I use letters for suits in this guide: H=Hearts, D=Diamonds, S=Spades and C=Clubs

Part One: the basics of poker

The idea of most poker games is to get the best 5 card hand possible. The same applies to
hold'em. Here are the hands ordered by strength:

One Pair: 2H 2S
2 Pairs: 3H 3D and KS KH
3 of A Kind: 7H 7S 7C
Straight: 2H 3C 4H 5D 6S
Flush (All same suit): 3H 6H KH 8H AH
Full House (3 of a kind and a pair): AH AD AC 7H 7C
4 of A Kind: 6H 6C 6S 6D
Straight Flush (Straight + Flush): 7H 8H 9H 10H JH
Royal Flush (Highest possible straight flush): 10H JH QH KH AH

1. A's are high so a pair of A's beats a pair of 7's.

2. A's are dominant when considering 2 pairs so AA and 77 beats KK and JJ because the first
guy has a pair of A's
3. The same applies to any pairs. For example 77 beats 55. Also KK and 10 10 beats JJ and QQ
because of the kings.
4. The lowest possible straight is A2345. This is called a wheel so when watching or playing
poker if someone says wheel it means the lowest possible straight possible.

Part II: How hold'em works

1. The table usually has a maximum of 9 players.

2. One of the players is designated the title of dealer and is given a dealer button(chip). Im any
professional level game there is an all time dealer that deals the cards. In home games the person
with the dealer chip might actually deal the cards.

3. The 2 people to the dealers left have to make a mandatory bet. The first person posts what is
called the "small blind" and the person next to him posts what is called the the "big blind".
Normally the big blind is twice the size of the small blind. This bet forces players to play hands
so they cant just wait for good cards.

4. After the blinds are posted the cards are dealt. The person who posted the small blind gets the
first card. Everyone is given 2 cards.

5. Now the first round of betting begins. The person to the left of the big blind is first to act. He
has 3 options:

Call: put in the same amount as the big blind

Raise: Put in 2 or more times the big blind
Fold: not put any money in and give his cards to the dealer. (Normally players slide their cards
into the middle when folding)

6. The person next to him now has three options:

Call: match the bet of the person before him
Raise: Put in 2 or more times his bet.
Fold: not put any money in and give his cards to the dealer. (Normally players slide their cards
into the middle when folding)

7. This continues until everyone who has decided to play the hand has put the same amount of
chips into the middle.
For any given hand the chips in the middle are referred to as the pot. If nobody raises the big
blind has the option to check meaning he doesnt put in a raise.

8. Now comes the flop. The flop is 1 card placed face down (its called burning or the burn card)
and 3 cards placed face up on the table. These are community cards and anyone can use them to
make their hand. You don not take them because anyone can use them. It is not necessary to use
both cards in your hand. You can use any combination of cards.

9. Next is another round of betting. The person to the dealers left is first to act. He has 2 options:
Check: not put any money into the pot
Bet: Bet any amount of chips (the minimum is the value of the big blind)

10. The next person now either matches the bet (if there is any), makes a bet (if no other bet has
been made this round), folds (if a bet was made and he does not desire to continue playing the
hand), or checks (if no bet has been made before him)

This continues until everyone has either folded or put the same amount into the pot

11. Next another card is burned and one more is placed face up. This is called the turn card.
Again anyone can use it.

12. Another round of betting occurs

13. One final card is burned and one is placed face up. This card is the river card. It is a
community card also.

14. One final round of betting happens now.

15. The showdown: players still in the hand show their cards and a winner is determined.

16. The dealer chip is moved to the left one player.

Side Pot: A side pot is created when a player has all his chips in the middle. It is the maximum
he can win. Heres an example:

Player 1 bets 500

Player 2 call 500 and is all in (all his chips in the middle)
Player 3 calls the 500
Everyone else folds. The side pot is now 1500. Player 2 can only win 1500 because he only
contributed chips to the side pot.

If players 1 and 3 continue betting then the chips go into what is referred to as the main pot. At
the end if player 2 has the best hand he wins 1500. If player 1 has a better hand than player 3 he
wins the main pot or vice versa.

Part III: Basic Strategy

Many people believe poker is a game of luck. Actually in hold 'em luck is only a small part of it.
Hold 'em is a game of skill and it takes time to practice and learn. I will now explain some basic
strategy to help you in your game.

