Nuts First Practice →

Charts

Every reference chart in the guide, in one place.

Hand rankings

Ten hand types, grouped into the three tiers that actually behave differently at the table.

TIER 3Hard and rareabout 0.2% of hands — 1 in 500
Royal flushA-K-Q-J-10, one suit1 in 30,940
Straight flush5 in a row, one suit1 in 3,590
Four of a kindall four 7s1 in 594
TIER 2The big-pot handsyou'll hold about 15% — 1 in 7
Full housethree 8s + two 4s1 in 38
Flushany 5 of one suit1 in 33
Straight5 in a row, mixed suits1 in 22
Three of a kindthree Queens1 in 21
TIER 1Common85% of hands — about 6 in 7
Two pairK-K and 6-61 in 4
One paira pair of Acesmore than 2 in 5
High cardnothing at all1 in 6

Starting hands

Which two cards to play, grouped by how they make money and which seat they need.

Group APremium
Play from any seat, and raise
A-AK-KQ-QJ-JA-K

These win without improving. Dealt about 3% of hands. If you played only these, you'd bore everyone and still beat most small-stakes tables.

Group BStrong
Play from middle and late seats
10-109-9A-QA-JA-10K-Q

Good hands that usually make a good Tier 1 pair. They want few opponents and a decent seat.

Group CSpeculative
Late seat only, and only cheap
Small pairs
8-87-76-65-54-43-32-2
Suited connectors
10-9s9-8s8-7s7-6s6-5s
Suited face cards
K-JsQ-JsJ-10s

Lottery tickets aimed at Tier 2. Small pairs want three of a kind (see gate ♠E). Suited connectors want straights and flushes. They miss most flops, so they need a cheap ride in and a big payday when they hit.

Position, by table size

The same seat means something different depending on how many people are at the table.

4-HANDED No early position exists
BTNSBBBUTG=CO
LATEBLINDSLATE

every seat is "late-ish"

8-HANDED The standard shape
UTGUTG+1MPHJCOBTNSBBB
EARLYMIDLATEBLINDS
12-HANDED Early position swallows the table
UTG+1+2+3+4MPMP2HJCOBTNSBBB
EARLYMIDLATEBLINDS

Pot odds

The price a bet is offering you, and the chance you need to call it.

Bet sizeYou need
Quarter pot (¼)17%
Third pot (⅓)20%
Half pot25%
Two-thirds pot (⅔)29%
Full pot33%

Bluff frequency

How often your bluffs should show up, so a bet does not give away whether it is real.

Your betBluff ratio
Half pot1 bluff : 3 value bets
Two-thirds pot2 bluffs : 5 value bets
Full pot1 bluff : 2 value bets