An understanding of the basic Texas Hold'em odds of hitting certain hands on the flop, turn and river come in handy but how much and when to bet is slightly different.
Knowing when to bet the max (4x) or 3x on the flop or waiting for later streets and smaller bets is a crucial part of making Ultimate Texas Hold'em profitable but they can be rather complex equations. A general understanding of when your "outs" are likely to hit is very helpful though and can guide you in a general sense towards optimal strategy.
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Ultimate Texas Hold'em - Best Payouts
The simplest and most effective Ultimate Texas Holdem strategy to remember is pre-flop, and that is:
Bet the max (4x your ante and not 3x) when you are dealt premium hole cards
Ultimate Texas Holdem
What hands qualify as premium hole cards? Well, loosely:
Pairs - 33 or higher
Q6 suited or higher
J8 suited or higher
Any suited King
Q8 unsuited or higher
K5 unsuited or higher
Any Ace
If you have hole card combinations lower than these you can still proceed to make bets on later streets (they still might turn into quality hands) but it is better to check or fold right there than raise pre-flop.
Post-Flop Ultimate Texas Hold'em Strategy
Once you've reached the flop the computations and decisions to play "perfect" Ultimate Texas Hold'em Strategy get far more complicated. If you've played a lot of hands of Texas Hold'em online you likely have a good feel for which hands will ultimately hit or not.
Otherwise, a Ultimate Texas Hold'em odds calculator is required to know what to do in each and every situation. As a few general rules though:
Raise 2x when you have two pair or better, a hidden pair (one hole card, one community card) above 22 and 4 cards to a flush
Raise 1x on the final bet if you have a hidden pair or better or under 21 dealer outs that can beat your hand
Ultimate Texas Hold'em - House Edge
As far as casino table games go, Ultimate Texas Hold'em has a fairly low house edge. Taken separately your ante and blinds bets lose about 2.2% of the time. Together, they drop down to about 1%.
So overall you have a fairly decent shot at breaking even. To really minimize the house edge you need to follow the optimal strategy as loosely outlined above or by pinpointing exact scenarios with an Ultimate Texas Hold'em calculator or chart.
We won't provide you with a full breakdown here but you can dig around and find them online easily. What we will say, though, that is you fold most of your trash hands and make sure you raise the maximum when you have the best hole cards as outlined above, you won't stray too far from optimal strategy.
Best of luck at the tables!
