September 27, 2019

Ultimate Texas Hold Em is one of the most popular casino games available today as it brings the action of Texas Hold Em out of the Poker room and on to the main casino floor. Whether you’re a fan of regular Texas Hold Em or a fan of regular casino games such as Blackjack and Pai Gow, you’ll be sure to enjoy the fun of UTH. After reading our guide, you’ll know when to hold em, when to fold em, when to check, when to raise, and how to win!

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Ultimate Texas Hold Em is a more complex game when compared to Three Card and Pai Gow Poker; there are multiple betting rounds and outcomes that affect how the player is paid. We’ll break down how betting and payouts work, then get into the betting strategy, but first here is some Poker terminology and an explanation of how final hands are made in Texas Hold Em:

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Poker Terminology

• Hole Cards: The two cards dealt to the player
• Community Cards: Five cards that are dealt face-up, the player and dealer combine with their two hole cards to make the best five-card hand possible
• Pre-Flop: The first betting round after the player has received their hole cards but before any community cards have been dealt
• Flop: First three community cards
• Turn: Fourth community card
• River: Fifth and final community card
• Check/Checking: Declining to bet

Final hands in Texas Hold Em are made by choosing the best 5 card hand out of the seven cards available between the player’s two hole cards and the five community cards. Players can use both, one, or none of their hole cards. For example:

Hole cards: A♥3♠
Community Cards: A♣K♦J♦9♣7♥

The player’s final five-card hand in this scenario would be a pair of Aces with A♣A♥K♦J♦9♣ as the 3♠ would not be used

Betting

In UTH there are three bets, the Ante bet, Blind bet, and Play bet. The first bets the player makes are the ante and blind bets, these bets must always be identical.

Blind Bet:

Blind Valet Poker Rules

The blind bet will be paid out if the player receives a winning hand by the River and has a straight or better. The Blind bet receives special payouts based on the strength of the player’s winning hand:

Royal Flush: 500-1
Straight Flush: 50-1
Four of a Kind: 10-1
Full House: 3-1
Flush: 3-2
Straight: 1-1

If the player wins the hand, but with a hand weaker than a straight, such as one pair, the blind bet will push (Ante bet will pay 1:1)

Ante Bet:

The Ante bet is paid out if the player has a winning hand and the dealer qualifies. The dealer qualifies if they have a pair or better, even if the pair is on the community cards. For example, if the dealer has 63 with community cards of 44QJ8, the dealer would have a pair of fours and qualify. If the player wins the hand but the dealer does not qualify, the Ante bet results in a push.

Play Bet:

The Play bet can be made at different times in the hand or can be passed on by checking. Here is an example:

1. Player makes $50 wager on both Ante and Blind Bets

2. Player is dealt their hole cards

3. Now the player must decide to check, make a 3x Play bet, or make a 4x Play bet based on the strength of their two hole cards. The 3x and 4x Play bet is the multiplier of the Ante/Blind bet. In this example, the Play bets would be 1x-4x multiples of the $50 Ante and Blind bets. We will discuss the strategy regarding when to check and when to make the Play bet later in this guide.

4. The Flop is dealt, the first 3 community cards. If the player has already made a 3x or 4x Play bet, that will remain the Play bet until the River. If the player checked Pre-flop, they now have the option to check again or make a 2x Play bet.

5. After the Flop betting round, the next two cards, the Turn and the River are dealt, and all the community cards at this point are revealed. If the player made a Play bet at any previous time in the hand, the hand goes to a showdown with the dealer and the winner and bet payouts are decided. If the player has not made a Play bet by the River because they have checked every round, the player must now decide to either fold, forfeiting their Ante and Blind bets, or make a 1x play bet and go to a showdown with the dealer.

Here is a cross table for all the possible betting results:

Betting Strategy:

With multiple betting rounds and the overall complexity of Ultimate Texas Hold Em, knowing when to check, when to make a Play bet, and when to fold is quite complicated. For the Pre-flop bet, the player has the option to check, bet 3x or 4x. Our recommendation for optimal strategy is to never make a 3x bet pre-flop and either check or make a 4x bet. This recommendation is due to the fact that based on the player’s current information (Knowing the two hole cards) the player is either likely to be the underdog or the favorite in the hand and thus should either check or make the maximum bet available. However, if you feel like making a 3x bet instead of a 4x that’s up to you and part of the fun of UTH!

Here is a cheat sheet for when to make a 4x Play bet Pre-flop:

When to make 2x raise:

The player can only make a 2x Play bet on the flop if they checked in the previous betting round and should make a 2x bet with any of the following:

• Two pair or better
• Four to a flush with a hole card 10 or better to the flush
• Hidden* pair (Except if the player has hole cards of 22)

*Hidden pair: A pair when the player has a hole card that pairs with a community card for example, 9♥7♦ with a flop of K♣7♦3♣

When to make 1x raise:

The player can only make a 1x raise if they checked in the previous two betting rounds and all five community cards are revealed. This round is different from the previous rounds as the player must choose between making the 1x Play bet or folding and forfeiting their Ante and Blind bets. The player should make the 1x play bet in these two scenarios:

• Player has a hidden pair or better (Hidden pair explained above)
• Less than 21 dealer outs beat that player’s hand

An out is any card the dealer can have that when combined with the community cards would beat the player. Here is an example:

Community Cards: Q♥9♣3♦J♣6♦
Player cards: 10♥7♥

There are 15 cards the dealer could have to make a pair and win (Any of the three remaining Q, 9, 3, J, or 6) and eight cards that would give the dealer a higher hand, any of the four remaining Aces or Kings. Adding all of these up we have 23 outs for the dealer and thus the player should fold.

