Poker Cheat Sheet: Hands, Ranges, Odds, Strategies, and More

Starting out in poker can be intimidating – if you hang around experienced poker players, it can sometimes feel like they are speaking a different language, not to mention how mentally taxing it can be to take into account different rules, hand rankings, positions, and everything else that’s required just to get started. To make things even worse for beginners, you need to master all that stuff before you can even think about starting to employ different strategies, which is the core of being profitable at poker.

In this article, we are going to provide you with useful poker cheat sheets that can help you kickstart your poker journey and put you on a fast track to succeding at the tables. 

Types of poker

There are numerous types of poker variants, which can be broadly categorized into two main overarching brackets. There’s casino poker and player-vs-player (PvP) poker. In casino poker, you are playing against the house, whereas in PvP poker, you are playing against other players. Both poker categories can be further divided into live and online variants – those you play in a brick-and-mortar casino and those you can play on online platforms.

Popular variants of casino poker games include:

• Texas Hold ’Em
• 3 Card Poker
• Omaha
• Caribbean Poker
• Pai Gow Poker

If casino poker games are up your alley, consider checking our selection of the best Bitcoin and crypto casinos, all of which feature different poker variants.

Popular variants of PvP poker games include: 

• Texas Hold ’Em
• Omaha Hi
• Stud
• 2-7 Triple Draw
• Razz

It is worth noting that there are hundreds of other poker variants that players can choose. For the purposes of this article, however, we are going to focus on Texas Hold ’Em (that is played against other players), which is by far the most popular type of poker. Nowadays, you can play online poker using cryptocurrency – to learn more, check out our list of the best Ethereum poker sites.

The rules of No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em

In No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em, players are dealt two private cards (known as “hole cards“) that belong to them alone, and five community cards are dealt face-up on the table. The objective is to make the best five-card poker hand using any combination of the hole cards and the community cards.

Here are the basic rules:

• Blinds: Two players are required to post the small blind and big blind to start the betting. The small blind is usually half the size of the big blind.
• Pre-flop: Each player is dealt two private cards. Betting begins with the player to the left of the big blind and moves around the table.
• The Flop: After the first round of betting, three community cards are dealt face-up on the table. Another round of betting takes place, starting with the player to the left of the dealer.
• The Turn: A fourth community card is dealt face-up. Betting occurs again, starting with the player to the left of the dealer.
• The River: The fifth and final community card is dealt. There is a final round of betting.
• Showdown: If more than one player remains after the final betting round, the hands are revealed, and the player with the best five-card hand wins the pot.
• Betting: Players can bet any amount, up to all of their chips at any time (hence No-Limit). This includes raising, calling, folding, or going “all-in” by betting all their chips.
• Button and Blinds Movement: After each hand, the dealer button moves clockwise to the next player, and the blinds move to the next players in the same direction.

Remember, strategies can vary greatly in No-Limit Hold ‘Em, including bluffing, value betting, and reading opponents. The rules are straightforward, but mastering the game takes practice, patience, and skill.

Poker hand rankings cheat sheet

In total, there are 10 different hand rankings in Texas Hold ’Em. They are very straightforward and easy to remember. While there are countless permutations within each hand-ranking group, the patterns are the same, so you should have them down pat in a couple of minutes. The rankings are sorted in descending order, from the strongest hand combination (“Royal Flush”) to the weakest hand combination (“High Card”):

1. Royal Flush (A♦ K♦ Q♦ J♦ T♦) – Five cards of the same suit from 10 to A. The best hand possible in poker. Odds of occurrence: 0.00015%
2. Straight Flush (9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 5♥) – Any straight consisting of the cards of the same suit. Odds of occurrence: 0.00139%
3. Four-of-a-Kind (K♦ K♣ K♠ K♥ 8♦) – Four cards of equal value next to a side card with a different value. Odds of occurrence: 0.02401%
4. Full House (A♥ A♣ A♦ T♠ T♣) – Three cards of one value and two cards of another value. Odds of occurrence: 0.1441%
5. Flush (K♠ Q♠ 9♠ 4♠ 2♠) – Five cards of the same suit. Odds of occurrence: 0.1965%
6. Straight (9♥ 8♠ 7♣ 6♦ 5♣) – Five cards of consecutive value with different suits. Odds of occurrence: 0.3925%
7. Three-of-a-Kind (8♠ 8♦ 8♣ K♦ J♣) – Three cards of the same value, with 2 side cards of different value. Odds of occurrence: 2.113%
8. Two-Pair (T♣ T♦ 4♣ 4♠ Q♥) – Two cards of the same value along with another two cards of the same value and a side card of a different value. Odds of occurrence: 4.754%
9. One-Pair (A♦ A♥ Q♠ 7♦ 3♥) – Two cards of the same value with three side cards with different values. Odds of occurrence: 42.27%
10. High Card (A♠ Q♦ 8♣ 6♠ 3♥) – The highest value card that doesn’t create any of the above combinations is known as a high card. Odds of occurrence: 50.12%

