $2,625 buy-in event returns for the third time.

Lawsuit Filed to Block Florida-Seminole Gambling Pact -- The authority of Florida Governor Charles Crist to unilaterally negotiate and sign a gambling compact with Florida’s Seminole tribe has been challenged in a lawsuit filed by that state’s attorney general, Bill McCollum. The pact, originally signed in November, includes the offering of live poker at the several Florida casinos operated by the Seminole nation. McCollum’s suit challenges the constitutionality of Gov. Crist’s actions, arguing that such a deal, under Florida law, requires legislative approval.

A Maybe-Poker Murder in Colorado -- 2007 saw two reported murders at United States poker games, that of Frank DeSena in NYC in November and of Floridian Dennis Michael Turner in October. That’s two too many, of course. 2008 may have already seen its first, although reports are vague. Poker is mentioned as the reason for gatherings at the house of 21-year-old Colorado Springs resident Josh Sommervold, who died after being shot in the chest after an argument broke out. Three people have been arrested in connection with the murder, including 26-year-old Adrian Works, who was also hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Expect more details on this one when the suspects are arraigned on the charges.

Boy, That Canadian Open Poker Championship Was a Short Event -- Anyone ever hear of the Canadian Open Poker Championship, held in Calgary, Alberta? The thing went off in 2006 and drew a handful of big names, and then seemed to disappear in ’07. They were recently reported as scheduling a March 2008 run of five events, only to see the internet press releases for the series subsequently yanked from the event three days later. The website for the tourney, though, remains in place, meaning that the COPC may or may not be held at the Deerfoot Inn & Casino, which itself might be in or near Calgary. Anyone wanna ship these guys a copy of Marketing for Dummies?
"JJProdigy" Banned from PCA, Hoofs It to Oz -- Here’s another weird tale to ponder. Remember Josh JJProdigy Field, the 15-year-old who took down major wins online and was subsequently exposed as a multi-accounter? Field was quickly banned from online sites, as much for being underage as anything. Field admitted to continuing to play multiple accounts and playing under false identities -- good parental supervision, that -- but made a public apology just before his 18th birthday… just in time to hopefully attend the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. No thanks, said Stars, one of several sites defrauded by Field’s previous actions, which continued its ban against him by extending it to live Stars events. Not to be denied, Field quickly hopped a flight to the Aussie Millions instead.

Poker And The Art Of The Bluff

To thine own self go ahead and be true, but this is a poker game.

Bluffing and poker go together like scotch and soda. The game of poker just calls out for a player to occasionally bluff. Some players are unbelievably good at it and others are hopeless failures at the art of bluffing. Why this happens can be analyzed and some conclusions stand out like sore thumbs.

The sequence of play has a great deal of effect on the winning bluff; it has to be set up properly and then carried out without a trace of fear. Any hesitation or fumble is likely to give it away to an observant opponent.

The Setup

The bluff needs three elements to be successfully pulled off by a player. The player needs position at the table in relation to the Big Blind. A reputation for tight play is also a plus for the bluffer. The player would be advised to check-raise the hand to give the other players the idea that you have a really big hand.

The final part of the bluff is that the player must be willing to fire again after the flop, and reraise if necessary. These are the actions of a player with a very good hand that looks like the winning hand to the bettor. Betting at the right moment helps to carry out the bluff. The bluff works when the other players are convinced that the bettor has a real hand. Multiple bets when given the opportunity is the part of the bluff that makes it work. If, at any time in the play, the bettor is faced with a substantial raise, the bettor should fold and try some other time to pull off a bluff. You really are looking for situations where the other players are stuck playing marginal hands.

To Show The Bluff, Or Not?

There are two schools of thought on showing a bluff after it has been run. The first school thinks you are giving away the fact that you will bluff when the time is ripe. This means that for the rest of the playing session someone is likely to call. If you show your bluff you will not be able to do it again later. For this reason most players will not show, as they want the other players to believe that they play only solid hands. This could make the difference when a marginal hand is up against the bettor. If the bettor has not been caught bluffing, then the marginal hand player will likely fold unless the player is a calling station.

People who always call are tough to bluff from a hand. A designated caller should be avoided when trying to run a bluff. Good players are often easier to bluff than weak players. Good players do not care if you bluff them out of a pot; they know that they will get their turn when the cards even out. They do not have this absurd idea that to be bluffed is to be dishonored somehow. They only want to call or raise on winning hands.

