You may or may not have previously heard of the popular casino game Texas Hold’em. Also known as Hold’em or Holdem, it is a card game where the players will use their hole card in combination with the community cards to create the best possible 5-card poker hand.
Holdem is certainly not like the other card games you can see in casinos. Any skilled Holdem player will tell you that this game is probably the easiest card game in casinos.
To a beginner, this might sound a little funny. But as you keep practicing, you’ll understand the tactics and start enjoying the game.
However, like any other card game, people tend to get confused. This article will help you understand the “starting hands probability” of the classic Texas Hold’em.
Doing The Math
Let’s take this in a simple way.
Picture yourself sitting at the table, and the dealer starts dealing.
You are dealt with your first card. This has 13 viable ranks. Your second card is dealt. For this to not be a pocket pair, your second card can be of any rank dissimilar to your first hole card (Meaning, 12 unique ranks).
Now comes the confusing part.
The estimation of the number of combos of various types of hands is used for the division of 2, and a combo sets aside the order.
Let’s use an example for better understanding.
For example, if you draw 12*13, you can get every viable non-paired hands twice. That means K A and A K or 4 7 and 7 4. You will now divide this by 2 and count each of these combinations only one time. This gives us the equation 12 × 13 ÷ 2 = 78.
For all the 12 viable (suit combos for each hand) hand shaped equation, the 4 indicates the number of suits; 3 indicates the number of suits where any single extra suit can be matched with to give us an off-suit combo. 4 suits × 3 combos = 12 combos overall.
This shows us the odds and probabilities of being dealt every type of starting hand.
Endnotes: It is entirely understandable if all this is not easy to take in. The science of this game might seem a little complicated, but this is just a problem for people who are new to playing Texas Hold’em.
As they continue to practice, they will understand the concept behind this game and enjoy it fully. So, don’t worry if you can’t understand this at this moment. Just remember to keep practicing!