Hold Em or Fold Em!

Ultimate Texas Hold Em is one of the most popular games found on casino floors all throughout America. With a deep strategy and several possible outcomes, the action in Ultimate Texas Hold Em never stops. We hope after reading our guide you feel you have the skills to hit the tables and know when to hold ’em, when to fold ’em, when to check, and when to bet. Remember that the cheat sheet is your friend and we will see you holding and (hopefully not too often) folding at an Ultimate Texas Hold Em table at Downtown Grand soon!

This page lists several types of software for playing or analysing poker games.

It does not cover online poker rooms where poker is played for money. For these please refer to the online poker pages.

On this page you can find:

• Analysis software - which can be used for off line analysis poker probabilities and strategies.
• Online assistants - programs that you can run locally to provide help while you play online.
• Performance trackers - programs to help you record and keep track of your poker results.
• League and tournament software - programs for organisers of home poker leagues and tournaments.
• Computer poker - programs with which you can play poker against a computer.
• Free online poker - sites where you can play online against other live players for fun only, without money.
• Poker servers - software you can use to set up your own server where others can play.

Probability and Hand Analysis

The following programs allow you to analyse probabilities in various situations, or input hands to obtain a recommendation on how they should be played.

The Texas Holdem Calculator calculates winning odds, probabilities and optimal bets at pre-flop, flop, and river stages, and helps you to determine winning starting hands depending on the number of players in the pot. Available for Windows, Palm OS and Pocket PC PDAs.

Poker Drill Master is a shareware poker training program that calculates pot odds and winning probabilities and outs, and enables you to test various pre-flop decision methodologies.

NewPokerSoft offers a range of programs for calculating probabilities, equity and expected values, managing your bankroll and other useful functions.

Poker Calculator Report provides reviews and ratings of the most popular poker odds calculators.

Mark Brader's public domain Perl program calculates hand probabilities with single and multiple decks. The results can be seen on the probability page.

Derek Lazenby has written a Starting Hands program for Windows, which ranks the 169 Texas Hold'em starting hands and displays the probability of winning, given the number of players.

Software that provides assistance while playing online

SharkyScanner is an automated table selection tool for SnG (Sit and Go) players. This application can automatically find a suitable tournament and register you in it.

Holdem Indicator automatically tracks your cards and your opponents' actions while you play Texas Holdem on line and indicates the strength of your starting hand, pot odds, outs and probabilities of hitting specific hands. The same company also produces indicator products for Omaha and Stud poker.

Performance Tracking Software

The following software allows you to record various aspects of your own poker performance, to track your winnings and analyse various features of the sessions you have played.

The Check Your Bets site provides a facility for players to track their performance, recording and analysing details of time, place and results of each session they play.

Poker @ VCFrontline offers 'pokerstats', a free web-based poker tracker, plus various other on line poker resources.

Software for Home Poker Players and League Organisers.

Blind Valet Poker

Home Poker Tour have published free web-based software to help organize your own poker league, schedule games, record results and keep track of statistics.

Blind Valet is a free web-based tournament management application including player registration, blind structure calculator, tournament clock and payout calculator.

Home Poker System is an online poker software allows poker players to schedule their home games and poker tournaments, issue invitations, record stats, post news, update results and so on. There is a fully functional free version, or by paying a monthly subscription you have access to extra features such as forums and photo galleries.

Playing poker against the computer

With the following programs you play poker against computer (AI) opponents.

The collection HOYLE Card Games for Windows or Mac OS X includes severeal poker variants that can be played against the computer.

A Texas Hold'em game is included in the Favorite Games Ltd. package: it can be played against the computer or against other players.

At Liza Xu's Poker Practice site you can play Texas Hold'em online against the computer for fun.

Free Online Poker

Triple Jack Poker is a free, family friendly online poker room. The game is Texas Hold'em for play money only with animated cartoon players, side bets, and the opportunity to throw tomatoes and pies at your opponents.

OwnTheCards.com is a free server on which you can set up a password protected game of Texas Hold'em to play with your friends over the Internet. Play is for chips - it is up to the players whether to play for fun or to settle up in real money afterwards. There is no charge to download and use the software and no rake.

Blind Valet Poker Bar

Mystic Island runs Texas Hold'em and Omaha tournaments played for chips.

Poker Servers

With Kegan Quimby's Run a Poker Game you can host your own online poker game. Players can use any HTML5 browser: no download is required. As the admin, you have full control over members, their balances, rake, and the type of poker games you wish to set up.

Blind Valet Poker App

Blind Valet Poker

Salus Technologies is a provider of online poker and casino software, including Pecan Networks, an online poker platform.