Tournament Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
At this point I would like to remind my readers
At this point I would like to remind my readers of my previous remarks in the General Strategy chapter about courage. It is true that three kings are not a sure bet to win the hand. One of the other players may have a straight going in, either of the other players may improve and wind up with a full house with the draw. Nonetheless you must play your three kings, on the assumption that you hold a winning hand, and you must find a way to make the pot as big as possible regardless of whether you win it or lose it. Let yourself become fearful of losing the pot with three kings and you won't be a winner at Poker.
Draw Poker Probabilities
Draw Poker Probabilities The number of possible five-card combinations to be made from a standard 52-card deck with no wild cards are 2,598,960 and are made up of four royal flushes, 36 straight flushes, 13 four of a kind, 3,744 full houses, 5,108 flushes, 10,200 straights, 52 three of a kind, 2,808 two pairs, and 78 pairs. It may appear strange that there are more than 5,000 flushes and only 78 pairs. The explanation is that each of those 78 pairs is teamed up with three differently valued cards to make a five-card hand. The true number of five-card hands containing a pair is 1,098,240 and the probability of a player's being dealt a pat pair hand is .422, or roughly, 1 1/2 to 1 against. However, when playing Five Card Draw, the probability that a player will be dealt a pair of jacks or better in the five dealt cards is .206, or roughly, 4 to 1 against.