Preflop Odds

1. Free Poker Preflop Range Chart (With Printable PDF ...
2. Holdem Poker Odds
3. Pre Flop Odds Table

Preflop Strategy. Hand Guide: Preflop Flop Turn River. Preflop Planning is an excellent guide on how to think before the flop when deciding whether to fold, call or raise based on your position and starting hand. It's the perfect compliment to this article. Preflop overview. Historically, poker players tend to over-emphasise the importance of pot odds when making preflop decisions. The truth is that pot odds are not overly significant when playing with 100bb stacks. Far more critical is the playability of our hand postflop.

Understanding Probability In Texas Holdem Is An Essential Aspect Of Profitable Play
– Pre-Flop Probability Guide

Ever wondered how often you will be dealt Aces? Or what the chances of facing an over-pair are when you hold Jack-Jack? This section of the site will give you the probability of certain hands before the flop (this page) and in later pages the chances of certain flops (for example one suit flop probability) and the chances of dominating hands being out there to your ace-x hand (where x is one of several small to medium cards).

We start by looking at how the cards in the deck can be dealt based on a random distribution of the 1326 ways of 2 cards falling and how often you’ll expect to be dealt certain hands. Then we take suitedness into account – since there are less ways of being dealt 2 suited cards. Later articles in this series will continue with the essential poker probability and card distribution stats you need.

Free Poker Preflop Range Chart (With Printable PDF ...

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Firstly, where did the number 1326 come from? Well with 52 cards in the deck your first card is 1/52 this is then multiplied by 1/51 and the total divided by 2 (since it does not matter what order your cards are dealt in) giving 1326 combinations of all cards in any suit.

Of course suitedness is not often important, especially for low cards. The next question is then – what is the number of unique starting hands in Texas Holdem, not counting suits? The answer here is 169 unique hands.

Pre-Flop Poker Probability - 169 Distinct Starting Hands

Now we are getting somewhere. Next we can use the numbers above to work out what the probability of being dealt AA, KK (or in fact any pair) is. This is a case of taking the total number of possible hands and then seeing how many of these are your pair. We will take a pair of Kings as an example. Of the 1326 possible combinations there are 6 ways of being dealt this hand pre-flop. The 6 combinations possible are Kh-Kd, Kh-Kc, Kh-Ks, Kd-Kc, Kd-Ks and Kc-Ks.

6 / 1326 = 0.00435 or 221-to-1

So the chances of being dealt any specific pair are 221:1 against, in fact with 13 possible pairs the chances of being dealt any pair go up to 16-to-1 (there are 78 pair combinations from 1326 total).

Next we can look at unpaired hands, a specific example is the number of ways of being dealt Ace-king pre-flop. Here we have more possible combinations, since there are 8 cards that can be dealt first and then 3 remaining cards to make this hand (we will ignore suitedness for the moment). This gives 16 ways in which A-K can be dealt out of the 1326 combinations – a probability of 0.0121% or approximately 82-to-1. In fact this is the same for any unpaired hand when you ignore the suits.

Pre-Flop Poker Probability - Probability Of Hands Pre-Flop Chart

The reference table below gives probabilities of being dealt specific hands pre-flop: The next article in this series will look at the chances of being dealt hands at the same time as one or more opponent is dealt a higher hand – for example AA vs KK and AK vs QQ.

Finally we can look at how combinations of pre-flop hands work, asking the question what is the probability of being dealt a playable hand for each position. We will use arbitary early, middle and late position combinations here to demonstrate – the actually hands you play is up to your personal style!

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Betting before the flop can sometimes be a blind bet, because when the flop comes things can change drastically. What can seem like a clear advantage can turn into a trap when the Turn or River or Flop cards hit the poker games.

To calculate with which hand you have better chance against other hands, we have assembled the most common grouping of hands against other hands along with their chances of winning (all the way to the River).

Same Hand – ex. QJ vs. QJ

Can you guess the odds? That's right, 50%-50%. If it's suited vs. offsuit, the suited has the edge of course, a 2.5% advantage.

Pocket Pair vs. Two Overcards – ex. 99 vs. KQ

This is a close call. The pocket pair has a small advantage with 55 % to the two overcards' 45%. In the case of having a hand like QJ-suited the advantage is with this hand over a hand with a small pocket pair (55 or lower), because with the QJ you can still form a Straight without having the pair lower your chances of achieving it.

Pocket Pair vs. Smaller Pocket Pair – ex. AA vs. 88

The bigger pair has the advantage here, of course, with 80% to the lower pair's 20%.

Pocket Pair vs. Two Undercards – ex. KK vs. J9

The pair is the favorite with 80% to 20%. The two undercards have a chance of between 23% and 14%, depending on if they are suited and if the pocket interferes with their straight making ability or not.

Pocket Pair vs. Same Card & One Undercard – ex. KK vs. KQ

This can be a shifty situation. The Pocket Pair has the upper hand here (no pun intended) with about 85% to 15%, while in case the other pair is suited the odds change to 80% to 20% at best.

Pocket Pair vs. Same Card & One Overcard – ex. QQ vs. AQ

The advantage here is on the side of the pair with between 70% to 30% and 65% to 35%.

Holdem Poker Odds

Pocket Pair vs. One Undercard & One Overcard – ex. JJ vs. KT

Pre Flop Odds Table

The odds here are similar to those of the hands above, with 70% to 30% in favor of the pair.

Two Undercards vs. Two Overcards – ex. AK vs. QJ

While the advantage here is clearly with the overcards – 65% to 35%, the odds change when the undercards are far enough from the overcards and suited without matching the overcards' suit, to around 60% to 40%.

Two Middle Cards vs. Undercard & Overcard – ex. KT vs. QJ

In this case, the edge is with the over/under cards. 60% to 40% which can be reduced to around 52% to 48% if it involves middle-suited connectors that are not of the same suit as the over/under cards and if there is no straight making interference.

Dominated with the Same High Card – ex. QJ vs. QT

The hand with the higher card has a big advantage with around 66.6% to 33.3%. This advantage starts to diminish as the kickers get lower due to split pot possibilities.

Dominated with the Same Low Card – ex. AQ vs. KQ

The hand with the higher card has a 66% advantage, while if it's a suited connector against unsuited cards that has a small chance of making a straight the higher kicker hand has a maximum advantage of 40%.