1. One of the first things to try and notice about other players is any habits they have. A players
habit is called a "tell". It is called this because it tells you what he is going to do or what he has.
A lot of new players develop a tell where they bet specific amounts of money when holding a
strong hand or fold with every weak hand they have. Other players have a physical tell in which
their eyes light up when they see a good flop or they pick up a nice hand on the turn. One tip I
have is to look at other players when the flop is being placed on the table. The flop will still be
there when its your turn and it will give you a chance to see other players reactions. Most pro's
keep a straight face throughout their game making this difficult. Look for other peoples tell and
try to see if you have one. Often times a beginner will have an obvious tell and when plating a
game will lose very quickly.

2. Positional play. A standard poker table has 3 positions. They are early middle and late. They
are determined by where you are sitting relative to the dealer.

The three people on the dealers left are considered to be in Early Position because they act first.
The next 3 players are in middle position and the final 3 (dealer included) are late position. In
any game because the dealer chip moves you will be in all of these positions at one time or
another.

The best position is late position because you get to wait for most players to act before you make
a play. Conversely the worst position is early position because you act first. Heres an example:
CODE
Chips: 2000
Blinds: 300-600
Hand: JH-9D
Position: Early (right after the blinds)

Right now I have a fairly weak hand. Its not suited (lower flush potential). Its also not connected
(J-10 would be connected or 8-9)

Me: Call 600

P4: Fold
P5: Fold
P6: Raise to 1200 All Day (all day means the total bet is 1200 since I already have 600 in i
merely put in another 600)
P7: Fold
P8: Call
P9: Call
SB: fold
BB: Call
Me: I have a tough decision here I have already invested 600 leaving me with 1400. If I call I
have 800 left. Also my hand is not very strong and 3 people are in the hand. This is the main
drawback to early position. Especially when the blinds get bigger.

Late position is good for the opposite reason. I get to see everyone else act and if someone raises
im not already in the pot so its an easier decision to call or fold.

One final thing to note is that after the flop the small blind is first to act. Because of this we call
it being "under the gun". If someone uses this term when recounting a hand it means him or
someone else was the small blind.

3. Board analysis (the board is the flop turn and river cards)
It is a poker players job to be able to read the board and see hands other people might have. For
example: if you have a straight but there are 3 Diamonds on the board you need to be careful and
try and determine if someone else might have a flush. You also need to try and determine what
the betting patterns of another player mean. This takes time and practice.

4. Pot odds are the odds offered based on the size of the pot versus what you call. If the pot is
1000 and you call 100 your pot odds are 1000:100 or 10 to 1
5. Hand odds hand odds are the same thing but for your hand. You will need to know what outs
(cards that will make your hand) you have. Ill explain what I mean using an example:

Your Hand: AH JH
Board: 7H 10C 4H

You have 4 hearts and need one more. To get the hand odds you need to figure out how many
outs you have. In this scenario you need any diamond. There are 13 diamonds total. You have 2
and 2 are on the board leaving 9 potential diamonds in the deck. You have 9 outs. To get the
hand odds (roughly) multiply the outs by 2 and add 1. So in this example you have 9 outs.
Multiply by 2 and add 1 and your hand odds are 19% or 19/100 or ~ 1 to 5.

It is in your interest to play a hand if the pot odds exceed the hand odds.

You can look into this more by yourself because it is a bit complicated and I cant explain it very
well.

Part IV: Definitions

Memorize these as they are used all the time in poker

Hole Cards: the 2 cards you are dealt

Flop: the 3 cards dealt after the first round of betting
Turn: The 4th card placed on the table after the flop and the round of betting after the flop
River: 5th card placed on the table after the river and the round of betting after the turn
Under the Gun: first to act after the flop (the small blind)
Call: To put into the pot an amount of money equal to the most recent bet or raise
All-In placing all your chips into the pot
Rockets / Bullets: 2 Aces as your hole cards
Big Slick: A-K
Blackjack: A-J
Cowboys: 2 Kings as your hole cards
Ladies: 2 Queens as you hole cards
Big Dolly / Doyle Brunson: 10-2 as hole cards (Poker legend doyle brunson won back to back
world series titles with 10-2)
7-2: Statistically the worst possible hand in poker
Crabs: A pair of 2's as your hole cards
Pocket Pair: any pair as your hole cards
Police Hand: 10-4
Ducks: Pair of 2's as hole cards