Picking The Time To Bluff

If all of the players preceding you have only called, then it is likely they all have drawing hands and not high pocket pairs. If the flop comes only small cards and no face cards or aces, it is likely that everybody missed his hand on the flop. A check-raise will usually ferret out a sandbagger with a strong hand. If the bettor is only called on the bets, it is likely the other player is still trying to make a hand. This is the time to put pressure on that player by making it expensive to draw. Substantial bets or reraises are hard to swallow when the calling player has only a drawing hand. Some players will never risk money on a draw, even when they should do so.

If you are playing against a hothead and you run a successful bluff, it may be worthwhile to show the bluff after the hothead folds. You may have them trapped the rest of the evening trying to catch you bluffing again.

Run A Bluff With An Excellent Drawing Hand

Bluffing with a good drawing hand is another way to look at bluffing. Let’s say that you have a hand after the flop that is four cards to the Ace high flush. If you hold the Ace, you have two chances to win: Pair the Ace or make the flush. It may be a good time to checkraise or at least reraise. Many times a raise at this point in the hand will cause the other players to fold, believing you already have a made hand.

If nothing else, the betting has created a major pot worth winning. Good cards or good bluffing are winning ways at this point in the hand. Winning this created pot can make a player more confident and even more aggressive. And aggressive players have an edge in poker games.

Conclusions

Bluffing is a true art form in poker when carried out in a skillful manner. Someone who has a reputation for bluffing may be called often just because of that reputation. This player is in the catbird seat, as he will get paid off handsomely in many pots he wins. One thing he should not do is bluff a lot in a game where he's likely to get caught simply due to the players knowing his tendency to bluff.
Players who never bluff are making the game of poker more difficult for themselves. You must bluff every now and then, just to let the other players know that you will do it at some time. If you get caught, so much the better, as you will be called when you have big hands as well. Getting as much money as you can in each pot is the way to insure a winning playing session. Winning big pots can make up for a rash of losing hands. It is not the number of pots you win; it is the amount of money you win from each pot.

Home Poker Game

The Home poker game scene is one of the fastest growing leisure activities around just now. With the explosion of TV poker there is an enormous interest in the game and of course people want to try it for themselves. One way to play of course is on the internet in the online poker tournaments, but if you'd rather experience the real thing, setting up a poker game at home is the ideal choice for most people. So what do you need to get started playing your home poker games?

Firstly of course, you'll need some friends! One of the greatest things about poker is of course the flexibility of the game and the fact that it can be played by any number of players. Around six to eight is probably best for an average home poker game.

Almost as important as having friends however is to make sure that what you are doing is legal. In some parts of the world gambling is illegal, even if you are doing it in the privacy of your own home so check it out before you start.

You'll need to decide what game you are playing and for this I would look no further that Texas Holdem as it is the easiest game to learn and of course most people know how to play it as it has become the standard game for TV poker.

Next you’ll need to get your equipment sorted out for the home poker game. The main things you’ll have to get for this are pretty obvious of course, a poker table, a couple of decks of cards and a set of poker chips.

Let’s take the table first. What, you’ve already got a poker table in the spare room? Great! You’re all set to go. Most of us however won’t have the luxury of a ready made poker table so what are the options? Well if you don’t want to get too technical about it, any old table that can comfortably seat the players would do. If you want to get a bit more professional however you can either buy a ready made poker table or make one yourself.

Poker chips are the next thing on your list and there’s a huge variety of them available. Plastic, clay and plastic/clay composite are the three main materials used to make the chips and there is a big difference across the board in price and quality. I’m not saying for a moment that your friends would cheat, but if you have a regular game and are using freely available cheapo plastic chips there might be a temptation for somebody to bring a couple of their own!

As with the poker chips, playing cards vary considerably so try and get yourself a couple of decks of decent quality cards.

Now you’re friends are all set and you’ve got the equipment sorted out, there’s only one more thing to consider before you’re ready to go. People are going to be there for a few hours, so you’ll have to lay on a few snacks and nibbles at least for them.

You might even want to lay on a couple of beers!

Poker Rules

Poker Rules - these are the official rules of Texas Holdem poker. Texas Hold'em is one of the many variations of poker and has the easiest poker rules to follow. It is the most popular game and also the fastest and most exciting.
That's why we love it!