You can download the hand ranking cheat sheet for later use from here. The chart was created by Upwing Poker, one of the leading poker coaching sites in the world.

Which cards count towards my hand at showdown?

Remember that in Texas Hold ’Em, the best 5 card combinations of cards play. In practice, that means that you might use 2 hole cards and 3 community cards, 1 hole card and 4 community cards, or no hole cards and 5 community cards (which poker players referred to as “the board plays.)

Best starting hands cheat sheet

With a 52-card deck, there are 1,326 distinct combinations of two hole cards (cards you are dealt at the start of each hand) in Texas Hold ‘Em. However, there are only 169 non-equivalent starting hands – that accounts for the fact that suits play no material role in the game – for example, A♣ K♣ and A♦ K♦ are fundamentally the same hands before the flop (also known as “pre-flop,” i.e., before community cards are dealt). Starting hands are divided into suited hands, pairs, and unsuited hands.

There are 13 different pairs and 78 different suited and unsuited hands each you can get dealt as a starting hand in Texas Hold ‘Em.

• Pairs: There are 13 different pairs you can get dealt as a starting hand (e.g., A♣ A♠). There are 78 possible combinations of a pocket pair, as each pair can consist of 6 different card combos (e.g., 9h9c, 9h9s, 9h9d, 9c9s, 9c9d, 9d9).
• Suited hands: There are 78 different suited hands (e.g., K♦ T♦) and 312 different suited hand combinations (there are 4 combinations of each suited hand).
• Unsuited hands: There are 78 different unsuited hands (e.g., A♦ T♣) and 936 offsuit hand combinations (there are 12 combinations of each non-paired unsuited hand).

How likely am I to get dealt aces?

The frequency of getting dealt a pair of aces preflop is 1 out of 221 hands (0.45%). The chances of another player having aces at the same time as you do are 0.00037% (1 out of 270,725 hands).

Now that we’ve established some common hand rankings and starting hand groups, let’s check what the 20 best starting hands in poker are (sorted by their equity against a top 20% starting hands range).

*Range of hands included in the calculation was (66+,A4s+,K8s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,A9o+,KTo+,QTo+,JTo).

As you can see from the table above, the odds of a starting hand depend on the range of hands it’s pitted against. Pocket pairs have very good equity against a set of random hands since those hands include combinations like 72 and T4 offsuit, which most players won’t play. If we adjust our calculation to account for a normal range of hands a real player might play, we get vastly different results. 

If you want to play around with these calculations yourself, we suggest you check out PokerStrategy’s free odds calculator called Equilab.

Odds of winning

Poker is a game of chance. Until the last card is dealt, known as the river, the outcome of the hand is rarely decided. In order to find out what your chance of winning is, you need to consider which cards will give you the winning combination. These cards are known as “outs.” In the following table, you’ll find the chance of winning depending on the number of outs you have, and some common poker examples where such situations might arise.

There’s a quick method called “the 4-2 rule” that can help you calculate the rough probability for winning a hand post-flop. Check the step-by-step process to find out how:

1. Count your outs: For example, let’s say you are waiting for a straight draw to hit. That gives you 8 clean outs.
2. Multiply the number of outs by 2 if there’s one card left to come: Take the number of outs and multiply it by 2 (8 * 2 = 16). That will give you a rough estimate of how likely you are to hit a turn or river separately. Notice that the actual percentage for hitting an 8-outer in the next card is roughly 20% and not 16%, as this simplified approach suggests. 
3. Multiply the number of outs by 4 if there are two cards left to come: You can repeat the process when there are 2 cards left to come. Take the number of outs and multiply by 4 (8 * 4 = 32%).

