Simple Poker Math for the Texas Hold-Em Player

An important component of becoming a successful poker player is being able to calculate the odds of winning a hand. Regardless of raising, regardless of the other players' hold cards and regardless of psychological intimidation at the poker table, being able to quickly and accurately calculate the odds of hitting your hand will make you a better poker player, which inevitably turns into more profits for your pocket rather than lost entry fees. Even though there are pro poker players who rely more on street smarts and being able to read their opponents, most of the top professional players have at least some knowledge of how to calculate hand odds quickly. Master the following easy strategy and remember the subsequent odds for specific starting hands, and you're on your way to improving your game.

The following poker strategy sounds much harder than it really is, so you may need some practice to perfect this method of calculating the odds of hitting your hand. Basically, you multiply the number of outs you have to wind the hand by two, per the cards that have yet to come (the flop, the turn and the river). For example, if you want to figure out the odds of winning a hand on the flop (should you decide to go all in), you would count the outs, multiply by two, and then multiply that number by two as well (because you have two cards coming out, the turn and the river). This gives you a rough but pretty good estimate on your chances of hitting the nuts and winning your hand. Take the following example from Bluff Magazine for a better idea of how this math strategy works at the poker table.

Your hand is Jack/Ten suited. We assume that your opponent is probably sitting on a big pocket pair. The flop comes out with Three/Eight/Nine. There's no possible flush on the board, but you see that you've got a straight draw. Since we assume your opponent's holding a big pocket pair, we aren't counting a Jack or Ten--it'll probably help them more than you. We're counting Sevens and Queens, and there are eight out there that will give you the nut straight. Multiply eight (the number of outs) by two, and that gives you 16. So, you have about a 16 percent chance of hitting the straight on the turn. To calculate the odds that you'll hit the hand by the river, multiply the 16 by two, and you get 32. You have around a 32 percent chance of hitting the straight by the river. (In the Bluff article, the actual percentage of your starting hand against an opponent with King/King is 34.2 percent.) The 32 percent chance you calculated isn't exact, but it's close enough. At the poker table, you want to be able to think quickly and be as accurate as you can. You don't want to waste time trying to be exact. This poker math rule will definitely help improve your game.

Another tip to help you at the poker table is learning the odds of winning a hand with different hold cards against any random two cards. For a starting hand of Ace/King (called "the big slick" in the poker world), you've got a 67 percent chance of winning the hand if your cards are suited and a 65 percent chance if they're unsuited. For a starting hand of Ace/Queen ("the big chick"), the suited odds are 66 percent to win and the unsuited odds are 64 percent to win. For unsuited Seven/Deuce (the worst starting hand in poker because, among other reasons, there's no possibility of a straight), the odds are about 34 percent that you can win against two random cards. For more winning odds of starting hands in Texas Hold-Em, visit the link in Additional Resources.