List of Poker Statistics
The most popular poker played today is Texas holdem. In each round of Texas holdem, each player is dealt two cards face down (hole cards) and five community cards face up for each player to complete their hand. The community cards are dealt over three betting stages with the first three shown at one time, known as the flop. The fourth card is then shown, known as the turn card. The fifth community card is revealed last and is known as the river card. With all the information and research available to today's players, poker has become a science of probability.
Poker Statistics
- Hole Cards
- Pocket Pairs
- Other Desirable Hole Cards
- Competition
- Hand Strength
- Hand Improvement
- Postflop Odds
Hole Cards
A card deck consists of fifty-two cards, therefore the odds of being dealt a specific card first, such as the ace of spades, is 1/52 or 1.9%. With each deck containing four aces, the odds of receiving an ace as your first card are 7.7%. The odds of being dealt a specific suit are greater with there being thirteen cards of each suit. There is a 13/52 chance of being dealt a spade in your first card, or 25%. The second hole card will have different odds because the pool is smaller. For instance, if your first card is an ace then the second card odds of being dealt an ace become 3/51 or 5.9%. If your first card was a spade, the odds of receiving a spade as your second card are now 12/51 or 23.5%.
Pocket Pairs
The preflop odds of being dealt a pair of aces as hole cards, known as a pocket pair, are quite small. To figure this one has to multiply the possibility of receiving each card: (4/52) x (3/51) or 7.7% x 5.9% which equals about .45%. The probability of being dealt any pocket pair (2s thru As) is much greater: 78/1326 or 5.9%. Being dealt a pocket pair of jacks or higher is a high win percentage hand. The probability of receiving such a hand is 1.8% (.45% x 4).
Other Desirable Hole Cards
There are other preflop hands that provide decent opportunities to win. These hands and the probabilities are: suited ace/king - .3%, successive suited cards 10 or higher (eg jack/queen) - 1.2%, suited cards 10 or better - 3%, any successive suited cards - 3.9%, successive cards 10 or better - 4.8%, any two cards ten or better - 14%.
Competition
Before calling or raising the bets, the player should calculate the probability of winning. This is particularly true if an opponent goes all-in or makes a significant bet before the flop. When you hold a high pair preflop and your opponent holds a lower pair, your probability of winning is a healthy 80%. If you hold a middle pair (9,9 etc.) and your opponent holds one high and one low card (K,4 etc.), your probability of winning is 70%. If you hold two high cards (K,J) and your opponent holds a low pair (3,3), the probability of you winning is 45%. There are many different examples that can occur and it would be difficult to succeed at this game without knowing the odds.
Hand Strength
The strongest hand in poker is a royal flush: 10, J, Q, K, A same suit. The weakest hand is a high card of 7. The hand ranking by value from highest to lowest with a description of each:
Hand Improvement
You are now past the first round of betting and ready to pair your cards with the community cards. The chances of making a hand by building off your hole cards have statistics forecasting each event's likelihood. If your hole cards are non pairs there is 32% chance that you will pair with one of the community cards. If you hold two suited cards, the probability of making a flush is 6.5%, but the chance of completing the flush on the flop (first 3 community cards) is very unlikely, only .85%. If you are holding a pocket pair, the probability of flopping a set (three of a kind) is 12%, and four of a kind is a highly unlikely .25%.
Postflop Odds
The odds of either you or an opponent improving their hand are based on the number of "outs". In poker, the term out refers to any card that will improve a player's hand after the flop. For example, a player holds 9,10 and the flop reveals 2,8,J. Now the player has an open-ended straight draw, needing either a 7 or Q to complete the straight. We know there are four of each value in the deck so, in this case, the player has eight outs. As the number of outs diminish, the probability of improving your hand lessens. These probabilities are absolutely vital in the education of a poker player because they should be used in every betting circumstance postflop. If a poker player does not know the probability of making a hand prior to betting they will never win in the long run.