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The odds of poker are simply based upon probability. Luckily, for those of you who aren’t maths professors, there are various ways of calculating the probability of you winning. There are three different methods of prediction that vary in complexity and ease of use. These are: Probability Tables, Semi Interactive Guides and Fully Interactive Guides. The details of these three different methods are shown below:
 Probability Tables:
A probability table is simply a table that contains the odds for different card rankings to come up in any game. The table is not interactive so you can’t enter your cards or the community cards into it. Probability tables are therefore best used as a guide to read through before commencing in a poker game or possibly printed out. The odds below are calculated on receiving seven cards and choosing the best five. Please look at the Hand Rankings section if you are unfamiliar with the hands described.
Hands |
Number Of Possibilities |
Probability |
Odds Against |
Odds Against
For 5 Card Poker |
Royal Flush |
4,324 |
0.00003 |
30,939 |
649,739 |
Straight Flush |
37,260 |
0.00028 |
3,590 |
72,192 |
Four Of A Kind |
224,848 |
0.00168 |
594 |
4,164 |
Full House |
3,473,184 |
0.02596 |
38 |
693 |
Flush |
4,047,644 |
0.03025 |
32 |
508 |
Straight |
6,180,020 |
0.04619 |
21 |
254 |
Three Of A Kind |
6,461,620 |
0.04830 |
20 |
46 |
Two Pairs |
31,433,400 |
0.023496 |
3.3 |
20 |
One Pair |
58,627,800 |
0.43823 |
1.3 |
2.4 |
High Card |
23,294,460 |
0.17412 |
4.7 |
1 |
For example, the odds of getting a Royal Flush are 30,939:1 or to put it another way, 1 chance in 30,939 games.
Semi Interactive Guides:
As you can see above, probability tables are limited in their usefulness. The next level up is to use a semi interactive guide. These guides allow you to enter your cards and those of your opponents. The program will then generate the probability of you winning or loosing the game based on these cards. The better guides also allow you to enter the community cards as they are dealt so you can see how the odds vary. There is one obvious and gaping hole with these types of programmes and that is that you need to know what cards your opponents are holding!!
However, they are very useful in allowing you to enter various card combinations so you can see how the odds vary through out the game. There are lots of different guides out there that vary in usefulness and complexity. We haven’t included any links to them as we think that they are of limited appeal as a fully interactive guide is much better.
Fully Interactive Guides
Fully interactive guides are programmes that look at your cards in real time and give you the expected odds of winning based on your hand, the community cards and the predicted cards of your opponents. These programmes are significantly better than both the probability tables and semi interactive guides because they don’t require you to enter card details and they give realtime odds. To use these programmes, you simply download the software onto your computer and then run it when you are playing poker online. This software is perfectly legal to use and works in most poker rooms giving you a real advantage over other players. Some of the more advanced software programmes even give you advice on how to play which is good for beginners. One of the better programmes is Texas Calculatem, please click on the link below to access this site. The site gives you an overview of the programme including screen shots and a programme synopsis.
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Poker Odds 
