Getting Started - Hand Ranks and Ties

So you have watched Texas Hold 'em on TV, bought a book, read the basic rules or maybe even played a few games with friends. But, you can't win any money until you can make quick decisions during the game based on the Community cards you can see and the way others are betting. The key to doing this is to figure out the answer to these two questions "What is the best hand possible with the cards showing?" and secondly "Do I have the best hand?" Basically you need to learn the hand ranks, what is highest, what beats what. So study it, print it out, know it. See my blog entry here before reading on....

Later we will learn more about sensing a bluff, or detecting a small value bet (where another player is just testing whether others have a strong hand and hoping to get you fold), but for now let's assume you are in a friendly home game with beginners and flop three cards are a 7 J 9 all different suits and one player bets big, say he/she matches the pot or goes all in. If you have a Jack and a 5 should you call? Here's you quick analysis: Hands that could beat me (two cards other players have you can't see) are QQ, KK and AA all are bigger pairs; any Jx with a Jack and a bigger card than your 5 is also a stronger pair to battle for best five cards; plus J9 and J7 would give someone two pair; plus 77, 99 and JJ kill you with three of a kind (also called "trip's"); and did you figure out the best two cards...a ten and an eight (T8) would make a straight. So the answer is… Fold your cards...most likely someone has a QQ and was happy not to see a King or an Ace on the flop. You will see many people not do this mental reality check, hang in to the river and lose a lot of money just 'hoping' they get lucky when 15 hands can beat them. Next time I’ll tell you about ties and how they are either broken or real ties that share the pot.