Obviously, you won’t get the exact odds by using this method, but it is very useful at the tables when you don’t necessarily have the time to do a more precise calculation.

How to calculate poker odds for calling?

Let’s say there’s $100 in the pot, and your opponent bets $50. In order to continue and see the next card (or the showdown), you’ll have to pay $50. To calculate the odds of calling, divide your calling amount by the final pot size if you were to call (Your call: $50 / Pot + Opponent’s bet + Your call: ($100 + $50 + $50) = $50 / $200 = 25%).

Knowing your odds is not enough. In order to win at poker, you’ll have to consistently make plays that have a positive expected value (+EV). As a very broad guideline, you should consistently try to put yourself in a position where you are paying less for your draws than what they are worth and charge your opponents maximum for drawing.

For example, if you are chasing an open-ended straight draw on the turn – which has 21.1% to hit on the river – and your opponent bets a quarter of the pot (giving you pot odds of 16%), then you are profiting from calling automatically. The reason is that you will hit your straight more often than what you are paying for drawing. If your opponent knew what you had, they would have to bet at least 35% of the pot to price you out of auto-profiting from your call.

It is worth noting that there are a bunch of other things that need to be considered to master the game, which are beyond the scope of this article. Stuff like implied odds, player tendencies, potential exploits, and more, are all important factors that ultimately determine whether a play is profitable or not.

Position 

Position plays a crucial role in virtually every poker variant, especially in No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em, where you are able to bet your full stack at any point, and exert maximum pressure on your opponent. The reason why position plays such an important role is simple – you get to act after your opponent if you are “in position” and act before your opponent if you are “out of position.” If you are going last, you get to see how your opponent reacts to different cards and then tailor your strategy accordingly. 

Texas Hold ‘Em can be played by 2 to 9 players (the maximum number can be higher, but it’s very rate that more than 9 players sit at the same table). Image source: Pokerinfo.com

In a full ring poker game (typically a game with 9), the positions around the table are generally described as follows:

• Under the Gun (UTG): The player sitting directly to the left of the big blind. It’s the earliest position to act preflop.
• Early Position (EP): The seats after UTG, usually encompassing the next two or three players to act.
• Middle Position (MP): Follows EP and includes players after the early positions but before the later ones.
• Late Position (LP): Often referred to as “the cutoff” and “the button.” These positions have the advantage of acting later in the hand and can potentially take advantage of the information from earlier positions.
• Button: The player in the dealer position, acting last in all post-flop betting rounds. The most advantageous position on the table.
• Small Blind (SB): The player to the immediate left of the dealer, required to put in a small forced bet before seeing their cards.
• Big Blind (BB): The player to the left of the small blind, required to put in a larger forced bet before seeing their cards.

Starter strategies and other things to consider

If there’s one thing we’d like to suggest if you are just starting out in poker, it’s that you should aim to have fun when playing. That will set you down the right path and allow you to implement new strategies more easily, take your losses better, and stave away tilt, which is probably the most common enemy of poker players.

Still, there are a couple of pointers we’d like to leave you with:

• Don’t play above your budget: Since poker is mostly played for real money, that’s the most important advice. Playing within your budget will allow you to take risks but still withstand bad runs (which will inevitably happen eventually) without feeling financially hurt.
• Don’t play too many hands: This is especially true if you’re just starting out. Playing many hands profitably takes skill and requires threading delicate spots where edges run narrow. Starting out playing just the 20 best starting hands (which you can find above) might be conservative, but will allow you to get comfortable with poker without putting you in difficult spots.
• Leverage the power of position: Next to starting hands, position will play the most important role in your poker success. It really is as simple as the greater the ratio of in-position hands versus out-of-position hands, the more successful you’ll be.
• Be aggressive more often than passive: Being an aggressor means making bets and raises. Being passive means making calls and folds. When you are an aggressor, you get to win by both hitting your hand and by bluffing your opponent’s off of theirs, which is a huge advantage.
• Don’t chase draws at any cost: Chasing draws is probably the most costly leak of new players. The thing is that even when you hit, you’ll often struggle to get any money out of your opponents, as it will be obvious to them what you were doing in the first place. 

The bottom line

Hopefully, this poker cheat sheet will help you get started and potentially motivate you to explore the game in greater depth down the line. There’s tons of information on the internet that you can get for free, from videos to articles to live streams and coaching sessions.

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