BLINDS
The game of Texas Holdem poker is played by up to 10 players at a time, the dealer's position is indicated by the "button". The player to the left of the dealer posts the "small blind". This means that he places a set amount of money into the pot before seeing his cards. The player to his left posts the "big blind".
In traditional poker rules a limit Holdem game is described as a particular amount of money, for example a $2/$4 game. In this case the small blind would be $1 and the big blind $2. The blinds ensure that there is always some money in the pot for every hand. In limit Texas Hold'em poker, the lower limit is used for the first 2 rounds and the higher limit for the second 2 rounds.
The Texas Holdem rules for tournaments are special. In tournaments, the blinds are increased according to a pre-set schedule. This is done to control the length of the tournament. If the blinds stayed the same all through a tournament, it would take a very long time for the tournament to end. Of course, the players have to adjust their Texas Holdem strategy to the increasing blinds in tournaments.

BETTING
Betting is crucial part of poker rules. Each player receives two cards face down, dealt one at a time, called the hole cards. The players look at their hole card and decide on their next move based on these two cards.
The player to the left of the big blind must act first and he has one of three choices, he can "fold" - i.e. throw his cards in; he can "call" - i.e. bet the minimum bet; or he can "raise" - i.e. he can increase the betting to a higher level. If there is a raise each player must either call the raise to stay in, re-raise, or fold.
Play continues clockwise and each player in turn can either fold, call the current bet, or raise.
There are a maximum of 3 raises in each round of Texas Hold'em betting.

THE FLOP
After the initial betting is complete, three cards are turned face up on the table. This is known as the "flop". There is now a further round of betting starting with the player in the small blind position, i.e. immediately to the left of the dealer, or if he has folded the next person to his let who is still in the hand. As well as calling, raising or folding, there is now a fourth option - checking. This means that you want to stay in the hand to see the next card, but you don't want to pay. You can only check if nobody before you has bet.

THE TURN
After betting on the flop is complete, a fourth card is turned face up. This is called the "flop" and again there is a round of betting based on this card.

THE RIVER
After betting on the turn is complete, a fifth card is turned face up on the table. This is the "river" and there is a final round of betting.
Players must now use the two "hole" cards that they were dealt along with the five community cards which are face up on the table to make the best possible five-card hand.

Texas Holdem Hands

Texas Holdem Poker hands may not be quite as profitable as you think! For example if you get dealt an Ace Eight offsuit, statistically you are likely to lose money on the hand rather than win. The following table is an analysis of over 120 million real money hands played on a major poker site recently.

The hand abbreviations are pretty straightforward, A for Ace K for King etc. The profitability column is the interesting one. If the figure is negative, the probability is that you will lose money with this hand. If it's around zero it could go either way and if it's positive, that is above zero, the chances are that you will win with the hand. The last column is the number of times the hand has been dealt out of about 120 million hands.

As you see the hands fall into groups, with the suited hands the least likely to be dealt and two different offsuit cards the most likely. This is what we would expect as the cards can only be the same or different and the same suit or different. Whether the cards are consecutive or not has no bearing on the probability of the Texas Holdem poker hands being drawn.

