How to read Poker hands poses challenges for both experts and new players who lack experience.
This is because when participating in Texas Hold’em betting, you need to pay attention to 7 cards with different functions and hand rankings, creating excessive diversity.
To not miss the opportunity to win and optimize your advantage, players must read the hands accurately according to the specific rules as follows.
How to read Poker hands in the Pre – Flop round
Pre – Flop is a Poker term referring to the first round in every online Poker game when players are required to put in blind bets into the Pot to receive 2 private hole cards.
These two cards are very important because they are exclusively for you, unlike the community cards in the following rounds.
The criteria for evaluating hole cards are not specific and depend on the player’s experience and intuition.
However, the order of their strength is defined as follows: Pair > Suited > Offsuit.
In which, the higher the cards, the more advantageous they are, and vice versa.
In this situation, if you are sitting next to the Dealer in the SB position and have a good hand, then raising 2x or 3x the standard value is very reasonable to lure other players into the game.
On the other hand, sitting further away from the action makes it harder for players to make decisions, but regardless of how you play, only betting 3x is advisable to stop.
Guide to reading Poker hands in the Flop round
After Pre, the actual Flop round occurs when the dealer reveals 3 community cards for all players at the table.
At this point, reading the hands becomes highly effective as they significantly determine your final win or loss.
Specifically, players need to calculate the Poker odds with the following results:
If the 3 community cards and your 2 hole cards form a hand, the highest chance of winning in the next round is to make a pair, but the winning rate of a pair compared to opponents with a straight or flush is much lower (only 12.7%).
Therefore, if your hole cards are 10 or lower, you should decisively fold as quickly as possible to avoid losing more chips.
In the case that a player is lucky enough to have a flush, a pair, or three of a kind, they can confidently add more money to play against opponents in the following rounds.
Reading Poker with Four of a Kind
Four of a Kind means having 4 cards of the same rank appearing among the 7 cards, which include 5 community cards and 2 hole cards of the player in the betting round.
When reading Four of a Kind in Poker, it means the player compares their hand according to 3 scenarios:
Scenario 1: Comparing the strength of Four of a Kind
In this situation, all players have their own Four of a Kind by combining the community cards and the hole cards dealt at the beginning.
To compare, we apply the following rule: A > K > Q > J > 10 > 8 > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2.
Thus, player A with the combination 2222K will lose to player B with the combination QQQQ9.
Case 2: Comparing Four of a Kind with Other Hands
Not all remaining players have Four of a Kind; there may be other hands present.
To determine the winner, you apply the principle: Straight Flush > Flush > Four of a Kind.
Case 3: Shared Four of a Kind Comparing Kicker
Finally, this is a rare situation where two players have the same Four of a Kind and must compare the highest kicker to determine the winner.
For example, if Player A has the combination 9999K and Player B has 99997, Player A will win because K > 7.
How to Read Poker Hands with Two Pair
While in games like Tiến Lên or others, three consecutive pairs have great strength, in Poker, this situation is not considered.
This is because each player can only choose the best 5 cards out of a total of 7 and compare them.
To easily know what to do if you have a pair and the community cards show two more consecutive pairs, you can refer to the following two cases:
Case 1: Lowest Kicker
In this situation, the player can hardly win and can only achieve a draw or lose.
If you hold the lowest pair in the three consecutive pairs, the probability of winning against your opponent is almost nonexistent.
For example, the community cards are 99884
- Player A has 2 hole cards 77
- Player B has the kicker JQ
- In the end, Player B still wins because 8899Q > 88997
Case 2: Highest Kicker
In contrast to the above case, if you hold the highest pair in the three consecutive pairs, you can bet with the hope of winning.
For example, we still have the community cards 99884
- Player A holds 2 hole cards 10-10
- Player B holds 2 hole cards JQ
- Thus, in the end, Player A wins with 9-9-10-10-8 > 8-8-9-9-Q
How to Read Poker Hands Online in Case of a Tie
In card games, all possibilities from winning – losing to tying can occur.
In Poker, it is no exception as there are still 2 situations that lead to a tie, causing players to neither gain nor lose anything.
Tie due to Two Hole Cards
This is a relatively common situation where players have the same highest hole card while the 5 community cards have formed a strong hand.
For example, the 5 community cards are: 33772
- Player A holds: 46
- Player B holds: 26
- Thus, both players use the hand 33776 when comparing scores with each other.
Tie due to Shared Cards
Unlike the previous case where all 5 community cards formed the best combination for the player, no matter how the two hole cards are, you will still only achieve a tie.
For example, the 5 community cards are: 3377Q
- Player A holds 46
- Player B holds 26
- So in the end, both use the set 3377Q to compare points with each other.
Learn more: Top people who lost the most money in Vietnamese and world Poker,
Reading Poker with 2 trash cards
Sometimes, not all beautiful hole cards help the player win because the unknown factor lies in the 5 community cards that are gradually revealed over 3 consecutive rounds.
There have been many cases where players hold 2 hole cards that form a very good pair but ultimately cannot use them to compare points, which is called trash cards.
If you find that the cards you have are no longer useful, the best advice for you is to stop playing immediately to avoid unnecessary risks.
For example, a player holds the pair 66.
- The Flop round has the cards 778 => You can still call the bet
- The Turn round has an additional card 8 => You fall into the case of having 3 pairs but holding the smallest pair and need to fold immediately.
Conclusion
With the ways to read Poker cards as above, you will surely achieve impressive victories that leave your opponents astonished and hesitant every time they face you.
Poker is always known as the hardest game on the planet with many clear rules and regulations; therefore, being subjective and lacking knowledge will only lead you quickly to failure.
Spend more time learning from books on how to play Poker, and seek out interesting experiences every day from other players or experts in the community.