Hand	Profitability	Number of times hand dealt
AA	2.32	500,000 - 600,000
KK	1.67	500,000 - 600,000
QQ	1.22	500,000 - 600,000
JJ	0.86	500,000 - 600,000
TT	0.58	500,000 - 600,000
99	0.38	500,000 - 600,000
88	0.25	500,000 - 600,000
77	0.16	500,000 - 600,000
66	0.07	500,000 - 600,000
55	0.02	500,000 - 600,000
44	-0.03	500,000 - 600,000
33	-0.07	500,000 - 600,000
22	-0.09	500,000 - 600,000
AK	0.51	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
AKs	0.77	350,000 - 375,000
AQ	0.31	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
AQs	0.59	350,000 - 375,000
AJ	0.19	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
AJs	0.43	350,000 - 375,000
AT	0.08	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
ATs	0.33	350,000 - 375,000
A9	-0.03	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
A9s	0.18	350,000 - 375,000
A8	-0.07	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
A8s	0.1	350,000 - 375,000
A7	-0.1	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
A7s	0.08	350,000 - 375,000
A6	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
A6s	0.03	350,000 - 375,000
A5	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
A5s	0.08	350,000 - 375,000
A4	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
A4s	0.06	350,000 - 375,000
A3	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
A3s	0.02	350,000 - 375,000
A2	-0.15	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
A2s	0	350,000 - 375,000
KQ	0.16	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
KQs	0.39	350,000 - 375,000
KJ	0.07	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
KJs	0.29	350,000 - 375,000
KT	0.01	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
KTs	0.2	350,000 - 375,000
K9	-0.07	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
K9s	0.09	350,000 - 375,000
K8	-0.11	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
K8s	0.01	350,000 - 375,000
K7	-0.11	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
K7s	0	350,000 - 375,000
K6	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
K6s	-0.04	350,000 - 375,000
K5	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
K5s	-0.05	350,000 - 375,000
K4	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
K4s	-0.05	350,000 - 375,000
K3	-0.14	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
K3s	-0.08	350,000 - 375,000
K2	-0.14	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
K2s	-0.08	350,000 - 375,000
QJ	0.03	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
QJs	0.23	350,000 - 375,000
QT	-0.02	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
QTs	0.17	350,000 - 375,000
Q9	-0.08	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
Q9s	0.06	350,000 - 375,000
Q8	-0.11	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
Q8s	-0.02	350,000 - 375,000
Q7	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
Q7s	-0.06	350,000 - 375,000
Q6	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
Q6s	-0.08	350,000 - 375,000
Q5	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
Q5s	-0.09	350,000 - 375,000
Q4	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
Q4s	-0.1	350,000 - 375,000
Q3	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
Q3s	-0.11	350,000 - 375,000
Q2	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
Q2s	-0.12	350,000 - 375,000
JT	-0.03	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
JTs	0.15	350,000 - 375,000
J9	-0.08	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
J9s	0.04	350,000 - 375,000
J8	-0.1	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
J8s	-0.03	350,000 - 375,000
J7	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
J7s	-0.07	350,000 - 375,000
J6	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
J6s	-0.11	350,000 - 375,000
J5	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
J5s	-0.11	350,000 - 375,000
J4	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
J4s	-0.11	350,000 - 375,000
J3	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
J3s	-0.13	350,000 - 375,000
J2	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
J2s	-0.14	350,000 - 375,000
T9	-0.08	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
T9s	0.05	350,000 - 375,000
T8	-0.09	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
T8s	0	350,000 - 375,000
T7	-0.1	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
T7s	-0.05	350,000 - 375,000
T6	-0.11	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
T6s	-0.11	350,000 - 375,000
T5	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
T5s	-0.12	350,000 - 375,000
T4	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
T4s	-0.13	350,000 - 375,000
T3	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
T3s	-0.13	350,000 - 375,000
T2	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
T2s	-0.14	350,000 - 375,000
98	-0.1	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
98s	0	350,000 - 375,000
97	-0.1	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
97s	-0.04	350,000 - 375,000
96	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
96s	-0.09	350,000 - 375,000
95	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
95s	-0.12	350,000 - 375,000
94	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
94s	-0.15	350,000 - 375,000
93	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
93s	-0.14	350,000 - 375,000
92	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
92s	-0.14	350,000 - 375,000
87	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
87s	-0.02	350,000 - 375,000
86	-0.11	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
86s	-0.07	350,000 - 375,000
85	-0.11	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
85s	-0.11	350,000 - 375,000
84	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
84s	-0.13	350,000 - 375,000
83	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
83s	-0.15	350,000 - 375,000
82	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
82s	-0.14	350,000 - 375,000
76	-0.11	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
76s	-0.03	350,000 - 375,000
75	-0.11	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
75s	-0.09	350,000 - 375,000
74	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
74s	-0.11	350,000 - 375,000
73	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
73s	-0.14	350,000 - 375,000
72	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
72s	-0.15	350,000 - 375,000
65	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
65s	-0.07	350,000 - 375,000
64	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
64s	-0.09	350,000 - 375,000
63	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
63s	-0.11	350,000 - 375,000
62	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
62s	-0.14	350,000 - 375,000
54	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
54s	-0.08	350,000 - 375,000
53	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
53s	-0.11	350,000 - 375,000
52	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
52s	-0.14	350,000 - 375,000
43	-0.13	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
43s	-0.13	350,000 - 375,000
42	-0.12	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
42s	-0.14	350,000 - 375,000
32	-0.14	1,000,000 - 1,200,000
32s	-0.16	350,000 - 375,000